ABOUT THE FORGOTTEN CANDY STORE
The young candy chef was sitting all alone on her stool in the middle of her small candy shop, among her sweet gems. When she was still very small, she used to go secretly to eat cookies, cakes, strudles, pastries, even cakes, just everything that was as sweet as honey from bees and as fragrant as spring flowers in her mommy’s garden. She would always sneak over to the kitchen table in secret when no one was looking, stand on tiptoe, and lean one hand on the table, the other groping around until she spotted some little goodie to pop in her mouth. Occasionally her mommy would catch her at it, and then she would run off with her cheeks slick with snow-white sugar and a grin from ear to ear. She knew her mommy wasn’t really mad at her, but just teasing her.
When she was a little older, she used to go to her mommy and ask her if they could bake together. She always pulled a tiny stool to the table, climbed up on it to see under her mommy’s hands, and begged for so long that her mother couldn’t resist agreeing. Sometimes they were making jam doughnuts, sometimes raspberry cupcakes, caramel cuts, stuffed cheesecake dumplings, or maybe apple strudel. They also once baked a chocolate cake with frosting and summer fruit together, for Daddy’s party.
In the autumn, they cooked various jams and dried various fruits in the summer to keep it from going bad. Then she would stick her curious little finger into the jars and taste what she could. Her mommy would just laugh and say to her, my little cake maker. And she dreamed of the day when she could bake everything herself and have a little cake shop where people would come from all parts of town. And before they left, told her how she had sweet cookies and tender buns and the most beautiful cakes.
She’d had it for months, but hardly anyone had ever strayed to it. She used to sit inside on her little chair and look out the window. Sometimes she’d just step outside the door to look around to see if anyone was coming, but no one did. Actually, lots of people walked by, from right to left, turned into the next street, or ran to hide in the opposite house. In the spring she built a little garden in front of the candy store put a small table in the middle and then put the goodies she had just baked on it morning after morning. Their scent must have wafted far and wide, but no one enjoyed them except the birds and a few stray bees. She thought, at least they’ll enjoy themselves and sing to me before they fly away. And how beautifully they can sing. And so the spring passed, and then the summer. In the autumn, when the cold wind and cold rain came to town, accompanied by a creeping mist, and when people huddled in their coats, warm tea replaced the scones. It was a sad time, not because the sun was stubbornly hiding behind the clouds, perhaps its was cold too, but rather for themselves preferred to send more and more often a rain-doll in his stead, whose skirt was all cold drops. But it was that she knew that Christmas, which was fast approaching, would be the last for her cozy and warm candy shop. She couldn’t afford to continue having a candy shop where no one has come, of course except for the occasional visitor from the animal kingdom. If no one buys anything from her. When there was no one who wanted her cakes, pies, pastries, lollipops, candies, or marmalades.
The candy shop was so small but very cozy. It had a white door with a small bell, and when it opened, the bell would announce a new guest with its mischievous jingle. Occasionally, a few elderly people who passed by would peek in and leave off again. Every now and then a stray cat would jump up to the window, and then she’d give her what cream was left from baking. She had the nicest and sweetest cakes and desserts according to the latest trends.
Winter has come, it is December that has claimed its word. It covered all the streets with white snow, like sugar sprinkles on a cake. And what it lot of snow there was, every day it added more and more snowflakes. A few days later, he added icy decorations to the edges of the roofs. Children’s laughter came from somewhere. It was children playing, building snowmen and little snowhouses. The older ones were rolling and sliding on the frozen puddles. Everyone was enjoying the beauty in their own way. In the evening, the lamps and every window in the town lit up. So these last days of the year passed.
One morning, a young pastry chef stood outside her candy shop and looked sadly into the street. She knew the time was coming when she would have to close her little kingdom. She stood there for several long minutes, about to turn around and go into the warmth when her gaze wandered to the small garden she had been building over the summer. The little garden was all covered with snow, and there was so much of it that it covered the table and the bench, and the layer was so high that even the little birds would have no place to sit without sinking in deep. It made her feel sad, and her heart clenched with sadness.
In the evening, before she went to bed, she walked on her little sweet shop, stroking all the nooks and crannies with her fingers. She remembered how carefully she had chosen and arranged everything. What a joy it had been when she had found just the right tables to fit her little shop. When she found the chairs, they were a little dingy and dirty, but she didn’t mind. She cleaned them all and gave them a new colorful coat. She arranged all the things inside exactly as if they had always belonged there. She also caressed the counter and all the cabinets that have grown up behind the counter all the way to the ceiling. They had originally served a different purpose, but she didn’t mind. She wanted to say goodbye, she knew she would have to return the keys in the morning and leave with only a few things. She was sorry to have to leave all the others behind, but she couldn’t take them with her, as much as she wished she could.
As it, so she said goodbye to all the mute inhabitants of her candy shop, she tapped her finger on a small drawer. She didn’t even know it was there, she had never noticed it before. It was tiny as if it didn’t even belong there. She stared at it for a moment, wondering where it had come from and why she hadn’t noticed it before. She stared at it, but after a moment she decided to open it. She took the small button that resembled an ancient carved flower. She held her breath and slowly pulled on it, but it wouldn’t budge. So she pulled a tiny bit more and it didn’t budge again. So she took a deep breath and grabbed it hard and it loosened. The drawer slowly opened. She could look into it, but there was nothing in it. She pulled on it once more and it stayed in her hand. A few yellowed sheets of paper fell out of the inside onto her. They were scattered with tiny dark blue ink writing. She picked up one sheet and began to read. They were old recipes for Christmas cookies. After a moment, she picked up another sheet of paper from the floor, and another, and another. They were littered with various recipes for sweet tarts, cakes, jams, candies, and many other sweet treats.
One of the recipes intrigued her so much that she decided to bake it. She’s going to bake one last time in her cozy little cake shop. Anyway, she had until morning. One by one, she brought to the table the ingredients written in the mysterious recipe. She pulled out her bowl and baking sheet, setting the recipe neatly in the middle so she could see it. First, she stirred everything, then with her hands, she worked out a beautiful soft dough and how fragrant it was. The smell filled her entire pastry shop, and she hadn’t even baked anything yet. She took the molds and emptied them all so the dough wouldn’t stick when she will take them off the metal jackets. By morning she had them all ready and went to put them in the oven. She was impatient to get her first sniff and taste of them. When she pulled them out of the oven, they bloomed with fragrance a scent the young pastry chef had never smelled before. She knew the smell of fruit, flowers, honey, and nuts, she even knew the smell of spring or the smell of winter in the air. But she didn’t know this one. It was sweet and intoxicating. It was like caressing and warming at the same time. The scent was so special that it filled the heart with happiness, and made it want to sing with joy. She held the little brown-golden gingerbread cookies in her hands and looked at them from all sides. They were so beautiful, yet they seemed to lack something.
And I’ve got it, she screamed. They’re missing the frosting. I have to decorate them. She took a moment to look around her cake shop, wondering what kind of frosting to choose. She thought she had it and then she paused again and shook her head sadly. As she was thinking, she didn’t even notice that her hand had waved too close to the recipe sheet and knocked it to the floor. She didn’t notice it until the yellowed piece of paper slid to the floor and almost touched it. She quickly caught it in her floured hands. She was about to carefully put it back when she noticed a few more words had been written on the other side all the way down in the corner. It was instructions for making snow-white frosting. Just as snow-white as the snow was out there outside the windows. In no time at all, she had prepared everything she needed for it, took a deep breath, and began preparing it. She was so deeply immersed in that snow-white mystery at, she had it done in a few minutes. It was beautiful and glistened like freshly fallen snow. She picked up the first gingerbread small piece from the bowl on the table, it was a small star, and carefully began to put the icing on it. It went on all by itself. Soon she had all the gingerbread and that there were.
The little candy chef was bouncing around her candy shop with happiness and singing along. She didn’t even notice that a stray cat was watching her outside the window. The one, she used to bring a bowl of warm milk outside all summer and fall. When she finally noticed her, she smiled and quickly warmed up some milk. She put on her coat so she wouldn’t be cold and opened the door of the candy store. As she gave the warm milk to the little bum, she didn’t notice the strange smell wafting from the open door. She bent over her four-legged companion and stroked her fur. The cat was so soft fur, and she realized at that moment that she hadn’t even tasted her gingerbread. How they actually tasted, if they were as good as they smelled. When she turned around to go back and taste them, she was in for a surprise. One grandmother and grandfather, who had just been out for a walk, were standing at the door, asking what it smelled like. She wasn’t expecting anyone today, it was Christmas Eve, and everyone was home decorating trees, wrapping Christmas presents, and preparing a festive meal.
Who would wander in on this special day, when no one had come to her for a whole year? The little pastry chef smiled and immediately ran to get some gingerbread cookies she had on the counter. She happily offered them to her first guests. Her eyes shone with joy, like the little star that first adorned her with a white veil. Before she could ask how they tasted, she had more guests in her candy shop, and more guests, and more were pouring in the door after them. And suddenly the sweet shop was full of different people. They were ordering hot chocolate and coffee, and hot tea with honey, too, and enjoying their sweet cakes and pastries. It was the special smell that brought them here. She gave all her guests her magical gingerbread cookies, just as a gift. After all, it was Christmas, and everyone should get a present for Christmas, even if it was just a small one. Just out of love and from the heart. As the day drew to a close, it was slowly time to close, but there were still a lot of guests in the sweet shop, so she had them in her small sweet kingdom. Why would she send them away when she was so comfortable with them? And as the day drew to a close, the last of the guests began to leave, really had to go home, and they were still dawdling, stopping and turning several times before they finally left into the darkness. In the morning, the bell above the candy store rang again. It announced that new guests had arrived at the sweet shop. They hurried in eagerness to get back to their sweet cakes and hot coffee. And from that day on, it was no different.
It was the smell of her magical Christmas.
(10.12.2023)
