Mum paused a recipe video after every step so dinner would be perfect.
She chopped, stirred and waited exactly when the cook did.
After forty minutes, the pan was still cold.
Dad watched the screen and asked one small question.
Mum had chosen a video called Easy Dinner in Twenty Minutes.
She placed the tablet beside the cooker and copied every move.
When the cook chopped an onion, Mum chopped an onion.
When the cook stirred the sauce, Mum stirred the sauce.
When the video jumped ahead five minutes, Mum waited five minutes beside the pan.
Dad came in and asked when dinner would be ready.
Twenty minutes, Mum said. The video has promised.
Twenty minutes later, the onions were still hard and the sauce looked exactly like cold tomatoes.
Mum replayed the video.
She had used the same pan. She had counted the same spoonfuls. She had even smiled when the cook smiled.
Dad watched from the beginning.
The cook placed a pan on the stove. The camera changed angle. A blue flame was already burning underneath.
Dad looked at their cooker.
He asked whether Mum had turned it on.
Mum said the video never told her to.
Dad reached for the switch.
Mum stopped him.
Wait, she said. That might be in the comments.
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