"Karen"

          Karen took out the pineapple upside-down cake from the oven.  The heat from the huge cast iron frying pan began to seep through her use-worn oven-mitt, and Karen quickly put the skillet on top of the stove.  The old cast iron frying pan had been her grandmother's, as well as the recipe that she used for the pineapple upside-down cake.  She couldn't wait to taste it!  She sniffed the air, savoring it's smell filled with childhood memories and sighed.
         Karen was 5'2", weighed 245 lbs. and her middle just kept growing and growing!  "I look like a weeble-wobble!" she chuckled to herself.  It was the darn recipe book that she was writing!  Every recipe had to be tested several times, and of course, tasted!  O.k. - not just tasted, eaten!  Oh, she tried to dole the food out to others, but ultimately only she could tell for sure if the recipe was just right and worthy of going into the cookbook of family recipes that she was writing.  Karen grabbed a handful of stomach fat that was oozing over her jean belt.  "Just more of me to love!"  She smiled!
          Karen was hosting this week's meeting of the Book Woman Club.  She had volunteered her home at last week's meeting when Rose-ann had hemmed and hawed about holding the meeting at her house.  Rose-ann had never hosted a Book Woman Club meeting, despite the informal agreement among them that everyone would be in the rotation for hosting the club.  Karen made a point of driving by Rose-ann's house, the Tuesday after the meeting to check out these mysteriously on-going renovations and did not see any evidence of a contractor or work truck at Rose-ann's house.  This so-called renovating had been going on for two years and Karen had never seen a truck outside of Rose-ann's house.  She lived around the corner from Karen and if renovating was going on, Karen would know it!  "I'm not buying it!  There is something weird going on with Rose-ann!" Karen thought.  Karen turned off the stove and was taking off her apron, when, she heard the doorbell ring. She looked at her watch.  12 noon.  The meeting wasn't set to start until one o'clock.  She wondered who could be at the door this early!  Karen went to answer the front door and looked out the peep-hole. "Speak of the devil!" Karen said to herself.   It was Rose-ann!
          "Good afternoon, Rose-ann!  Come on in.  You're the first one here this week!"  Karen's eyes followed Rose-ann as she came through the door, a shopping bag in one hand and in the other, a pitcher of something red, the top covered in layers of plastic wrap.  "Well - I felt a little guilty for not being able to host again, due to the renovations and all, so I thought I would come early and help you set up for the meeting.  I brought a pitcher of my special cranberry punch, and...", Rose-ann handed Karen the shopping bag, "I brought you a gift."  "Well, this is a surprise!" Karen said, taking the shopping bag.  "Why don't you bring that punch in the kitchen and put it in the refrigerator?"  Rose-ann followed Karen into the kitchen.  "Can I offer you some coffee, tea?" Karen asked.  "Oh, no!  I'm fine." Rose-ann put the pitcher of cranberry punch in the refrigerator, while Karen put the shopping bag on the kitchen table and sat down in a chair.  "So what do we have here?"  Karen began to take a dozen or so tissue wrapped packages out of the shopping bag.  She folded back the tissue paper from one of the bundles, as Rose-ann sat down in the chair next to her.  "Oh my goodness! This is beautiful!"  Karen held a glass bead about the size of a donut-hole in the palm of her hand, admiring its dark green color.  "It's made of re-cycled bottle glass", Rose-ann explained.  Karen unwrapped another tissue package and held up a white bead, about 2 inches in diameter and about 6 inches long.  It was shaped like a tube.  "That one is made of stone....I forget what kind.  I got it from an African vendor at the State Fair last year." Rose-ann shared.  "Are all of these packets filled with beads?" asked Karen.  "Yes", answered Rose-ann,  "And all of them are from Africa!  I thought you could use them for your jewelry-making."
          Karen made jewelry out of beads that she collected from around the world.  Many of the women in the Book Woman Book Club bought and wore Karen's jewelry.  She was a good designer and had earned quite a reputation for her jewelry.  All of the women in the Book Woman Club agreed that Karen should leave Syracuse and go to a bigger city; L.A. or New York City.  They felt that Karen's talent was bigger than the opportunities little old backwards Syracuse had to offer, and that she would make it "big" if she were in a more progressive market.
          "Well! I don't know what to say!  This is so generous of you!  Thank you, Rose-ann!"  Karen reached over and gave Rose-ann a big hug!  "Now, I'll only accept these if you let me design a necklace for you."   "No, no Karen!"  Rose-ann waved her hand in the air.  "That's not necessary! I have so many beads, and I wanted to share them with you!  I am just so glad that you were able to host this weeks' meeting.  It's the least I could do, you know, with my house still under renovation.  I can't wait to see what you design!"  "Well - thank you again!  So... Rose-ann.  Tell me about these "renovations" that have been going on and on!  What going in that house of yours?  Can I come over and see your works in progress?"  Karen moved her chair closer to Karen's and leaned in, curious as to what Rose-ann would say.
          Rose-ann sat up straighter as Karen leaned close, and she began to stamper.  "W-W-Well, uh, I, uh...I'm remodeling the kitchen right now.  Put-t-tin' in new plumbing, sinks, cabinets, floors....y-y-you, uh, know.  So I couldn't cook...and you know, there's this dust - yeah, this dust floating around everywhere, I mean....you wouldn't be able to breath...you know....!"  Rose-ann was completely flustered, nervously wringing her hands and breaking out in a sweat!  Karen was about to move in for "the kill"; ready to share her suspicion that Rose-ann wasn't renovating and about to ask what really was going on, when the door-bell rang.  "I'll get it!", Rose-ann shouted, and ran for the front door!  "Wow!", thought Karen.  "What is going on here?"  Karen got up from her seat just as Rose-ann loudly announced the arrival of Erica.  "Another one with secrets", thought Karen.  "Humph!"  The doorbell rang again.  "I got it!" Rose-ann again shouted.  "It's Alsha!"  Karen wrapped each bead in their tissue paper packets and put them back in the shopping bag.  "This is a really beautiful bribe!", she thought.  "I wander what Rose-ann is hiding?"  Karen headed for the living-room.  "Let the games begin!" she muttered to herself!