by Vylar Kaftan
Read by Julie Davis (of Forgotten Classics)
The smell of gingerbread wafted through the small kitchen, across the pictures of her grandkids and the newly-hung pine wreath. Mrs. Wallace tried to remember if she’d added anything different to the dough. Butter, flour, molasses–the usual. With curiosity, she peered through the window again. The gingerbread man had woken the girl cookie next to him. “Oh, how sweet,” Mrs. Wallace said out loud. “They’re playing Garden of Eden.” It was easy to imagine the soft cookies as innocent lovers. She watched as the cookies kissed. Then the boy cookie stood behind the girl cookie in an extremely non-Baptist manner. “Oh, my!” exclaimed Mrs. Wallace. She blushed and went to tidy up the sink.
When she returned, the rest of the gingerbread people had woken. They were hunting a gingerbread mammoth across the cookie sheet. Some of them had primitive buttons at their waists. Their flesh had firmed into a pale golden brown. “Oh!” exclaimed Mrs. Wallace, delighted by the sight.
A glance at the clock reminded her that Call to Prayer would come on the television shortly. She switched it on, but continued to watch the gingerbread people. They were wonderful entertainment. They had just started to build shelters, which pleased Mrs. Wallace because they took their private relations indoors. She was quite glad she’d made both boy and girl cookies. She didn’t like the idea of a cookie Sodom.
Rated PG. Contains the wafting smell of gingerbread.
Happy holidays!
scatterbrain said,
December 24, 2008 @ 8:26 pm
Wow! This story had everything; even a gingerbread Challenger disaster!
On a seasonal note, I implore everyone who reads this to do as I have done today: run down to the libary, pick out a horror-fantasy-occult anthology(or look through your own shelves), gather some relatives into a dark cornor, switch out the lights(and the cable TV), light a few candles and read in a low voice the ghost stories of MR James, Algernon Blackwood, J. Sheridan LeFanu, Arthur Machen, HG Wells, Dunsany, Lovecraft, Stephen King and of course, Poe, for hours on end; it’s traditional and I love it!
Vylar Kaftan » Blog Archive » Live at Podcastle said,
December 25, 2008 @ 10:19 am
[...] up at Podcastle with a flash fiction piece. Through the Cooking Glass, originally published at Raven Electrick. It’s about 7 minutes long and contains the [...]
Heidi said,
December 25, 2008 @ 1:01 pm
Love it.
Wyrd said,
December 26, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
Pseudopod did a story a while back with small people and a regular sized human watching them. IMHO, Through the Cooking Glass was a lot better *and* more frightening. I don’t know if it was supposed to be frightening, but it was. Twice I said to myself, “dude that’s messed up!”
It was the Baptist lady that creeped me out though, not the cookies. The cookies just seemed like good folk. I mean, if I were in the old lady’s situation, I would be pretty spooked too, but I hope that I would be able to conquer my fears enough to not commit cookie genocide.
Am I over-thinking this? Probably. *shrug*
–
Furry cows moo and decompress.
yicheng said,
December 30, 2008 @ 1:16 am
While I enjoyed the story, I really didn’t like the portrayal of the main character, which I found to be a very hackneyed stereotype.
Adrienne said,
December 30, 2008 @ 5:09 am
Great episode! What is the music featured in this one? Thanks!
phignewton said,
December 30, 2008 @ 6:00 pm
I think Mrs Wallace hasssa lil bit of… hmmmss… could it beeee…. SATAN?!!
James said,
January 7, 2009 @ 5:14 pm
Is this podcasdt on hiatus or dead?
James said,
January 8, 2009 @ 4:24 am
oops! typos!
Blaine Boy said,
January 27, 2009 @ 8:55 pm
I didn’t think it was scary. I just got the feeling that maybe a certain author feels that maybe a certain Being has left us to our own methods to burn in our oven.
Sincerely,
The Blaine Boy