Fiona's Bakery

A strange man had entered my shop.

He wore dark clothes, a hood on his head and carried the brightest orange umbrella I had ever seen. He looked around the shop and then ran towards the counter.

Hesitatingly I asked, “May I take your order, Sir?”

“You may.”

“Well, Sir, what would you like to eat today? We have Caramel Mousse as our special today.”

“I’ll take two of those then.”

“Of course.”

I go pick up two of the three special packets I had already kept packed. Everybody ordered the specials. It seemed easier to just keep them ready to save time. I walk over to the counter.

“That would be 2 and 75, Sir.”

“Of course. I’d like to eat them here.”

“Oh. Sure. Give me a moment dear.”

I hastily returned those packets to the counter and picked up two Caramel Mousse cups from the shelf. I top them with a little extra caramel sauce and serve them on my bright white plates. I put them in front of him.

“I’m sorry. I thought you asked for two so you’d take them to go.”

“No that’s okay. Miss…”

“Fiona. It’s my bakery.”

“You are too young to be settled inside a shop in a cranny. Miss Fiona, have you ever wondered what it’s like to not be alive?”

“Well, you gotta make the money somehow, honey. And yes I have. Enough times. That’s what forced me to drop out of a college and open this bakery. It’s what I have always wanted to do. Why do you ask?” I asked with a skeptical smile on my face.

The stranger seemed to understand my apprehensions. “I’m not about to kill myself, Miss Fiona,” he replied.

“Well, I must ask, for the sake of intellectual curiosity of course, why would you ask me such a question then Mister… What was it? I didn’t quite catch your name.”

“That would be because I didn’t tell you. Call me God, Miss Fiona. And I asked this question because I know what it’s like to not be alive. I know all the feelings. And that is one feeling I particularly dislike. So I’m here to request you to never think so again.”

I was baffled. “Mister… God, Sir, please don’t make jokes about such things. I am not a fan of dark humor. Now I must tend to my shop.” I spoke in a dismissive tone, hoping to run very far away from this perplexing man.

“Won’t you have one of these Miss Fiona?” he asked, offering me one of the Mousse cups and taking a bite himself. “They taste heavenly,” he laughed as if it were an inside joke.

“I don’t eat at my shop, Sir. And I really must go.”

“I know you’re scared, Fiona. This job doesn’t pay as much as it takes. You’re lonely and unhappy. But don’t quit just yet. You have survived through the worst of it. Happiness is just around the corner, don’t go looking for it in places you can’t navigate through. I have plans for you, my love. Don’t come to me so soon.” And then the man winked at me, smirked and left, leaving me dizzy.

“Ma’am. Ma’am wake up. Miss Fiona wake up please.” I heard my assistant Sally call out my name. I opened my eyes and told her I was fine.

“Where did that man, go, the one with the bright orange umbrella?” I asked looking for the two plates at the counter.

Confused, Sally replied, “There was no man with a bright orange umbrella today ma’am. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I… Yes I am. Please take care of the shop Sally. I have to be somewhere.”

I rush out of the shop and towards the corner. Panting, I rest my hand on the corner of the wall. Just in my line of vision, I spot an umbrella stand holding the bright orange umbrella. I pick it up and stare at it, dumbfounded. I look around and spot the strange man looking at me from across the road. He mouthed ‘keep it‘. He winked at me and disappeared.

I went back into the shop, thoroughly confused about the encounter and its existence in the reality of time.

“Did he give you the umbrella ma’am, the man you were looking for,” asked Sally.

“Yes. Yes, he did. He gave me the umbrella and much more. He gave me hope.”

A strange man had entered my shop and saved my life.