Have you ever heard the excuse, “The dog ate my homework?” Or instead, maybe I should ask if you’ve had the chance to actually use it?
Let me tell you, my Mamaw Jo was quite the baker. She even took a course in cake decorating. Naturally, she did very well. I enjoyed watching her craft roses out of icing since I had always wondered how that was done. If I ever tried to make one, it would have resembled a melted beehive.
Being proud of her newly acquired decorating skills, Mamaw Jo decided to bake a special birthday cake for Papaw Janeway, her father, and my mom and since they shared the same birth date. She was so excited that Papaw Janeway agreed to drive down from Hogskin to eat supper with us and have some of her birthday cake.
I remember Mamaw Jo coming in from Winn Dixie with four boxes of cake mix. Yes, she used all of them to bake the one cake. Even though it only had two tiers, each tier was thicker and wider than any birthday cake I had ever seen.
Once she finished decorating it, she showed her cake off to all of us. I can’t say that I blamed her since her cake was breathtaking. It was covered in beautiful roses and colorful dainty flower buds. Fancy edgings went along the top rim and sides.
Unfortunately for Mamaw Jo, the day Papaw Janeway was to eat with us, Papaw E.O. let Perkins into their house. Perkins was Papaw’s black hound dog. He named Perkins after a goofy deputy from the TV show, “The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo.”
There was one thing about Perkins that was unlike any other dog Papaw ever had. Perkins was an eating machine. Papaw even took him to the vet. There was nothing wrong with Perkins except the fact he loved to eat. Maybe I should say he lived to eat.
Anyway, Mamaw Jo had sat her cake masterpiece on the kitchen counter and went about doing other stuff in the house. Then Papaw asked her if she had seen Perkins since he was being so quiet. She immediately ran to her cake, but it was too late. She found Perkins standing on his hind legs while he was eating Mamaw Jo’s masterpiece. He ate it so fast that by the time she reached him, he had eaten half of the huge cake.
“There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.” Proverbs 19:21 (KJV)
It happens to everybody. No, not a dog eating your birthday cake. At times, we all have had our best laid out plans go awry. That can be frustrating or even heartbreaking, but rest assured we serve a God whose plans will never falter. Best of all, there’s nothing that Satan or mere humans can do to change that.
While we all were disappointed over Perkins’ choice for a “snack,” nobody was upset. Not even Mamaw Jo. Instead, we all laughed at the absurdity of it. How many people can honestly say, “My hound dog Perkins ate my birthday cake.”
Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. And she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.