Friday, March 5th, 2004

     Yesterday was Miner’s Day and Henry had so much fun. He’s at an age now where he can appreciate all of the fun things that go on at the fair. He ran around with the children his age and we played and had fun. He’s such a happy little boy, and everyone told me how adorable he is—not that they need to tell me.

     It was the perfect day for the fair. We’ve had a really harsh winter this year, but it was as if the sun came out yesterday just for the occasion. The whole town was present to purchase candles and take part in the festivities. There are several competitions that take place on Miner’s Day, and I always participate in two of them: the pastry competition and the pasta cook-off.

     I had to be present for both events, so Kathryn watched Henry while I presented my entries to the judges. He was hungry, anyway, so Kathryn gave him a snack of crackers and apple slices. He munched as the two of them watched me compete.

      The panel was made up of a group chosen by the nuns. Mother Superior was the head of the judge’s panel, followed by Sidney, Miss Blanchard and for the first time, Dr. Whale. He was replacing Mr. Gold, who was liked by no one as a judge but always scored my lasagna high. I felt no need to involve myself in choosing the panel, as I was confident in what I made. The four of them all tried my apple turnover and loved it. Everyone was only supposed to try a bite, but Dr. Whale ate all of his. When the time came to announce the winner, it was no surprise to me when I won the blue ribbon.

     What was a surprise to me was Granny winning first place in the pasta cook-off. Her winning dish: lasagna! My lasagna has won first place ever since a pasta cook-off was introduced at my suggestion. She only started serving lasagna at her restaurant after she tried mine at one of these cook-offs. I’ve had her lasagna before and I guess it’s fine, if you don’t want equal amounts of cheese and meat. And you want the pasta to be so al-dente that the filling squeezes out once you set a fork to it. If that’s what people consider good lasagna to taste like, I won’t argue. I just get even.

     This morning, I stepped into Granny’s diner and out of the freezing rain that had returned. Ruby and Granny stood behind the counter as Granny instructed her how to fill out a ledger. Ruby smiled at me and seemed relieved to have someone interrupt.

     “I’m sorry that I have to be there bearer of bad news.” I would say that Granny grimaced at my words, but her face always looks like that. “It has just come to my attention that the town has an ordinance that won’t allow people to teach any classes that could potentially injure someone unless they’re certified by the state. This means your aerobics class, Ruby, so I’m sorry, but you need to stop teaching. I’m just as surprised and disappointed as you.”

     “I bet you are.” Granny put her hands on her hips. “I suppose this ordinance went into effect this morning?”

     “No it didn’t.” Yes it did. “It’s actually been on the books for quite a while.” Ever since last night after the Miner’s Day festivities ended.

     “This is ridiculous. No one has ever been injured in one of her classes.”

     “It’s all right.” Ruby chimed in. “I’ll just get certified.”

     “At this time, Storybrooke is not offering any certification classes.” I shrugged.

     “I can find a ton of places that can give me certification on the internet.” The love that Ruby and everyone else seem to have for the internet is not something I share. I can’t control the internet like I could the library or even the television station, but the curse seems to allow it. The only reason I can think of is because people need to stay home in order to use it.

     “I’m sure there are many schools you can find as close as Portland,” I consented, “but they would probably require you prove your ability to teach in person. And no one’s stopping you from going to school to be an aerobics instructor, if that’s what you want to do with your life.”

     Ruby exhaled and her shoulders slumped a little. She looked to her always-frowning grandmother, who certainly didn’t want her to do that with her life.

     “I’ll think about it.” Sometimes it’s just too easy to sway people.

     “I do have a bit of good news.” I turned my collar up and prepared to go back outside. “Our chamber of commerce is going to have their annual luncheon on Friday, and we’d love it if you’d cater it with your first place lasagna. Well, I’ve got to run!”