As Big As You Can Get It

Sonia the Penguin is going to go big in the cake decorating competition this year. Every year she says she’s going to go big and every year she ends up getting second place because she didn’t go big enough.

But not this year. This year when she says she’s going big, she’s going BIG.

“How tall is the cake going to be, Sonia?” Asked Theresa, a Puffin and Sonia’s assistant.

“Imagine a cake so big you can’t even imagine it anymore,” Sonia replied.

Theresa didn’t know what exactly Sonia meant by that. She always talked in riddles and metaphors and Theresa caught their meanings about 40% of the time.

“How high and how many tiers does that size translate to?” Theresa responded while getting a pen and paper ready.

“8 layers!” Sonia said with a flourish, "No, 10!"

“So, 10 layers?” Theresa replied, flatly.

“Yes, a good place to start!” Sonia exclaimed.

Theresa got to work gathering the necessary supplies to create a 10 layer cake. Truth be told the hard part was deciding what exactly the cake was going to be which was really Sonia’s job. Once that’s decided all that’s left for Theresa to do is to make some measurements and make sure oven temperatures are right, then the cake pretty much bakes itself.

Theresa didn’t mind that. Sure, she had some big ideas of her own, but she knew where her real talents lie. She was a much better foreman than an architect, to state it plainly.

Sonia knew this as well, she wouldn't be able to translate even a quarter of her ideas into practice without Theresa. The two had a wonderful working relationship together.

For this reason, Theresa too had been disappointed with the exceedingly regular second-place finishes in the cake decorating competitions. She wanted to be a champion just as much as the next puffin but the feeling had eluded her so far.

This year Sonia and Theresa were ready to go as big as possible. Anything it took to win. The two had spent nearly every day of the previous year talking about how every big idea was in play. No matter what.

"Hey Sonia," Theresa called out just before the tiers were to be made, "What if we do 11 tiers?"

Sonia thought for a moment. 11 was bigger than 10. She was worried about going to 11 but she promised herself if there was a bigger idea to be had she was going to go for it.

"I think 11 would be great," Sonia agreed, "But what about 12?"

“12 layers? My Goodness. Theresa was at a loss for words. But, Theresa promised herself no matter what, this year, she was going to go as big as she could possibly go.

"Yes! Let's do it!" Theresa exclaimed, "Unless..."

Theresa hesitated. She didn't want to say it, but she knew deep down she would regret it her entire life if she didn't...

"What about, 14 layers?" Theresa offered, sheepishly.

Sonia knew she had to say yes. But this was going to be a big mother-honking cake. Could this even be pulled off? Theresa was the foreman, she would know for sure, and she suggested it. But how big is too big?

Sonia had her answer.

"If we can do 14, let's do 14..." Sonia agreed. "But what about..."

The winner of the cake decorating competition that year was Tilly the Badger, she was a first-time winner and so incredibly happy.

The next year, a fish by the name of Sunkin took home the top prize with a cake that beat out the competition by mere millimeters.

The year after that Tilly the Badger regained the top spot with a cake so big it nearly toppled over when a strong gust of wind made its way through the competition space.

As the years went by, however, tale started going around of the Penguin and the Puffin who were busy working on their cake deep in the woods. The Penguin and the Puffin were working on a cake so big it had yet to even be finished. They have been working and working around the clock non-stop for years upon years.

Every baker who henceforth entered the cake competition kept one thought on the Penguin and the Puffin. As the years went by and their absences mounted their legend only grew. Each year the size of this mythical cake got larger and larger. Some even went so far to wonder if the Penguin and the Puffin have had to shed the term layers of cake in favor of the more accurate, stories of cake. In their honor the bakers took to singing a little sea shanty to honor the pair;

May that this not be the year of the Penguin and the Puffin.

May the two keep on workin for the sake of my own work.

For if the Penguin and Puffin be finished and be true.

Then it’s kudos for my cake and also yours too.

All the bakers knew as soon as that cake was done it would be the biggest and best cake that any of them had ever seen.

Until that day came, however, the competition was still wide open.