CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY SIX – ENCOURAGEMENT

The other judges had begun circling curiously, peering at Tiffany's dessert as one would a rare and exotic bird. A tall, reedy man in overalls actually leaned over and sniffed it with abject reverence. Ruth-Ann silenced them all with an impatient clap of her hands. "If you're all quite finished slobbering?" Her piercing gaze landed accusingly on Kayla's now utterly pedestrian-looking offerings. "Ms. Storm, I wish you'd have put as much effort into your presentation as Ms. Moore here." Kayla felt the righteous indignation rising hot and venomous in her throat. She opened her mouth, fully prepared to unleash the full force of her fury on this fussy judging hag and her bullshit standards. Before she could get a single word out, however, twin forks stabbed down into her precious pies like rancid butter knives. Ruth-Ann and her crony judges frowned severely as they burrowed into the lovingly baked crusts, faces already screwed up with derision. "Well, it's certainly...dense," Ruth-Ann d