Fox Makes Lunch
Fox hummed as he poured lemonade into molds for ice pops. He had invited
Bear for lunch.
“Bear will be surprised,” Fox said to himself. “He doesn’t know what a great cook I am.”
Fox looked at his cookbook. “This cookie recipe looks easy,” he thought. He read further. You may double the recipe for more cookies. “Yes!” said Fox. “We need lots of cookies.”
Fox got out one stick of butter, then one more. He measured one-half cup of sugar, then another half cup. He used two of everything the recipe called for.
Soon the batter was ready. Fox looked at the cookbook:
Oven temperature: 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
“I’ll double that to 600 degrees,” said Fox. But the dial on his oven only went to 500 degrees. That would have to do.
Baking time: 10 minutes.
“I’ll double that to 20 minutes,” said Fox. He put the cookies in the oven.
Next he put eggs in a pan of water on the stove. Egg-salad sandwiches were Bear’s favorite.
Fox got out the paint-by-number picture of a beehive he had started. It was going to be a present for Bear. But Fox would have to work fast to finish the painting before Bear arrived.
“Somebody’s burning something,” Fox thought as he set up his easel. “Yikes! My cookies!”
He ran to the stove. The cookies were hard black rocks. “There must be something wrong with that recipe,” thought Fox as he dumped the cookies into the garbage can.
The water with the eggs was bubbling. Fox went back to the painting. Let one color dry before starting the next color, said the directions. But Fox didn’t have time for that. He painted all the number-three spaces sunset orange. When he had finished the threes, he painted the fours midnight black.
Fox looked at the clock and painted faster. When he had finished the fives, he stood back and looked at his picture. Something was wrong. All the colors were running together and becoming mud brown!
Fox smelled something burning again. He ran to the kitchen. The egg pan was dry. The eggs were turning black. Then he noticed the ice pops on the counter. “Oh no!” he said. “I forgot to put them in the freezer.”
Ding! Fox ran to open the door.
“I’m here,” said Bear cheerfully.
“Oh, dear—I mean,
hello!” said Fox. He was trying to stand in front of the painting.
“What are you hiding?” Bear asked.
“Well, uh, it’s a surprise.” Fox moved away.
“It’s a picture of me!” said Bear. “A big brown bear.”
Fox looked at his painting. The beehive did sort of look like a big brown bear now.
“What a surprise!” said Bear, hugging his friend.
“Yes, it is,” said Fox. “And we’re having lemonade and bread-and-mayonnaise sandwiches for our lunch.”
“Sounds interesting,” said Bear.
Fox grinned. “I knew you’d like my cooking,”
he said.
