The Bakery

Short Story Day 5 of 365

The bakery was a convenient place for Mrs. Swanson to drop off her four-year-old while she shopped elsewhere in the store. She saw her son eyeing the cake decorator as she went from cake to cake using the squishy piping bag to decorate with flowers and lines and words.

Sammy stood by the wall of windows that separated the public from the cakes, salivating at the beautiful cakes with creamy frosting. His mom had bought cakes from there before but not many.

But he remembered those cakes well, especially the frosting. He wasn’t sure why he liked it so much, but he did.

The cake decorator was tall with bright red lips. She smiled at Sammy as he watched every little thing she put on each cake. As she finished each, she looked at Sammy for his approval, and he gave her a thumbs up and a smile. Pretty soon, though, his mom would return and take him away from all those thumbs ups.

Pretty soon was only 10 minutes away.

“Sammy,” Mrs. Swanson said. “Time to check out.”

Sammy complained and wanted to stay just one more minute.

The cake decorator approached the glass and said to Sammy, “Hold out your finger, Sammy. Your name’s Sammy, isn’t it?” She looked to Mrs. Swanson for her approval this time.

Mrs. Swanson smiled and nodded.

The lady with bright red lips squeezed out a one-inch line of frosting onto his finger. His eyes lit up and he devoured the frosting, savoring its sweetness.

“Thank you.” Sammy said. “You’re very nice,” He grabbed his mother’s hand and pulled her along to the checkout line.

Mrs. Swanson turned and mouthed the words ‘Thank You,’ but the cake decorator was already working on another cake.