This time, he vowed, he would get it just right. This time he would follow the recipe to the letter. No substituting. No improvising. He would bake her the best birthday cake ever. The ingredients were mixed, the batter poured. He smiled with satisfaction. That’s when the oven caught fire.

Nick Young is a retired award-winning CBS News Correspondent. In addition to 50-Word Stories, his writing has appeared in more than thirty publications including the Pennsylvania Literary Journal, The Garland Lake Review, The Best of CaféLit 11 and Vols. I and II of the Writer Shed Stories anthologies. His first novel, “Deadline”, was published in September. He lives outside Chicago.