What If The Little Red Hen Had Help?

I have truly come to love writing flash fiction, but playing around with fairy tales that have been in my head for years was a tough one. But! What a great exercise! So, hat's off to Cassie, Mark, Leigh, and Morgan for putting this blogfest together and making me really think outside the fairy tale box! Click here to see the other entries.

"Phfft!" The Little Red Hen blew feathers away from her face and stepped toward her mixing bowl.

"Ouch!  That was my paw!" said Cat.

Thump! The sack of flour fell and Hen found herself in a cloudy, floury mess.

"Cat, I didn't know you were there."

"I came to help, and brought some salt with me. I hope 3lbs. is enough."

"Oh. Thank you. Usually, I make bread alone."

Hen went to cleaning up the flour.

"Are you ready for some salt?

"Not yet. First, I need some eggs."

"Oh good! Because I have two dozen of them," said Goose, bursting through the door.

"What? Eggs?” A startled Hen tripped over her broom and went flying and flapping into the sink, as two eggs slipped from Goose's wings.

 “Thanks, but I already have some eggs because I usually make bread alone." Hen said climbing out of the sink.

"Ooops. I guess you can't use the broken ones, can you?"

“No,” said Hen reaching for a mop.

 “Time for salt yet?” Cat asked.

“Not yet.” Hen sighed, mopping up the eggy mess.
"I'm really quite used to doing this alone. Where was I? Right. Flour. One cup. Two cups. Thr..."

Cow came plowing through the door. "Am I late? Did I make it on time?" 

Hen's measuring cup flew out of her wing, hit the ceiling and landed spilling more flour.

"Cow?"

"Milk. I've got your milk," she panted. "Super fresh and warm. Been holding it all morning. Just need you to collect it, thereby relieving a little, ahem, pressure," Cow said with a smile somewhere between happy-to-help and I'm-getting-really-uncomfortable.

The Little Red Hen smiled at her friends quietly wishing she hadn't asked for help in the first place.