An Essence Of Food And Charity

At the crack of dawn, on Christmas eve, she strolled past a little orphanage for young ballerinas. What she witnessed astounded her, and change her life.

Her hike to home was spent lost in thought. She was persistently tripping over something or the other, for one thought, and only that one weighty thought lingered in her mind.

Behind an abbey, beside a toy shop, there was a bakery. “Stan’s mini-mart”, the sign in front read. She halted there and searched her pockets frantically for her purse. Of all the purchases she had ever made, this one had been by far her greatest.

She now carried with her a packet of Christmas goodies, of the best quality. With increasing excitement and anxiety, she rushed past the streets to the orphanage. The orphanage contained fifteen famished talented ballet children.

What one would call generously and excitedly, she handed over the package to the mistress. Stout yet beautiful, the mistress was a woman of great courage and tenacity which most people lacked in times of need. Curiously, even eagerly, the mistress opened the package and did a double-take when her eyes fell upon the goodies. “Wow,” she whispered, unable to hold herself and the emotion that engulfed her at that moment.

Brown buttered cakes of all sizes made the top layer of the five-tiered cake. The second of which was embedded with little cream macaroons, all painted a different pretty shade. The third was what she liked most, the Christmas cookies, cooked and shaped just right, being a nice crisp shade of brown. The fourth was painted in gingerbread men, with a sugar base so delightfully baked. The last, the final, the fifth layer caught her mind and sent her head spinning in surrealism. Ballerinas in snow ice cream danced on the top, each flitting around, donned in perfectly smooth crystal.

The mistress was at a loss of words and could utter nothing, but deepest expressions of gratitude and surprise. “Oh thank you, thank you,” said the mistress and she cut the cake most artfully, not damaging any of its contents. The cake looked even more delightful inside, with each layer a different colour. The children scrambled to get their portions, all entranced by its ethereal beauty.

“I love this, the woman who bought the cake, thought to herself. And yes, indeed, the intense happiness and thankfulness she felt upon doing such a deed, was unlike anything, anybody could ever ask for Christmas.