Breakfast
With a satisfying sound, halfway between a clink and a clunk, the metal rods locked into place. In moments, electricity began to course through the long sinewy forms of the rack, sending the occasional spark flying into the metal chamber. It was not long before the rods began to heat, slowly at first, but eventually to the point where they glowed neon orange as if just having been removed from a forge furnace.
Bartholomew licked his lips in fervent anticipation.
In the oppressive heat of the chamber, a fearsome change was taking hold. Maillard’s reaction caused amino acids and resulting sugars to react with great force. Out of the reactions came seething water and volatile N-substituted glycosylamine.
A bead of sweat rolled down Bartholomew’s forehead.
Suddenly, and without warning, the unstable glycosylamine underwent startling Amadori rearrangement out of which sprang ketosamines which quickly reacted further. This last transformation was perhaps the greatest of the sequence for reductones, diacetyl, asprin, pyruvaldehyde, brown nitrogenous polymers, melanoidins, and other short-chain hydrolytic fission products all erupted in seconds.
Bartholomew blinked, the only such time he had done so in the last two suspenseful minutes.
There was a brief pause, a moment at which the world seemed to stand still, as if exhausted by the previous few seconds of exhaustive chemical change. Then, somewhere, a catch loosened, and the still-smoking rods flew upward like uncaged canaries into the cool outside air until they were cruelly restrained by another catch, which allowed the contents of the rack to go flying forward (for they were unrestrained) and clear the roof of the chamber in which they had been recently confined…
Bartholomew pounced, like a Burmese tiger attacking a tourist, upon the two golden-brown slices of airborne toast. He slid his plate with practiced ease underneath his crumbly contraption, and lightly caught the toast with the cool porcelain surface. It bounced, flinging crumbs across the plate, until… at last… it came to rest.
***
Exhilarating Monotony Contest by Flemzo.
-Perhaps a little too late for the contest, but I'll think of additions to the one line interruptions. Thanks Kylan!
- About the "unrestrained" contents of the rack, on second thought, "restrained" pops up too often in that sentence. Anyoen with a suitable alternative, please suggest it, but for the moment, things will be left as they were...


