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Lately, I’d been thinking about Mama’s Wish Pie an awful lot. Wish Pie is a kind of pie that sits around hoping no one notices it’s Not Pecan Pie. Which doesn’t even matter, because most people take one look and say, “That sure is a nice-looking pecan pie.” Because it looks and smells and even tastes like pecan pie. People are always begging DiDi to tell them Mama’s secret. But it’s no big deal. That’s the secret: acting like it’s No Big Deal. I mean, if you’re trying to be pecan pie, you don’t go around shouting, “I’m Pecan Pie! I’m Pecan Pie!” You just look those pie judges in the face and act like it.
DiDi’s Recipe for Success for me is pretty strict:
She never even lets me do stuff like hang out with her at the salon. I mean, of course she gives me a new haircut like you’re supposed to get for school. But she’s never once even asked me what I want. It’s always the same. Every time. No bangs. (“Why would you want hair in your eyes with all the studying you have to do?”) No little feathers or curlicues. (“Honestly, G, you don’t have time to fuss, with all your schoolwork.”)
She just gives a wave of her hand and says, “I don’t have all day to talk about it, G. Let me just give you the DiDi Special and get you back to your books.” Then she cuts it into something nice and practical and easy to put in a ponytail.
I always think it might be nice to hang out and look at silly magazines with her, talk and chew gum, and sweep hair into big ugly piles, but if I have a second of free time, DiDi makes me do stuff like volunteer at the library. And I can tell you that hanging out in a building where you’re not allowed to talk is not the best way to make friends.
So I decided to make myself a new Recipe for Success.
For how to be the new me, in my new school, in our new life.
NEW AND IMPROVED RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
• Choose my own darn name (one that’s pretty and does not remind everyone of a ginormous bra size).
• Hang out with real friends my own age and not just grown-ups who think I’m adorable.
• Actually eat lunch in a real live school cafeteria at a real live table with real live seventh graders, instead of studying in the library To Advance My Educational Position.
• Be the girl Mama would be if she were here. Friendly. Funny. Confident. (Also, throwing in a zinger or two is always good.)
• In other words, do everything and anything to be the girl I never had a chance to be before.
DiDi says Wish Pie should have been named Stop All Your Bellyaching and Just Be Who You Are Pie. When I told her that was the dumbest name I’d ever heard, she said, “People don’t care what you name it, G. They like pie for what’s on the inside.”
Either way, this time it was my recipe and I was going to be whatever kind of pie I wanted.
Wish Pie
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup dark (it has to be dark!) corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• A pinch of salt
• 3 eggs
• ⅔ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ⅔ cup sweetened shredded coconut
• A ready-made graham cracker pie shell
Preheat your oven to 375°F. Mix the sugar, syrup, butter, and salt in a saucepan. Easy, easy cook over medium heat, stirring just till the sugar dissolves. Remove the pan from the heat and let it rest somewhere safe and peaceful.
Beat your eggs until foamy in a separate bowl. Now, you’re going to want to let that syrup mixture cool a bit before you add the eggs or you’ll end up with scrambled egg pie, and I can’t picture too many people wishing for that! Once the syrup has cooled, blend in the eggs, mix well, and then stir in the oats, vanilla, and coconut. Pour into the pie shell.
Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes, till it’s not too dark. And not too light. Just the perfect golden brown. (Give it a peek at 35 minutes because your oven may run a little hotter and you don’t want the crust to burn.)
Now, y’all stop sitting around wishing you were something you’re not and just get on out there and Be!
Serves 8.