Is there anything more appealing than a freshly-made scone spread thickly with jam and cream*?

Blimey – why I didn’t think up a regular blog slot beforehand, I do not know. It’s much easier to write (and schedule ahead) when you know exactly what you are going to be writing on a particular day…

Once again then, friends, we find ourselves at Flash Fiction Friday. There are quite a few other flash fiction blogs out there and words counts vary – anything from 20 words (or the Twitter 140 characters) up to 1,000. In my book, 1,000 words counts as a short story, but I have also noted that Prima looks for 800-word stories every month for its magazine. And you can win £100. Worth trying, hmm?

Anyway, here’s this Friday’s flash fiction effort…

Baked to Perfection

“I’ve been making cakes,” announced Jed, “baking’s really therapeutic isn’t it?”

Anita looked at what he’d done. Covering the kitchen table were beautifully decorated cupcakes, slices of malt loaf, treacle scones and an elaborately iced, three-tier fruit cake. Her mouth watered.

Where to start? Should she try scones, fresh from the oven and thickly buttered? Or should she slice into fruit cake and cram her mouth with dried fruit, marzipan and sugar paste?

“I’ll get a plate,” she murmured, the doctor’s prescription still in her handbag. Blood test results back that morning: type 2 diabetes and coeliac disease…

*Photo taken from the BBC Good Food website. The recipe for this scone is here.