Clouds of flour fill the air as Virgina turns the kitchen upside down in manic excitement. She’s already behind schedule.

Even with things planned down to the second, Virginia always seems to be teetering on the edge of disaster. Clyde sits at the kitchen table, knowing better than to step into the tornado that is Virginia and her sharp kitchen tools. 

“Anything I can do to help?” Clyde asks, hoping dearly that the answer is no. 

“Actually, there’s one thing.” Virginia replies, stopping in her tracks. “I’m out of sugar. I thought I had enough, but I could use a bit more. Would you mind stepping out to grab some?” 

“Sure. I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”

“But,” Virginia looks up, with puppy dog eyes. “We don’t have that kind of time. Can’t you just…?”

“No way, Virginia. It’s not worth the trouble.”

Clyde has always had a hard time denying Virginia. Yet, when it comes to the timestream, Clyde is a steadfast upholder of the law. 

Virginia - less so. 

“It’ll just take a second. You just need to go to the grocery store and come back. It’s barely even 15 minutes in the timestream and you’re not travelling that far. I don’t think you’re going to change history because you were at the grocery store 20 minutes ago.”

“No, Virginia. I could get in a heap of trouble.”

Virginia shuts down the oven from its preheat cycle. She wipes the counter and sits down.

“What are you doing?”

“I can’t make cookies without sugar, Clyde.” 

“You have sugar.”

“Not enough.”

Clyde and Virginia sit at the kitchen table. Neither doing anything. 

A stalemate. 

Virginia knows she’s winning when Clyde’s leg starts to bounce. An obvious tell. When he looks over at Virginia, she’s picking at her nails. Unwavering and offering nothing in return. 

“Fine!” Clyde says, getting up from his seat. “I’ll be back in one second.”

Clyde grabs his keys and heads to the car. Just one second later, a large flash lights up the kitchen. He’s back.  

“Here you go.” He hands the sugar over to Virginia. 

She gives him a close look. She can sense something is off. 

“Everything alright there?”

“Yeah, totally,” Clyde says all too quickly. 

“You just went to the grocery store? Nowhere else?” 

“I didn’t want to do any more than I had to. I could get in trouble. Just in and out.”

“Hmm. Alright.”

Clyde takes his seat back at the kitchen table. He does so more cautiously than usual. He lifts the chair so it doesn’t make a sound dragging across the floor. 

Virginia uses the sugar to finish off her mixture in the bowl. She quickly mixes it and starts to lay out generous bulbs of cookie dough on a baking sheet. All the while, watching Clyde in the corner of her eye. 

Usually, Clyde would jump in around now to steal a mound and pop it into his mouth. This time, he’s sitting at the table staring a hole into the salt shaker. 

“Did you run into anyone at the grocery store?”

“Of course not. I tried to keep a low profile.”

“Oh, good.”

He was always a bad liar. Virginia puts the baking sheet in the oven. 

“Can you watch these for a bit?” 

“Sure,” Clyde says, relieved. 

Virginia walks out of the kitchen when a flash of light fills the room. Two TimeKeepers grab Clyde out of the chair. As they drag him out of the kitchen, Virginia leans against the doorway. 

“Do me a favour. Next time you decide to step out, find a girl who uses less perfume. It’s ruining the smell of my cookies.”