Charlie Bakes a Cake

Charlie and I
Worked together
At the high school

I taught Home Economics
And we were friendly

Not very friendly
But 'Hi, how are you'
In the hallway
Friendly

Then one day I was sitting in the teacher's lounge
Eating my lunch
When he came in
And asked me
If I'd be willing to do him a favor

It turns out
He and his wife had separated
And his daughter was going to be staying with him
In this apartment he'd gotten
Every weekend

'The thing is,' he said, 'My wife usually cooks for the family.  I was wondering if maybe you could teach me how to make a few things so Callie and I don't have to live off tuna sandwiches.'

I said I'd be glad to help

When my husband and I separated
I didn't know anything about paying bills
And a few of the Math teachers helped me out
So I figured it was just like paying it forward

The thing is, I picked up on bill-paying pretty quickly

Charlie was a little bit slower
When it came to cooking

I knew it was going to be a tedious process
When I told him to start boiling water
And he asked me
If you could buy it pre-boiled

I figured if I could just teach Charlie
Five simple meals
That would be enough to last him
Until he married somebody else
Who could do the cooking for him

Unfortunately, even after a few weeks
Charlie couldn't seem to get the hang
Of cooking

His pork chops were dry
His pasta was soggy
And his baked chicken
Looked like it was going
Through heroin withdrawal

'What about a cake,' he said, 'Can you teach me how to make a cake?'

I was going to explain to him
That if you can't handle
Macaroni and cheese
Then a cake may be a bit out of your league
But then he told me
That his daughter's birthday
Was the following weekend

'I just want to see if I can make her a cake,' he said, 'Even if it's a bad one, at least she'll see that I tried.'

So I taught him
How to bake a cake

And you know, it didn't turn out so bad

It wasn't the prettiest cake I've ever seen

The inside was a little too moist
And the frosting was a little too dense
But...

I don't know

I teach my students
That cooking is all about love

If you cook with love
People can taste it in your food

All the cakes Charlie made for his daughter
The practice ones that I tried
And the final one
That he made the day of her birthday

(He saved me a piece)

They were all made with love
And you could tell

Now I know we're supposed to tell the good with the bad
When we talk about Charlie

We're not supposed to make him out
To be perfect

And trust me, he wasn't perfect

He was the only man I ever met
Who could screw up
Making a baloney sandwich

But he tried, and when he tried
He tried because he wanted to be better
Especially for the ones he loved

Especially for that little girl

When you first start out teaching
You're all about the final grade
And when you get a little older and a little wiser
You learn to reward the journey

How hard someone worked
To get where they are

So I'd give Charlie's cake an 'A'

And he earned it

Believe me, he earned it