shorts

short six

"Empty shops are the best!" Martha cried as she entered the deserted cookie shop. She is an avid cookie eater and is always on the lookout for new cookie shops. This was one of her latest find.

She jumped on a barstool near the counter as she waited patiently for someone to take her order. After a few minutes, a girl with purple hair came out with a tray of freshly baked cookies. Her back was to Martha as her hands were unavailable to push the door.

"I'll have those please!" Martha said, a little too excited. Purple Hair jumped and almost dropped the tray of cookies. She noticed Martha and gave her a stare. Martha sunk into her seat. Purple Hair set the tray down and asked Martha whether she had waited for a long time.

"I just got here. Sorry, didn't mean to scare you or anything but cookies are my favourite so can I have those please?" Martha is always word vomiting when she is excited or nervous. Or around strangers who gave her a death stare.

"Any allergies? Because the last time someone ate something wrong, trust me it did not end well."

"No allergies. In terms of food. But I'm allergic to dust, cats, bees and pollens. Not that you need to know or anything, just putting it out there."

"Woah TMI much. These are a dollar for three. They're pretty much experimental flavour so don't get your hopes up high."

Martha ordered three and nibbled on her cookies. Purple Hair went to back again, probably baking or something dangerous. Martha could not help but think that Purple Hair was in some kind of secret society due to her eyebrow ring and her sleeve tattooes. She checked her surroundings for any sign that this might be in the bad side of the neighbourhood. Apart from the lack of human traffic, this seemed like a pretty decent place.

After finishing her second cookie, she could not figure out the flacour of the cookie. She contemplate on asking Purple Hair but decided against it. Just as she was wrapping her last cookie in a napkin, Purple Hair appeared.

"How's the cookie? Good?" She asked as she sauntered to Martha. Martha finally glanced to her nametag. Jenny. "It's Peanut Butter With No Peanut."

Martha raised her eyebrow, out of habit when someone says something unusual. Jenny let out an exasperated sigh. "It's basically a butter cookie. Name was for advertising purposes."

"Urm...Well the cookie, I mean, it's chewy...and urm...tastes fine, I guess?" Martha was afraid that Jenny would hit her of she told her the truth.

"Did you or did you not taste the butter in it?" A hint of annoyance was obvious in Jenny's voice. "Why is it so hard to tell the truth? I just want some comments so that I may improve. But people are so scared to tell me the cold hard truth. So tell me now, the truth. Did you or did you not taste the butter in it?" Her voice was near shouting but not there yet.

"Truthfully, it tasted like sandpaper and the name is not cute nor creative. I think you forgot to add the butter. I can see that you have just started business and wants to make something extraodinary but my advice is to start simple then experiment because people might get turned off." Martha took a breath. "And honestly it seems like you don't know how to bake."

A moment of silence.

Jenny went around the counter and sat next to Martha. Martha tried to lean away politely as she was scared that Jenny might do something reckless. And then she started crying. Like with tears, snot and mascara running down her face. The full package.

"I-I thought I could b-bake! I-I thought my brothers were just being mean. I'm a failure at life and I'm never going to make my mummy proud!" She wailed on endlessly.

Martha felt bad. But reality is harsh. "Hey, hey, Jenny, right? Sorry if I was too honest, but you can learn how to bake y'know," She opened up her wallet, searching a particular namecard amongst a hundred others. "Here. This is my sister's baking school. Nothing big but she has the qualifications. Not bragging or anything but even people with zero experience in baking became a pro by the end of their sessions."

"Do you know how to bake?" Jenny asked after she managed to stop her tears but still sobbing.

"Yeah, I mean, I could bake Devil's Food very well," Martha said sheepishly.

"Work with me." It sounded more like an order than a question. "I think you know how to bake better than me, so together we can make this cookie shop work!"

Martha thought Jenny was impulsive from her purple hair. But this just proved her thoughts right. And being a sweet little cupcake -a side effect from eating cupcakes as breakfast and snacks, she agreed.

A decade later, both of them sat near the window. As they nibbled a Peanut Butter With No Peanut cookie in one of their cookie chain shop. Maybe the name was not so silly after all.