"She really is trying her best," Lori thought to herself as she struggled to down another misshapen pastry. As she swallowed heavily one of the buttons holding her stomach within the confines of her chef’s coat finally gave up, flying into one of the ovens with a small metallic ping. As her stomach oozed into the fresh opening several of the button’s friends also rapidly decided to jump ship. She breathed a sigh of relief as the pressure lessened and her belly, now completely uncovered, managed to swell just a touch larger. Lori was really beginning to regret being the one tasked with Sara’s training. The new hire wasn’t having too much trouble following the bakery’s recipes but her shaping and finishing skills left something to be desired.

Just today she had somehow produced triangular donuts, small eclairs with too little filling, large eclairs with too much filling, and bagels that looked more like a ciabatta roll than anything. Most bakeries would just toss out mistakes but the owner here insisted on reducing the amount of waste as much as possible. That meant the best of the bad batches went into the discount price ‘mistakes’ basket at the front but the rest was largely deposited into Lori. She couldn’t hold any more.

“Sara?” Lori called out, grabbing the tray with the remainder of the oddly shaped donuts on it and heading towards the front of the bakery.

“Yeah Lori?” Sara said turning away from the register, a grin on her face that slowly faded as her eyes looked over the tray and down towards Lori’s gut. The alligator looked embarrassed for a moment, “Oh. Those didn’t come out right either?”

“Nope.” Lori half burped while dropping the tray onto the counter. “They taste fine, it’s just that they don’t quite meet, let’s say, the visual standard.” Sara looked dejected. The ‘gator seemed to shrink slightly before her eyes causing Lori to quickly speak up, “It’s okay, you just need a little more practice.” Lori patted her stomach and winced, it felt like a boulder had somehow lodged itself in there. “Everything tastes fine, it’s just I’m a little too full to help with this batch.”

Sara’s eyes widened, “Oh, right! The waste policy thing!” She quickly grabbed a donut from the tray and jammed it into her mouth. “I’ll finish this tray, don’t worry!” she said, spraying crumbs everywhere.

“Just… don’t overdo it.” Lori said as Sara continued to eat like she had just discovered frosting. “I’ll be in the break room for a bit, digesting.” Lori’s stomach gurgled in agreement. “If you need anything come and get me and maybe we can try doing some loves of bread a little later.”

Sara gave Lori a thumbs up as she continued to stuff her face. Lori smiled to herself as she made her way back past the row of ovens, “At least she’s dedicated.”

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