Greedy for a Dream

Hello, reader! Last week, we looked at The Beggar and the Five Muffins, a story from India about how greed can destroy your life. But, because I like to question my own conclusions from time to time, I wrote the modern version of that story this way.

Would you trade it all for a mouthwatering, marvelous muffin?

Katya had always been greedy. Her parents loved to tell stories of how, as a child, she had feasted on muffins and on whatever baked goods she could get her hands on. As Katya grew, she still loved to eat, but she became more concerned about what she was eating. Why eat a mediocre muffin when you could bake one yourself that was marvelous?

Katya found recipes and tweaked them to taste better. Then she began to create her own. Katya often sat at the table at bake sales because everyone knew her desserts were divine and they would buy everything. Katya joined the chemistry club in high school. When they needed money, Katya suggested a bake sale. They made it into the local newspaper, some online articles, and, of course, the yearbook.

"Once you get to college, you can be a chemical engineer," Katya's mom told her. "Then you won't have to raise money. You'll be getting grants."

"But I like bake sales," Katya argued.

Her mom laughed. "Always so greedy for your desserts, huh?"

Katya frowned.

After Katya had settled in a bit at college, she happened to overhear about a club that needed to get more members.

"I can bake some cookies and you can hand them out on the quad," Katya offered.

Her roommate was in the club, and she got the rest of them to agree. Not everyone who tried the cookies came to the club's next meeting, but they hit a new record for attendance.

Katya joined a baking club on campus. Between her club and her classes, Katya was busy, but she found some time to start a baking blog. She wasn't that great at writing, so she asked her roommate, an English major, to help her. With Anya's writing and Katya's recipes, the blog took off and they were able to start making money off of it.

Katya's mom made a point to ask about Katya's stellar grades when they talked. She never mentioned the blog.

Katya graduated and got a job at an R and D lab for a big company. Her mother was thrilled. But Katya kept baking. She would bring plates and plates of desserts to work so someone would eat them.

She kept in contact with her mother. On one of their calls, her mother said, "I guess you're not so greedy anymore. You've settled into a good life and I'm proud of what you've accomplished."

"Thanks, Mom," Katya replied, but she didn't agree. She felt like she could be doing much more. She started blogging again, and she got Anya to agree to write for her. Again, it took off. Almost every comment asked when Katya would open a bakery.

"You want to quit a good job for some muffins?" Katya's mother demanded. "Don't be greedy."

Katya thought long and hard about it. She did have a good job, and she was comfortable. And yet...

Katya hired Anya part time as a publicist and began work to open her bakery, Marvelous Muffins.

"You're giving up everything for those muffins?!" her mother yelled on the phone.

"None of it means anything," Katya told her, unruffled. "I'd much rather have the muffins." And so, that is what she did.