Part One: The Courage Town Baking Competition
It's time for the annual Courage Town Baking Competition and Princess Hanna and Carrie have a unique plan to take home gold...
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Today’s story takes place in the dragon world of Courage Town. This story is the first in a two part series about the annual Courage Town baking competition.
Here’s a link to the very first story about the dragons of Courage Town:
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Every year the school in Courage Town would hold a baking competition.
Students would break up into pairs and there would be one chaotic weekend of frantic baking and frenzied selling. The smell of cupcakes and croissants would fill the air.
Hanna and Carrie had never entered the baking competition before, but this year they felt like they just might have a unique strategy to take home gold.
In the past, they had always been the quiet ones at school. They minded their own business and did their own thing. The hoopla of the baking competition was the exact type of thing they would have avoided.
A lot had changed since the last year’s baking competition though. Hanna was allowed to openly use her fire powers now. She was a lot stronger as well because of all of her recent training for the Fire Carnival. Carrie, on the other hand, had become a very strong flyer — the best in their grade.
They now felt confident that they could give the baking competition a good shot.
All of the entrants were gathered together on a Friday afternoon after school for the launch of the baking competition.
Hanna and Carrie looked around the twenty-or-so other contenders they would be up against. The two of them felt strangely confident, and not just for their chances in the competition but in general. Things had changed over the past months. They walked with their shoulders back. They answered questions in class that they normally would have just sat quietly for. They just felt… good. They were talking to other students more and getting invited to birthday parties that they previously would never have even heard about.
At the Friday meeting for the baking competition, Mr Brooks announced the rules.
“All entrants will have the weekend to bake and sell baked goods. Whoever makes the most money wins.”
And then the race was on.
Hanna and Carrie took off into the air and flew to the general store. They rushed inside and bolted for the baking section. When they got there, though, they found that the shelf was almost completely empty. All they could grab was a single bag of flour.
They went to the counter to pay and Hanna asked the owner, “Where is all of your baking stuff?”
“Young dragons have been stocking up all week for the baking competition,” said the owner. “You guys should have stopped by earlier.”
Hanna and Carrie left the general store with their meagre supplies.
“What now?” asked Carrie.
“The castle!” said Hanna. “We’ll check the castle kitchen. There has to be something there for us.”
Off they went, flying across town to Princess Hanna’s family’s castle. They landed in the courtyard where two of Hanna’s brothers were chasing after each other playing tag.
Hanna and Carrie charged inside into the kitchen. They went through to the pantry room and gathered up what they could: some more flour, sugar, a few cartons of eggs, and a bag of cocoa powder.
“What’s the plan?” asked Carrie.
Hanna was deep in thought. Then it clicked.
“I have an idea!” she said. “It hasn’t rained lately, has it?”
“No,” said Carrie. “Not in ages.”
“Then follow me,” said Hanna.
Hanna took off and Carrie went after her.
Just outside of Courage Town there was a paddock with an old stone well. Hanna and Carrie landed just near the well and brought all of their ingredients and cooking equipment along with them. They also brought a metal chain which was going to be a key part of Hanna’s plan.
Once they were at the well they started working on their unique baking contraption. This was where Hanna’s big idea came into play.
They connected the metal chain to a baking pan and checked that they were able to lower it down into the well.
Then it was time to get mixing. They were going to make brownies and they were going to make a lot of them.
Hanna and Carrie got to work mixing their ingredients. They were working off a recipe that Carrie had gotten from one of her mums.
Hanna and Carrie picked brownies because they were quick and easy to make.
Once they had their mix finished, they started setting out the uncooked brownies on the tray attached to the metal chain. They then lowered the tray down into the well.
“Ready?” asked Hanna.
Carrie nodded and then stepped back to get out of the way.
Hanna let out a giant blast of fire into the well. This went on until the smell of brownies rose up into the air, soon followed by smoke and a slightly less pleasant smell of charcoal.
Hanna pulled up the metal chain to get the brownies. The tray was smoking and the brownies were black.
They set the tray down on the ground and both looked at the smouldering brownies, consternation on each of their faces. They let the brownies cool for a bit and then they split one in half to each try. The tester bite was a very cautious one.
Regrettably, the brownies tasted exactly how they looked.
But they were locked in now. They were committed to their plan.
“Ok,” said Hanna. “You fly to town and sell these brownies door-to-door. No one can fly as fast as you. You’ll leave everyone else in the dust. I’ll get started on the next batch of brownies. With our well and my fire we’re going to be able to churn out brownies twice the speed of whatever anyone else is making.”
“But what if they don’t like the brownies?” asked Carrie.
“Some of them will,” said Hanna. “And we’ll get better at it as we go along. Plus, we have numbers on our side. We’ll sell them cheap, but we’ll sell a lot of them. By the end of the weekend, we’ll be able to have a go at selling these brownies to every single dragon in town.”
Carrie was unsure, but she trusted Hanna. And so they went for it.
The weekend went by in a blur of chaotic baking and selling. Hanna would rush through tray after tray of brownies and Carrie would fly them over to town where she would bounce from house to house. Mostly, dragons turned back the brownies the second they saw them. But some of them bought them. And, after a while, the number of buyers began to add up.
They baked and sold brownies all Friday afternoon, all day on Saturday, and up until the baking competition finished at noon on Sunday.
Once it was time, everyone in the baking competition gathered together at the school and handed in their results. Then it was time for the announcement of the winner.
Hanna and Carrie stood together in the crowd, itching with nervousness. As far as they could tell, their strategy had worked. They had sold a heap of brownies. They were practically just waiting for their names to be called.
Mr Brooks then stepped forward to announce the winners.
“And the winners are…”
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