Tell your story#12 - The "naked cake"

“Laughter is the closest distance between two people.”

There is this private investigator in South Africa, Mike Bolhuis. Let me rather call him, as he names himself, a “specialist investigator.” What a character! He is one of those who you either love or hate. When I look at him, I have to ask myself if character matters. No, it doesn’t when you are getting results and when you have a good heart, which he has indeed.
Well, if someone was willing, once upon a time, to put a price of 4 million South African rands (+/- 230,000 dollars) on his head, he must be getting something right.

Anyway, now and again he will host a show on our national television about the cases he and his team investigated. Lately, he is on for a different reason. He is on to dissolve disputes between friends, family members, neighbors, strangers, and yes, businesses. Let’s call him South Africa’s Judge Judy. Although I love watching Judge Judy with her no-nonsense attitude, I was not interested in watching Mike’s new show. Well, that was until last week.

After a tiring bookkeeping session, I made a cup of tea and sat in front of the television to enjoy it. As I was paging up and down wondering what I would watch while enjoying my tea, I saw Mike’s program. Oh well, it won’t do any harm to look what it was all about, I told myself.

Well, I would not be here writing about it if I didn’t enjoy it. Oh gosh, I laughed so much that tears were streaming down my face and my tea was forgotten.

Mike, this time, found himself to be the “judge” between a caterer, his influencer client, and the naked cake.

While preparing for the client’s son's 21st birthday, he received a WhatsApp message from her. In the rush to arrange the big party, she forgot to order a cake. She asked him if he would help her out. He told her he would help and wanted to know what she had in mind. She replied that any cake would do, and then she also added “a naked cake.”

The caterer baked the cake and sent his mother-in-law to deliver it before the event started. When she arrived, the client opened the box with huge excitement as the cake was going to be the highlight of the event. Well, it was not to be.

Our Steemians bakers will know that a “naked cake” is a cake with less icing sugar. When the client opened the box, she did not find a so-called naked cake—a cake with little icing sugar but a cake in the shape of a naked woman. Okay, not completely naked, as there were at least two stars on the nipples of the Dubble D breasts and a skimpy panty at the bottom.

The caterer knows what a naked cake is, but as it was the son’s 21st, he thought the mother wanted to welcome him into the adult world with a “naked cake,” so he rose to the occasion. Oh my gosh! I burst out laughing. I could just imagine the shock on the woman’s face.
As it was too late to replace it, she had to serve. All that was left was for her to make sure that nobody saw it. She cut and served the slice of cake upside down from the back of the venue.

As the two were telling Mike the story, they both had smiles on their faces and laughter in their voices, which reminded me of those words of Victor Borge, “Laughter is the closest distance between two people.”

I needed to tell you that Mike, who hardly ever smiled, was also smiling.

You might be wondering why the two of them were seeing Mike, as there was still laughter between them. Well, after the ordeal, the caterer apologized to his client and promised to bake her a real “naked cake.” Two years down the line, and she has still not received the cake.

Mike had no choice but to tell the caterer that he was in the wrong, and he gave him 48 hours to bake a proper “naked cake” for his client, leaving both parties still with smiles on their faces.

Upon their being ushered from Mike’s chambers, the caterer turned around and told Mike that he had something for him. He put a cake box in front of Mike, and when it was opened, it was a naked cake—not the “naked cake” with little icing sugar but the same cake delivered to his client. One look at Mike’s face, and I had my second spell of laughter. It was priceless!

I came to a conclusion, and it is not that we must make sure we tell the caterer or baker exactly what we are looking for but that we laugh too little.

Let laughter be the reason for us closing the gaps between us and people and not a “naked cake.”

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