Baking Bad

Chapter 4- The Bond Incident

Song for this chapter is 'Whispers In The Dark' by Mumford & Sons.

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"And that'll be £8.50 please, would you like me to pack your purchases in a bag?"

Maddie sighed slightly as another customer left the store while the sound of Tom Jones' Delila filled the air.

Normally working in the front, selling the products and getting to interact with the customers was a job she always loved, but today it seemed that her heart wasn't in it.

Maybe it was the rain that was pouring outside, despite the perky weather girl's optimistic prediction on the telly or maybe it was her futile efforts at persuading her faculty heads to integrate her work into the thesis.

Earlier in the morning she had paid a visit to the faculty offices and bitterly remembered the conversation she had with her supervisor, Professor Douglas Atkins...

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"But Miss O'Shea I fail to see why this a problem that you feel must be brought to faculty head members. Resolving feuds between lab partners isn't something we deal with. We sympathise with your problem however, and can drop Mr Evans an e-mail advising him to consider your work, should you wish us to. But ultimately, the content of your submitted project is suggested by the two partners and then in the case of a project this big, is finalised by the head of department and I have little authority there. Nor do I have the authority to change your lab partner, there must be a valid reason for doing that and I'm sorry but petty arguments aren't good enough of a reason...Yes it is possible for you to start a research project of your own but considering how much work you have put into research for this group project I would highly not recommend starting something new...it will definitely hold you back...I see on your file you started the first year of your post-grad degree a few months late? .....I'm assuming that was to do with the passing of your father??...I understand this is a delicate situation but I feel it wouldn't be beneficial to fall behind any further"

Madeleine had left the Professor's office on somewhat of a stormy temper and it hadn't improved since then.

In the morning, she had trusted the weather prediction and had decided to take the underground to the Institute,  exit at Baker Street Station and walk through The Regent's Park (where the Zoological Institute was located) to enjoy the sunshine and get some exercise.

This plan was fine in the morning, but while she was pleading her case with the Dean, the skies had started to darken in true English fashion, and by the time she had exited the building, it had started to rain heavily.

By the time Maddie reached the Baker tube station she was soaking wet with her clothes sticking to her like a second skin and in her haste to catch her train, her shoes had skidded on the marble floors and she fell forward. Her arms instinctively flew up to protect her face from the hard flooring, but to her surprise, she collided with something soft that broke her fall.

To her utter embarrassment, she had fallen on top of a huge cardboard cut out advertising the newly released movie 'Strange Love' and she toppled to the ground with a CRASH that echoed around the whole platform.

Her face scarlet,  Maddie jumped up and righted the advertisement, aware of people's stares, and ducked into the waiting train. Her face reddened even further when the train pulled away from the platform and she saw that she had inadvertently punched a gigantic hole through the poster, completely smashing the lead star's face and destroying his glittering smile.
She was still miserable when she arrived at Bond Street Station, left the underground and the walk from the station to the bakery was as soggy as before. Suffice to say it was with great relief (and also a dash of worry at a lack of customers) that she walked into the empty bakery- looking like a drowned rat.