The bowl that arrived last

Text C: an original fiction extract.

At eleven, Mari's cousin Leena brought twenty bowls into the kitchen and put them beside the cooker. The bowls were for Leena's engagement lunch. Mari had offered to prepare their grandmother's rice dish, the one with browned onions and a crust everyone competed for. She had made it once at home, in a pan which served four. For twenty people she had borrowed the largest pot in the community hall and multiplied every quantity by five.

Her aunt asked whether she wanted help. Mari said she had the recipe. The aunt took a knife and began chopping the salad instead. Mari liked being treated as someone who could manage a proper contribution. When guests looked through the serving hatch, she kept the lid firmly on the rice, imagining the moment she would turn the finished dish onto its platter.

At half past twelve, the bottom smelled cooked but the surface was still wet. Mari checked the handwritten instructions. Nothing in them explained a pot this deep. She turned the heat up, waited, then turned it down again when a bitter smell rose from beneath the lid. Her younger brother offered to stir. She stopped him; the crust was supposed to remain whole. Through the hatch, she could see Leena welcoming relatives who had travelled all morning.

Mari's aunt came to the cooker. This time Mari moved aside without being asked. They lifted a small portion from the edge. The lower layer had caught; the middle needed longer. The aunt said the borrowed pot spread heat differently from the one at home. Multiplying the ingredients had not multiplied the pan's behaviour. They could rescue some rice, but it would not emerge as the grand dish Mari had promised.

Leena came in looking for the bread knife. Mari began an apology which included the words ruined lunch. Leena looked at the salad, the filled water jugs and the tray of baked vegetables her father had brought. She asked which lunch Mari meant. Then she sent Mari's brother to buy more flatbread and asked her aunt to serve the vegetables first. She did not tell the guests that rice had never been planned. When one uncle asked, she said it would arrive later and differently.

Mari worked beside her aunt, separating the unburnt portions and spreading them in shallow dishes to finish cooking. They carried the bowls out after everyone had begun eating. There was no intact crust. An older guest asked for a spoonful of the darker edge because that was his favourite part. Mari did not tell him that he had saved her day. He had simply asked for some rice. Before leaving, Leena returned the empty bowls and suggested they try the recipe for eight next time, with nobody's engagement attached to the result.

You are Mari. The following day, write a letter to Leena reflecting on the engagement lunch.

In your response:

• explain why the rice dish became difficult and how the lunch was adapted
• reflect on your own reactions and the ways your relatives helped
• explain what you have learned and how you would approach another shared occasion

Base your response on Text C, developing its ideas in your own words. Write about 250 to 300 words. Up to 10 marks are available for reading and up to 10 marks for writing.