Mum would have been half baked if she hadn’t realised what Susan and I did every Thursday, but still she gave us all the ration cards which would entitle us to a loaf of hot, fresh bread. We ran to the bakery and slowly meandered home. As we went we made a small hole in the crust which we could get our grubby little fingers through sufficiently to pull out the soft warm doughy interior. We used a long twig to break up the bread that our small digits couldn’t reach, leaving barely enough for the rest of the family.
When Mum cut into the loaf we would protest that the baker had let too much air into the mix and Mum would nod as if in agreement. Her reaction delighted Susan and I as we thought we’d fooled her until years later we discovered she happily starved herself to ensure we always had plenty to eat.
In response to Zoe’s prompt for Six Sentence Stories — Baked
About Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist
I began my working career as a reluctant potato peeler whilst waiting to commence my training as a student nurse. On completion I worked mainly in intensive care/coronary care; finishing my hospital career as clinical nurse educator in intensive care. A life changing period as a resort owner/manager on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu was followed by recovery time as a farmer at Bucca Wauka. Having discovered I was no farmer and vowing never again to own an animal bigger than myself I took on the Barrington General Store. Here we also ran a five star restaurant. Working the shop of a day 7am - 6pm followed by the restaurant until late was surprisingly more stressful than Tanna. On the sale we decided to retire and renovate our house with the help of a builder friend. Now believing we knew everything about building we set to constructing our own house. Just finished a coal mine decided to set up in our backyard. Definitely time to retire we moved to Queensland. I had been writing a manuscript for some time. In the desire to complete this I enrolled in a post grad certificate in creative Industries which I completed 2013. I followed this by doing a Master of Arts by research graduating in 2017. Now I live to write and write to live.
Reflections and Nightmares- Irene A Waters (writer and memoirist) 
Well, what a six sentence surprise! The mother in your story getting half baked is a different meaning than the half baked mother in my story. I like yours better. A well told tale that tells so much.
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Thanks D. Your mother needs help. I think I’d prefer to be growing up with my mother also.
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Moms. They’re like that !!
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It is sadly true that mothers starve the fastest in times of famine as they sacrifice to feed the children. And mommies are magic, they know what the children are doing.
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Yes I think mothers have eyes not only in the back of their heads but that can travel wherever the kids go. It is a wondrous thing a mother’s love.
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Nothing less than we’d expect of a mother. I can think of times my own mother did similar things. Ate less, went without new shoes, etc. during some lean times in our young lives. I never understood how easily that kind of sacrifice could be made until I became a mother myself. Love your story.
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Thank you Lisa and thanks for that beautiful comment re your Mum and your understanding. So much we don’t understand until we are either older or in the same position.
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A ring of truth to this one. Kids thinking they fooled the adults, parents going along (and going without). Still painful. Well done.
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Thanks Sarah. There is a ring of truth to this . It is Roger and his sister’s childhood.
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Oh… Ouch. Well, that explains it. This is so incredibly bittersweet. Like I said, painful but well-written.
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Thanks
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This is a touching story, for the playful innocence of the girls and the quiet sacrifices of the mother. I like the way the description of half baked ended up meaning something unexpected.
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thanks Sharon. I have come to realise that half-baked means something different here to what it means in the states. Here it means a shingle short or more than a bit simple. In the States I gather it means high on drugs or the like.
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Yes, not in possession of all one’s faculties. Funny how different cultures interpret expressions, and part of the fun reading blogs from around the world.
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Yes. I’ve always thought it came from having a bun in the oven (a term used here for pregnancy). If it was only half baked then it has to come out with something missing.
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A delightful little tale. Excellent.
Click to read my Six
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Thank you Keith.
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Welcome to the Six Sentence Story! zoe’s little ‘hop draws some exceptional writers, from the Six above, you’ll fit right in.
(Back in the day, when boredom coincided with lunch, we’d take the bread of our sandwiches (sans crust) and make them into ‘food pills’, which we had on good authority would be all the people in the future (1980s) would be eating.)
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Thank you for your kind welcome Clark. I am looking forward to many more SSS postings.
When you made your food pills gluten was obviously not the big bad ogre it is now if that was all future people would eat. I used to love that white doughy centre and when it was handed out for communion, like you I turned it into a food pill.
Cheers Irene
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Now, isn’t that what mum’s are like . My children always thought I loved the bones of the chicken with hardly any meat on..
gramswisewords.blogspot.com
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Thank you for your story. I think this is a common thing Mothers do.
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Now that I think about it further, I think half baked does mean a crack pot idea – in other words, something ridiculous, not well thought out, and unlikely to work. So I think your original meaning actually comes closer.
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What a great SSS and a sweet memory.
I loved reading the comments having to do with “half baked.”
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Thank you Pat. Sometimes, I think, the comments are as good as if not better than the post itself.
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Mothers share this unconditional love with her children but often as kids we do not value its worth. However, with time we realise and understand the true side of her love with which she tore herself bit by bit only to complete us.
This story runs quite true for many but sometimes few people fail to become mature and leave her side in her second childhood. The time she needs them the most but now they have completed themselves with her parts and they feel they donot need her anymore. Her love is taken for granted to an extent that they turn their backs to the one who made them who they are. Her love still burns as always but now she hides her tears just hoping her children are happy and safe and praying to God to forgive them for their insolence.
Donot test a mother’s love. It is always bound to win. But, please do not test it anymore. Be by her side and keep telling her how much you love her before its too late because she deserves her reward, just the little company she wants from you because believe me, you can never repay what she has done for you.
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I couldn’t agree with you more. My mother, almost 90, still sees me as her baby and that will never change. Now she is in her old age we all moved from our different parts of the globe to be near each other. It is the first time in my adult life that I have lived in the same location as my mother and I have to say it is good having this time with her.
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😊
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