Everything had to be perfect.

Clark woke up before everyone else did, and he tiptoed down to the kitchen. Lex was 14 today. Clark didn't have any money to buy a present, and he'd already drawn him so many pictures that the drawer in his bedroom desk was full. Today, he was going to make a cake all by himself.

He went over to the cabinet where Mom kept her recipe book. He was getting better at reading, so he was pretty sure he could follow the directions. When Mom was cooking, she usually just dumped spices into the pot without measuring them.

The first part was a list of ingredients, with cup measurements. Clark didn't really know how to measure ingredients, but he was pretty sure it didn't matter too much, as long as all the right ingredients were there and he mixed them up enough.

? the oven to 350.

Clark didn't know what that first word was. It started with a P. He thought about asking Mom for help, but he didn't want to—he could do it by himself. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to use the oven, but it wasn't like it could burn him. He climbed up onto the counter and started pressing buttons on the oven. It didn't look like anything was happening, but then the number came on the screen! Perfect.

? a 9-inch pan.

Another word Clark didn't know, it started with a G. Hopefully that step wasn't too important. He also didn't know how big 9 inches was, so he pulled out the pan Mom usually used to fry bacon. That should be big enough.

Stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

Clark could read all of those words! He looked through the cabinets and put everything in the middle of the floor, then found a big bowl and a wooden spoon.

He tasted the sugar first. It was really good! That would make the cake taste good, so he filled up half of the bowl with sugar.

The flour didn't taste as good. He wasn't sure how much to put in. At the top, it said "2 cups," so he went to get his favorite dinosaur cup and filled it up twice.

The lid on the cocoa powder was stuck. Clark ended up having to use a little bit of his super strength to get it off, but then it flew across the room, and cocoa powder flew everywhere! The floor, some of the cabinets were covered, and all over Clark. Some of it got in the cake, too, though, and that was the important part.

The baking soda, baking powder, and salt all tasted GROSS! He just put a little bit in. He knew salt was really good on potatoes, so he put a little extra of the salt. Then, he stirred it all up, only spilling a little over the side of the bowl.

Add the milk, eggs, oil, and ?

Mom always said the milk jug was heavy—Clark didn't have any problem lifting it, but it was awkward to pour, and he ended up spilling some of it over the side. He made sure to put in lots of milk, since that would make Mom happy—she was always bugging him to drink his milk.

The eggs were a much bigger problem. He had no idea how to crack eggs. He experimented with a couple of them on the floor, but the shells just got crushed into a million pieces. He finally decided to just crush the egg in his hand and then try to take out as much of the shell as he could when it was in the cake. He took out the biggest pieces, then hid the other ones under the other ingredients so no one would see them. He checked the list at the top—it said 2 eggs, so he did that twice.

He was surprised to see oil on the list. The week before, Dad was showing him how he changed the oil in his car. Clark didn't know the oil was a food ingredient! But actually, that made sense—it was what the car ate. Also gasoline. But this recipe didn't have any gasoline in it. Clark snuck out to the garage to get the oil, and he poured some of it into the bowl.

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Finally, that last word. It started with a V. He looked around for awhile for ingredients that started with V, and found a bottle of clear liquid that smelled like the stuff Mom used to dye easter eggs. Maybe that meant it would make the cake look pretty. He poured in a bunch.

Back to the recipe:

Mix for two minutes on medium speed.

Clark could do that. He used the wooden spoon and mixed up the ingredients. He went a little too fast at first and splashed a bunch onto one of the cabinets, but he slowed down after that. They smelled really weird. Mostly like cocoa powder, but also kind of like the garage. But that was just because the cake wasn't done yet.

He poured the batter into the pan—not all of it fit, so he just filled the pan up to the top—then he put the pan in the oven. He tripped on the bag of flour on the way over, and some of the flour sprayed across the room, but he didn't spill too much of the batter onto the front of the oven, so it was okay.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

Mom had showed Clark how to use the kitchen timer, but he couldn't remember, so he would just have to take the cake out when it felt like it had been 30 minutes.

Clark stepped back and looked around the kitchen. Mom always said a messy kitchen was the sign of a happy home. Their home was the happiest!

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Martha had heard Clark clambering out of bed and down the stairs before the crack of dawn. That boy was about as sneaky as an elephant. She wasn't sure what he was up to, though she figured it had something to do with surprising Lex. She snuggled up next to Jonathan and decided to give it an hour.

Forty-five minutes later, she was starting to smell something awfully strange. Martha kissed Jonathan on the cheek and went down to the kitchen.

She was not expecting what she found. There was batter all over one cabinet and the front of the oven, cocoa powder all across another cabinet, spilled milk tracked all over the floor, and a few crushed eggs by the refrigerator. Scattered around the floor were typical baking ingredients—flour, sugar, eggs, milk, and, for some reason, motor oil. And Clark, right in the middle of it in his pajamas, covered in cocoa powder and grinning ear to ear.

She took a deep breath, counted backwards from ten in her head, and forced her tone to remain pleasant. "Clark? What's this?"

"I'm surprising Lex!" He jumped up onto his feet and bounced on his toes. "I made him a cake! Because he's the best big brother ever and I want to be the best little brother ever!"

Her heart positively melted.

"Only . . . I forgot to make a frosting."

She scooped up her precious boy in her arms—he was getting too big to be picked up, but she wanted to enjoy every moment while she still could. "You've worked really hard this morning. Why don't you go out and visit with the horses, and I'll take care of the frosting? Dad will be out pretty soon, and you can start on chores."

"Okay! But Lex doesn't have to do any chores today, right? Because it's his birthday."

"That's true. He might come out anyway." Martha doubted it would be very soon, though—their teenager would sleep until 1 in the afternoon if he was allowed. She set Clark down and gave him a pat on the back. "Go."

He scurried out of the house. As soon as he was gone, she set to work cleaning the kitchen and baking a new cake. She took the mess Clark had made out of the oven—she did the best she could cleaning out her frying pan, but was pretty sure it would never be the same.

Jonathan came downstairs while the cake was baking. She gave him the short version of what had happened, and he laughed and kissed her before going out to begin work for the day.

The cake was cooling, and Martha was working on making frosting, when Lex came down into the kitchen, eyes still puffy from sleep.

"Morning, sweetheart."

"Morning, Martha."

"Happy birthday."

"Thanks." He gave a slight smile, and she went over to hug him. He didn't like it much when she tried to hug him around his friends, but at home, he gripped onto her tightly, almost like he was afraid she was going to disappear.

"Clark tried to make you a cake this morning."

Lex's eyes widened. "Oh no. How did that go?"

"Had to throw it away. I made that one." She nodded over to her own cake. "But I trust you can keep my secret? He really wanted to be the one to surprise you."

Lex nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good." She gestured toward to door. "Go out and see your little brother."

"No chores, though?"

"No chores for you today."

He grinned, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, and darted out of the door.

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With the frosting, the cake looked even better than Clark had imagined, and it tasted amazing. Mom and Dad were so proud of him, and Lex was so happy. He said it was the best birthday he'd ever had. That made Clark's eyes feel all prickly.

Clark had no idea he was such a good baker. He couldn't wait to surprise his mom on Mother's Day!