Insignificance

CHAPTER I.

          MY FAMILY WAS VERY WELL OFF and had lived in England for quite a long time. When my great, great-granddad had moved here from The French-Italian Border where he had lived most his youth, he opened a beautiful Italian bakery and café with the money he had earned from selling and trading. The bakery was founded in 1850 when my great, great-granddad was only thirty one years of age. By the time he had moved to the south of England, he was already a self proclaimed millionaire.

          My great, great-grandparents gained a great deal of respect and became quite popular in Brighton, England where they had moved to from their home town of Sanremo Italy.  Their bakery was always busy; it became an enormous family business that was inherited by my great-grand dad, then my grand dad, and now my father. My family eventually gained more money from the bakery than my great, great-grandfather had earned in the trade business. We opened another bakery on the other side of the city and it was even grander than the original; However, I wouldn't receive my inheritance until I graduated. Of course, my father helped fund my classes at the university; while I saved up money from working at the bakery.

          You may not be interested in hearing about all the details of the bakery, but, I believe I shall explain it all for my own sanity.  The front of the bakery (a corner building with a large, circular, glass "tower" that had a spiraling staircase inside. This was located on the corner of the building) was a brick store front with large windows that reached from about one and a third meters from the brick walking path, to just below the raised ceiling. There was a set of three stout steps that led up to an indentation in the building where the large glass door to the café was located. Hanging from the brick archway was a nicely sized, metal lamp that was forged in town by a local silversmith. Inside the bakery/café, we had a long glass case full of breads and goods. at the front end of this case was a desk with a shiny new register that took up most of the counter space. Along the other wall was a seating arrangement that followed the windows and offered a spectacular view of the city streets. The walls of the bakery were painted a beautiful, blood red color and were accented by a white chair-rail that ran about one and one half a meter above the floor; this chair rail separated the red color (on the bottom portion of the walls) and a lighter tan color.

          Up the spiraling stairs, there was an apartment that was rented out to one of the other bakers who had been a family friend for the longest time. He had the next two floors (floors two and three) for his family and himself. It was a beautifully furnished apartment that featured the most beautiful, black concert grand piano. Each and every key was a work of art; from the first white ivory key to the eighty-fifth and final white key.  There, in the far corner, was a grand staircase that took you to the top of the building, the roof.  There is a large garden a-top the large three and one half story (basically four) building that is full of blooming flours and small fruit trees.  in the southern-right corner of the roof (the back end) there was another part of the building that took up about a quarter of the building that has a very tall ceiling and a slanted roof-top.  The glass tower came just a shade higher than the meter high wall at the edge of the roof and tapered to a small circle that then held a spire that continued upwards just a little higher.

          From the top of the building across the street, the bakery's facade comes up to the top and comes to an angle at the top and features an arch just underneath it.  The year 1850 is carved into Marble and is encased in brick.  In the very center of the building, on the northern side, a clocktower five meters wide rose about ten meters higher than the rest of the facade where there is the arch just below the tower (Yes i have realized that my family is quite fond of clock towers).  On top of the clock portion, the tower recedes and continues upwards a little where there is a beautiful brass bell encased in the middle of four pillars,  And to top off the tower, the pillars tapered upwards into a tall spire that bore a golden statuette at the top.