The Adventures of Marvin Theodore Harvey:
Award Winning Bean Pies
By Michael Biagiotti
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PUBLISHED BY
The Adventures of Marvin Theodore Harvey:
Award Winning Bean Pies
copyright 2013
www.veryboringplace.com
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The Adventures of Marvin Theodore Harvey:
Award Winning Bean Pies
It’s early Sunday morning and it’s the day of the local pie baking contest. Marvin, Daffodil, Marla and Albert are helping Larue make one of her delicious bean pies.
Daffodil says to Larue, “You make the best bean pies ever.”
Marvin adds, “I never knew a pie made from beans could taste sweet like a pumpkin pie.”
“Yeah,” says Albert, “I thought beans were only served at barbecues.”
“Thank you guys for helping me,” says Larue, “My Mama Grazie taught me this recipe before she passed away. Now, when I bake them, it reminds me of all the good times we had together. She always said the two most important ingredients are friendship and love. She said you can never get enough of those.”
Everyone is ready to work. Larue directs the action, “Marla, crack some eggs! Albert, get some beans! Marvin, get the flour! Daffodil, get ready to roll the dough!”
They follow Mama Grazie’s recipe exactly, working carefully so as not to make any mistakes. They make both the bean filling and the pie crust. For the final step, they pour the filling into the crust and bake it for about an hour. The mouth watering smell of the baking pie wafts through the air.
When it’s finally time to take it out of the oven, Larue says, “Not only does it smell perfect, it looks perfect too.”
As tempting as it is to have a slice, they put in a pie box and start walking to the contest. The time it takes to get there is the exact time the pie needs to properly cool down before it can be eaten.
When they arrive, they get in the official entry line. Lots of other folks are there entering the contest. Besides the smell of the delicious pies, there’s also a warm, welcoming feeling in the air.
One pie maker says to another, “I can’t wait to see what you’ve made this year. Your pies are always so delicious.”
Another replies, “Thank you. I love making pies and sharing them with everyone.”
But that warm, welcoming feeling quickly goes away when Ms. Beatrice Bitterkins shows up. Since Mama Grazie passed away, she always wins the annual pie baking contest. Before that, Mama Grazie always won. Ms. Bitterkins was jealous and couldn’t stand that Mama Grazie was considered a better pie maker than her.
Mama Grazie once told her, “Ms. Bitterkins, you’re such a good baker. I bet you’d be even better if you baked with a bit more love. Love is one ingredient you can never get enough of.”
Ms. Bitterkins responded, “How silly. Don’t you try to ruin my recipes. My pies don’t need love or anything else you might think of. Hmmph.”
Ms. Bitterkins never takes advice from anyone. She feels there’s no reason to even think about changing her recipes since she already considers herself the best pie maker ever.
She often thinks, “When I’m a famous pie maker, I will leave this town for good and everyone will be jealous.”
Ms. Bitterkins bakes alone because she doesn’t trust anyone else in her kitchen. Not only is there a chance someone will make a mistake, she thinks someone might try to steal her secret recipes. The few times she did allow someone to help her, she was constantly yelling about things being done wrong. Because of her poor behavior, most people in town don’t like her very much. But as unlikeable as she may be, it can’t be denied that her baked treats are delicious.
She gets in line right behind Larue.
When Ms. Bitterkins looks down and sees Larue, she boasts, “I know you, and I’m sure you know me. I’m Ms. Beatrice Bitterkins. Your mother may have once been known as the best pie maker, but now I am. You’ll never win. You shouldn’t waste anyone’s time by entering.”
Larue doesn’t say anything but instead stares down at the floor. She knows all about her. Ms. Bitterkins is mean and makes Larue nervous. She makes all of them nervous. They turn away from her and don’t look back. When they get to the front of the line, they speak with a woman who is there to enter everyone in the contest. She is very pleasant and welcoming.
As they approach the desk, she says, “What’s your name and what type of pie did you make?”
“My name’s Larue and I made a bean pie.”
“A bean pie?” says the woman, “Very interesting. The last person to enter a bean pie was Mama Grazie.”
“Yes ma’am,” say Larue, “I learned how to make it from my Mama Grazie. It’s an old family recipe. Today my friends helped me make it with friendship and love.”
They’re startled when Ms. Bitterkins bellows, “Friendship and love… Hmmph! How silly. Enough of your chit chat. I’m in a hurry. Move along!”
They cringe as she says this and don’t dare turn around to look at her. Finally, the nice woman at the desk says to Larue, “That’s wonderful. That’s how everything should be made. I look forward to tasting it. At 4 o’clock we’ll announce the winner and afterwards we’ll sample all the pies. Good luck Larue.”
Ms. Bitterkins gives them a scowl as they walk away. When they step outside, they’re relieved to be away from her.
Marla says, “Meep meep meep meep.”
Marvin adds, “I don’t like her either and I’m happy to be away from her. What are we going to do for the next four hours?”
“I’m nervous and that’s a long time to wait around,” says Larue, “I want to be far away from Ms. Bitterkins.”
“Let’s go back to the woods and play for a few hours,” suggests Albert, “We won’t even think about the contest and then at 4 o’clock we’ll come back here.”
Daffodil declares, “We’ve done all the work and made the best bean pie possible. If it’s meant to be, we’ll win. Let’s go play!”
Everyone agrees it’s a good idea. Although they think about the contest while they’re palaying, they don’t talk about it. They don’t want to jinx it.
Marvin finally yells, “It’s almost 4 o’clock!”.
As soon as he says that, everyone stops what they’re doing and starts running back to the contest. When they arrive, there’s a small crowd gathered. Ms. Bitterkins stands by herself, away from the crowd. She wears a smug look on her face that says she already believes she’s won. All the pies are set out on a big table. The woman who was at the desk earlier is now on a small stage in front of the crowd.
She announces, “First, I want to thank everyone for entering the contest. All the pies were delicious. I could tell they were baked with love. And as I was reminded earlier, love is the most important ingredient. So let’s get right to it. As always, we’ll have a winner and a runner-up. It was a difficult decision, but this years runner-up prize goes to Ms. Bitterkins. That means we have a new winner this year… Larue with her Mama Grazie’s bean pie! Both of you come up on stage and accept your trophies.”
Ms. Bitterkins is shocked. She yells, “This can’t be right. Me! Ms. Beatrice Bitterkins losing to a child. I’m the best pie maker this town has ever seen.”
She grabs her pie with a huff and walks off. The crowd “boos” her as she leaves.
The woman on stage declares, “What a sore loser. No one likes a sore loser. But enough of that nonsens
e. Larue, come up on stage and get your trophy.”
Larue goes on stage and says, “Thank you so much for this trophy. Mama Grazie would be proud. My best friends helped me bake this pie today, so not only was it made with love, it was also made with friendship.”
After the crowd applauds, the woman announces, “Let’s eat some pies!”
Everyone tries a bit of each pie, which all taste delicious. At the end of the day Larue even gets her picture taken for the local newpaper.
As they’re leaving, Larue says to her friends, “Thanks guys for helping me bake the winning bean pie. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
They sing a song as they walk home.
“We baked a pie for the contest today,
It was made the Mama Grazie way,
We followed the recipe with no mistakes,
And added love to make it taste great,
Ms. Bitterkins was being rude,
She didn’t think she’d ever lose,
But our pie came in first place,
We got the trophy at the end of the day.”
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Later that week, as Albert is walking through the woods, he comes across a balding man with glasses wearing a fancy suit and carrying a briefcase.
Albert says, “Hello sir. Are you lost? You don’t look like you should be in the woods. You look like you should be in the city.”
The man looks at him crossly and replies, “No. I’m not lost. My name Mr. Walter Pinbuckle, and I work for the Big City Pie Company. I’m here to find the winner of the local pie baking contest. I’m looking for Larue. Can you help me find her?”
Albert asks, “Why do you want to find Larue?”
Mr. Pinbuckle replies, “I want to talk to her about pies. It could be very profitable for her.”
Although Albert isn’t sure what profitable means, he says, “Yeah. I know Larue. My name’s Albert and I’ll take you to her. Follow me!”