Misty was a young badger only about six years old, her fur was misty grey with black stripes. She had eyes that were icy blue, filled with curiosity and a fire that showed that someday she would accomplish great things in her life. But her most unique feature wasn’t her eyes, but her birthmark, a blue patch of fur around her right eye in the shape of a teardrop. Her mother, Arctic (a badger) and her father, Skipper (who was an albino otter) ran a small Diner called ‘The Lonely Badger Diner’. It wasn’t to successful, but they managed.

    “Mom.” she said watching her mother clean the dishes. “Will you let me cook tomorrow?” she asked, looking hopeful.

Her mom wiped her brow with a towel. “I’m sorry sweetie, but you’re just too young. Maybe in a couple more years.” her mother said, recalling the time Misty wanted to help with repainting the Diner it took a month to get the paint out of Misty’s fur and to remove the badger shaped paint blobs from the walls.   

Misty frowned. “I am not too young. I bet I can cook better then any one.”

Misty’s father walked into the kitchen    “I’ll bet you can love, but you’re still young. Be patient, you’ll be old enough soon. Now it’s time for bed.”

    “Man, this isn’t fair!” Misty pouted leaving the kitchen and going to her room.


That night, after the Diner had closed and her parents where asleep, Misty got out of bed and snuck into the kitchen. She got out her mother’s cook book and looked through it, coming across a recipe for chili, one of her favorite things to eat. She got a pan out of the cabinet and sat it on the stove.  Then she got out the hamburger and put it in the pan. She turned on the burner, watching the blue and orange flames come to life.

    Misty smiled. “I’ll show them I can do this. I know I can. I can do anything if I just believe in myself.” she said proudly, stirring the meat with a spoon. She put the spoon down and started reading the cook book again. Misty had unfortunately set the burner to high and the hamburger soon started to burn.

 Misty looked up from the book. “Oh, no! It’s burning!” she said in dismay. She grabbed the handle of the pan, which was a very big mistake. With a loud yelp she dropped the pan on the floor. Alerted by the noise Skipper and Arctic were soon there.

    “Misty, are you alright?!” her mother asked hugging her tightly.
    “I burnt my paw mama.” she said sniffling.

Her father was soon by her side with the first-aid kit. He looked her paw over and carefully applied some cream to the burn. “You’ll be ok, but what were you thinking? You could have done a lot worse then just burn your paw.” he hugged her she looked up at him. “I’m sorry daddy, but I wanted to prove that I could cook. I just wanted to help you with the Diner.” she said sniffling more.

Her mother looked her in the eyes. “You really wanted to help us that much?”

Misty nodded. “Uh huh.”

    “Well,” her mother said. “I guess, after we close, you can practice. But only if either me or your father are here to watch you."

    “Yay!” Misty cheered.

Misty’s father poked her nose. “If you wanted to help us that badly, why didn’t you say so? I thought you just wanted to play around in the kitchen.”

    “I’m sorry, next time I really, really wanna do something, I’ll be sure to say it clearly.”


after that, Misty’s mother taught her how to measure out ingredients, when to add things and how to set the burner right, and every night for weeks Misty tried to cook but with little success. Things got burnt, left out, or added too much of something or something that didn’t even belong was added. But she didn’t let that stop her, she didn’t believe in the word "quit".  So she kept trying till one day, she was successful, and made a delicious pot of chili. The next day, Arctic and Skipper served it as the special of the day. The few people that came in loved it. The next day more people came in and tried it. They too loved it, and they told their friends who came and tried it. Soon, the not to successful Diner became very successful. By the time Misty was seven, her chili was famous across the state after she won the chili cook off at the State Fair.


Misty looked out the kitchen window at the crowded Diner, then looked at her mother. “You know, I think I wanna learn to sing next. I bet I can be better then anyone else.”

Misty’s mother looked at the crowd “You know, I’ll bet you would be too, if you practice as hard as you did cooking.”