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Iris and Nora were up early Saturday morning so having a little dance party as Iris made the batter to make pancakes for breakfast. Over the years she had gotten better making these things even though Barry ate them up all the time.
Iris stopped dancing to check on the bacon and make sure that it is cooking properly. She then turns to see Nora shaking her little butt to the music. She goes back to making the batter to the pancakes and heat the griddle so that it was the right temperature. She finally after years of not knowing, realized the numbers on the griddle was for the heat not the cooking time.
She places a couple small dollops of batter on the griddle for Nora and then a couple of big ones for her and Barry. She was still shaking her hips and she watched the batter bubble knowing it was almost ready to flip. As she and Nora continues to shake their hips and Iris even sang along Barry came down the stairs and looked around to find his wife dancing and cooking. But he didn’t smell anything burning so he looked around the kitchen to see Iris had everything under control.
He walked up to the counter and asked, “Do you need any help?” Iris startled a little and turned around to see Barry standing there. She smiled at him and said, “Nope, I’m almost done and then we can eat.” Barry nodded his head and went over to Nora to get her settled for breakfast. He picked her up, kissed her head and asked, “What’s for breakfast, Lil’ Bean?” Nora giggles, claps her hands and says, “Pattie Cakes!” Barry looks over at Iris and she nods.
He gets Nora situated as Iris plates the food and walks over to the table. She places Nora’s plate in front of her which had pancakes, yogurt, and fruit. She then placed her plate and Barry’s plate down and sat down. He poured some syrup on his and Nora’s pancakes before taking a bite of his pancake. He looked over to Iris and said, “Trying a new recipe?” Iris shook her head and said, “No, it’s the same recipe.”
Barry nods looks over to Nora who has the yogurt and syrup all over her face and says, “It tastes different.” Iris giggles and says, “That’s because I didn’t burn them this time.” Nora smiles at them both and says, “Yummy!” Barry nodded in agreement. Iris finally took a bite of her food and had to agree she knew her pancakes weren’t the best but they had gotten better.
Iris looked over at Barry and said, “Do you remember the first time I made you pancakes?” Barry shuttered and replied with, “Do I ever, it was the first time I had pancakes since my mom had died and I you were trying to make me feel better.” Iris smiled at him and nodded her head as she thought back to that day.
***Flashback***
Barry had lived with Joe and Iris now for an over a year and she wanted to do something special for him because he was still having a hard time. So she decided to make him breakfast one Saturday mornings. She would watch her Grandma Ester make pancakes so she decided to make that for Barry.
By the time Barry came down stairs, he could smell the smoke and once he entered the kitchen it had looked like a tornado and hit. Barry looked over to Iris who had plated a couple pancakes on the plate for herself and him. The fire under the pan was still burned and you can hear the pan sizzling. Barry walked over and cut it off. Looked around the kitchen and asked, “What are you doing?” Iris smiled while blowing her hair out of her face and said, “I made us breakfast.”
Barry nodded his head, took his hand to wipe Iris’ face because she had some powdery substance on her face, in her hair, and even on her clothes. If you had asked him she looked like she got caught in a fight with the flour and the flour had won. Iris smiled and said, “Thanks, come on let’s eat.” Barry looked around and said, “Then we will have to clean the kitchen.” Iris looked around and shrugged.
She brought the plates over to the table in the kitchen and they sat down to eat. He looked down at it before pouring some syrup on it because it was so black he just hoped the syrup helped the taste. He cut into it and it still looked gooey inside, and because she was his best friend he did not want to hurt his feelings so he stuffed it into his mouth and made the “hmmm” sound even though he was trying not to gag.
As he began the chew he heard a crunch and just knew he had bit into an egg shell. He swallowed and went for another piece because he knew she worked really hard on just by the look on her face and the mess in the kitchen. This time when he took a bit he also drank some milk to get it down. He was almost done when Iris took her first bite, and gagged herself before spitting it in a napkin.
She looked over at Barry and said, “Barr why did you eat that, it’s nasty. Plus it’s not all the way cooked and there is egg shells in it.” Barry blushed a little and said, “Because you were trying to do something nice for me and it was the least I could do. Next time they will be better.” Iris looked over at him and said, “Thanks Barr, I did try. But I guess they weren’t like your mom’s or even Grandma Esters.” Barry shook his head looked down at his plate and pushed it aside and said, “We can always have cereal and watch some cartoons? But we have to clean the kitchen first or Joe will kill us.”
Iris giggled and said, “We can always give him some of these pancakes and it will kill him first.” Barry busted out laughing before he got up and took their plates he dumped the nasty pancakes in the trash and walked over to the sink to start the dishes. Iris put on some music to make the task go quicker so that they could get some real food and watch TV.
***End Flashback***
Iris looked over to Barry and said, “You have been through it with me and pancakes, haven’t you?” Barry rubbed the back of his head and replied, “They have gotten better over the years.” Iris giggles, popped his leg, and said, “Practice makes perfect.” Barry nodded and replied, “it’s a good thing it was only breakfast that seemed to be your downfall or we would’ve starved over the years.” “Hey!” Iris replied.
She was about to throw some fruit at him when Barry reminded her about little eyes watching. Which Nora was very intently watching them both. She smiled at them and said, “Moooor Pwease!” Barry got up and got Nora a couple more mini pancakes and put some syrup on it “Hank you!” She said as she went back to eating her food.
Barry sat back down, look over at Iris and said, “At least you don’t have to worry about future Nora calling your pancakes lumpy anymore.” She looked over at Nora who was busy with her food before throwing her napkin at him and say, “Thank God, that timeline no longer exists where future Nora can talk about my culinary skills.”
Barry busted out laughing and nodded his head, he got up walked over to her and leaned down to softly kiss her lips. Iris tilted her up to receive the kiss and when he pulled back she said, “You are so lucky I love you.” He nods his head in agreement and says, “And I really do love you, to have had to eat your very suspicious pancakes for over 20 years.”
Iris popped him and giggled and he leaned down to give her any other kiss before pulling away because they felt little eyes watching them. He kissed Nora’s temple before walking back over to his spot to finish his breakfast as well.