Papa and my brothers built a summer kitchen on the back of the house. The cook stove burned all day, even in hottest weather so Mama could bake in the summer kitchen now and the rest of the house stayed cooler.

The stores in La Junta were built around a square and the park in the square was smack dab in the middle of our growing city. Now that the tents had been removed the City fathers built a bandstand so the town band could entertain folks on the 4th of July.

We were going to the big celebration. I was anxious to see how the new trees were growing. The day before the 4th of July Mama and started cooking. I helped her. We made a big pan of potato salad and fried up several chickens. Mama baked a cake and fixed some extra special light rolls. I wanted to try my hand at doing something besides peeling potatoes. I wanted to learn how to bake.

"Can I bake cookies, Mama?" I asked.

"Well, I don't know, Sarah," Mama hesitated.

"Please Mama," I begged. "Cookies would taste good on our picnic."

"Well, all right," she answered. "I'm going to the garden, so you wait until I get back and I'll help you bake some cookies."

I couldn't see why I had to wait, I didn't want her to help me. I wanted to do it myself. I'd watched Mama make cookies many times and I figured I knew how to do them. There was nothing to it. If I hurried I would be all done when Mama came back in. Wouldn't they be surprised when they saw I had cookies ready for the picnic?

I got out the things I needed, measured the butter carefully, put in the sugar and eggs and started stirring. It looked good enough to me, so I added the flour. Just then Oscar came running over to the summer kitchen. He stopped when he saw me.

"What are you doing?" He asked. "You're not baking something are you?"

"Of course I am," I told him. "I'm baking cookies."

"I can imagine how awful they're going to taste. Just don't burn them." He untied my apron.

"Stop it, you're bothering me." I shook my spoon at him and he ran off laughing as I fixed my apron strings.

Now where was I? I had put some of the flour in, but had I put in the soda? Mama said cookies had to have soda in order for them to raise, so I put in some soda.

That's when Albert came over to see what I was doing.

"You're cooking?" He asked and made an ugly face at me.

"Yes, I am." I was tired of this. "And if you don't be nice to me I won't let you eat any of my cookies."

"I don't see why Mama trusted you to make cookies all by yourself." He tried to stick his finger into the cookie dough.

"Keep your hands out," I ordered and slapped at his hand just like Mama did. He laughed and ran out.

I looked at the cookie batter. It still needed more flour, but what about the soda? I wasn't sure, so it wouldn't hurt to put more soda in it.

Just then Frank came along.

"Oh, good," he said. "About time you were learning how to cook."

I beamed. Let's see, now had I put in the soda? I wasn't sure, better make sure. I didn't want flat cookies.

I finally got them all mixed up, spooned them onto the baking pans and stuck the pans in the oven. I was proud of my cookies.

It was getting hot in the summer kitchen with the stove burning, but I stayed there, even if I did have to wipe sweat off of my face. I watched my cookies real close and when they looked brown enough I took one of Mama's pot holders and took them out just like Mama did. They raised so nice. I felt grown up, but I was too hot. This was work and I was ready to play. I put the pans of cookies on the counter that Papa had built and was just coming out of the summer kitchen when I met Mama.

"Whatever have you been doing?" She asked. Then she saw the cookies. "I told you to wait until I got through."

"I got tired of waiting," I tried to excuse myself.

"Well, they look all right," she said. "But where do you think you're going?"

"I'm tired of cooking," I answered. "I was going to find Oscar and Albert."

"Seems to me you're gettin' mighty tired of everything, Sadie," She looked at the counter and the dirty dishes. "And did you expect me to clean up after you?"

"Oh," I hadn't remembered those dishes. "I was going to clean things up first." I hastily put my apron back on and picked up the dishes.

"I'm glad to hear that," Mama said. She handed me a pan to put the cookies in. "Your cookies raised real nice. I'm sure they'll taste good at the picnic tomorrow."

"I can hardly wait to taste them," I said as I washed the mixing bowl. "I stirred them just like you do Mama."

"Well, I still wish you had waited for me," she said. "But it seems to have turned out all right."

They looked delicious. I proudly put them into the bowl. I could hardly wait for Oscar and Albert to taste my first cookies.

We started for the park the next morning right after chores were done and we'd all had breakfast.

"La Junta's really growing." Papa said as we passed the new hotel. "I heard the other day that they're thinking of building a new school."

"Wish they'd get rid of the saloons. Three saloons are just too many," Mama said. "How many people do you reckon we have now?"

"I heard at the election that there are 285 people now but only 37 showed up to vote." Papa said. "La Junta has 33 women now."

"We need more women too." Mama sighed.

"We've got two restaurants, the grocers, an ice house, Wells Fargo, a blacksmith shop and barber shop now." Pa said. "That's a lot of building."

"We're going to be as big as Denver City before we know it," Albert said.

"We'll stop at the Trading Post on the way home," Pa said. "And pick up the corn."

"Okay." Mama liked the corn from the Indian Trading Post for canning.

As we went by the trading post an Indian Squaw with a blanket wrapped around her was walking beside a Brave. She sat down outside of the Trading Post.

There was a big crowd in the park and everyone brought basket lunches. All of my brothers ran in the races that morning. Too bad they didn't have a girls' race, I could run almost as fast as Oscar. I nearly yelled my voice hoarse when my brothers were running around the track. Albert got a ribbon for third place, but the older boys said he was close to getting second ribbon. Oscar didn't place. Mama said he needed to lift more buckets so he would be stronger.

"You'll get a chance next year," Albert told Oscar as he proudly pinned his ribbon on.

The fun was only starting. There was going to be some patriotic speeches and a pony race. In the afternoon there would be a big baseball game in the vacant lot. My brothers, Doc, Bill and John were on the team. What an exciting day!

The new La Junta band was tuning up and we sat on the lawn to listen to the music. They sounded good to me even if Papa did say they hit some sour notes.

"All that running made me hungry Ma," Albert said. "Seems like forever since breakfast."

"Me too," Sammy added. Mama said Albert and Oscar were born hungry, but all the boys agreed their stomachs were growling because they were so empty.

A barrel of water was placed at every corner of the park with a dipper in it. Everybody used the same cup to drink out of.

Mama spread a tablecloth on the grass and started taking the good things out of the basket. We would have cake and my delicious cookies for dessert. I'd show Albert and Oscar what a good cook I was.

Nothing ever tasted better than that picnic lunch sitting on the lawn. The fried chicken and potato salad mixed good with the new La Junta band.

"Well, Sarah," Mama said as she cut the cake. "You may pass out your cookies, now." I proudly held the bowl while my brothers each took a cookie.

"They look good," Albert said. "Guess I was wrong. You can cook." He took several and bit into one, made a face and headed at a high speed toward the barrel at the corner of the park. Then Oscar took off to toward the barrel.

"What's the matter?" I asked as I took a big bite of cookie. That's when I determined why my brothers were dashing toward the barrels. I took off running. The cookies tasted strange, I needed to wash my mouth out from that bite.

"Sadie." Mama was laughing when I got back. She was wiping her eyes. "How much soda did you put in those cookies?"

I tried to remember. "Well, I wanted to make sure they would be nice and fluffy."

"I think you used a little too much," Papa said.

"I was right after all," Albert laughed. "You can't cook."

I agreed. "I think I need to have Mama show me a little more." The boys all teased me.

"Let's save the cookies," Sammy said. "Whenever we have an upset stomach we can eat one of Sadie's cookies."

It's a good thing we had a lot of cake to eat.

I learned to bake a lot of things later, but my brothers never did let me forget my first cookie experience.