Grandma Nora’s apple pie was the one thing everyone requested at family gatherings. She always told them it required three hours of undisturbed attention and one secret step.
Whenever she began baking, the children were sent out of the kitchen. Her husband made his own tea. No one dared interrupt the mysterious process.
At last, her granddaughter Mia offered to help. Nora sliced apples, sprinkled cinnamon, put the pie in the oven, and sat down with a cup of tea. The work had taken barely twenty minutes.
“What about the secret step?” Mia asked.
Nora handed her a recipe card. It said: “Tell everyone it takes three hours.”
Mia laughed. “But why?”
“Because the other two hours and forty minutes,” Nora said, “are the only time nobody asks me to do anything else.”