Baker's Apprentice Who Lives In A Shoe

First Meeting

"Welcome to the Drury Lane Bakery." I yell over the noise of the crowd. Part of my job is to greet everyone as they come into the door. Do you know how hard it is to do that in a busy bakery, where I also have to handle all the transactions? I feel like I am split into two people sometimes. As the line of customers continues I notice something out of the corner of my eye, a small hand getting grabby with the breads at the end of the display. I turn to the customer I am serving in front of me. "Excuse me one second, please." I turn around to my boss. I call him the Muffin Man. "Hey, we got a sticky fingers. I'm going after them." He takes my place and starts doing the transactions as I run outside to catch the thief.

As I reach the street I see a boy running down the street. I give chase. He turns to see if someone is after him to see me. He turns back around and runs faster. It's a good thing I have some stamina. He runs all the way out of town to a small hut on the main road out of town. He runs inside, and I stop running to catch my breath. "Give it back, kid." I say between breaths. "You didn't pay for it." I guess I am in worse shape than I thought, as I sit down on the ground then lay back still trying to catch my breath. Finally, I hear someone come out of the shack, but I am too tired to sit up.

"Bae, go on, give it back." A male's voice says, the boy's father? I finally lift my head to see the boy coming closer with the bread in his hand. Behind him I see an older man. Finally, I catch my breath enough to sit up. I put my hand out for the bread. The boy, Bae, places it in my hand and goes back towards his father. "Go inside, Bae." Then the man limps his way over to me and offers his hand. I take it and he helps me stand up.

"Thank you." He smiles at me then his face drops a little.

"I am truly sorry for my son. He was only trying to help." I knew what that felt like. Having so many brothers and sisters, that we are barely able to fit in our own house, I understood wanting to help out. I am the oldest child, and the only one with a steady job. I looked around at my surroundings. There was a lot of open space, the hut, and a well.

"No trouble." I started to walk away with the bread, but I realized that if he could afford to pay for this one loaf of bread, he would have. I turn around quick and walk back to the man. "Listen, at the end of the day we have a ton of leftovers. I bring a bunch home, and there is still some left over. If you come by then, I can give you what's left."

"Why? Why would you offer that to us?" I understood his questioning of my kindness. Not many people just gave people things in this town.

"I have over twenty brothers and sisters I have to provide for. I know how hard it is. The leftovers I bring home are the only food we have." I see no woman around their shelter, so it must just be the two of them. He just stands there looking at me. "Well, if you do decide you want some of the left over bread, come by around dusk. That is usually when my boss leaves me to close up shop." I turn around and head towards town.

Dusk had finally arrived and the Muffin Man left me to close up. I bagged up most of the left over bread and pastries for me to take home. The rest I put in a smaller bag. I hope the boy and his father come by. I pick up both bags and head out the door. I put the bags down outside so I can lock up the shop, and I hear some shuffling behind me. With the door to the shop locked I turn around to see Bae and his father.

"So, you decided to come by after all." I smiled at them, and they smiled back.

"Yes, well, you made an offer that we couldn't refuse." My smile grew, and I picked up the smaller bag. Bae took it, and threw it over his shoulder to carry it easily. I go to pick up my bag of leftovers and start to walk towards home. "Thank you, miss. What is your name?" I stop and turn around.

"My name is Ava." I giggled a bit. "What is your name?" I had a feeling I already knew who he was. I had heard stories of a man who had run away from battle. They called him a coward, but over the years people had forgotten his name.