The Line
As the line moved forward and people started to get to the counter, Ben drifted from studying the paczki in the racks to checking out the customers ahead of him. While the inside of the bakery was small and normally sparsely filled with people, on Fat Tuesday the floor was packed with customers from five to eighty-five years old. Also, since it was just Linda helping the customers, it would sometimes take a while for the line to move along.
At the front of the line was a family of four, and they were taking a while to make up their minds, mostly because the five-year-old and eight-year-old were completely overwhelmed by the choices.
Ben could overhear the mother, “They have raspberry, strawberry, custard, plum, and rose.”
“What’s rose?” inquired the eight-year-old girl, “Is that like eating roses?”
“It has that flavor,” mentioned the mother.
“Ewww, I would be eating a flower?”
Ben chuckled a little bit hearing this because that was always his thought.
“No, you wouldn’t be eating a flower, but you know how a rose smells beautiful? It would taste like that smell,” the mother tried to explain.
“I do like the smell of flowers. Can I get a rose one?”
Ben knew the child would not be happy with her choice.
Behind the family was an older couple whom Ben had seen a few times in the bakery. The wife seemed mesmerized with the family in front of them while Ben could see the husband eying the rack of strawberry paczki, sometimes drifting his gaze to the case filled with donuts, then turning to the side to look at the coffee cakes. Ben knew what was coming when the couple had their chance to order.
The family of four made their decisions, and Ben overheard their order: Three raspberry, two strawberry, two custard, and a rose. Ben figured that at least half of the rose paczki would end up in the garbage.
As the older couple made their way to the counter, Ben knew this order would be quick. The woman greeted Linda, “Hi Linda! Busy morning?”
“Yea, always is. What can I get you?” asked Linda wearily, as if wondering if the line would ever end.
“I’ll just have one raspberry. Charlie, tell Linda what flavor you want.”
Charlie’s head spun around the bakery shop. “I’ll have a strawberry and a cherry one. And can you add a chocolate-covered long-john? And, will the coffee cake last through the weekend?”
Linda looked flustered, “It will probably just make it.”
The woman started shaking her head, “Charlie, that’s too much.”
“I’ll also take an almond coffee cake.”
“Ugh,” exclaimed the wife.
Linda looked annoyed at having to go over to the coffee cake counter. She put the pastry in a bag perfectly shaped for coffee cakes, and then stacked the paczki in a small box.
The couple made their way to the register with Linda, and the disheveled man in front of Ben and Amy was next in line.
Ben noticed the man looked nervous and seemed to be in a hurry, but he also had a look of knowing exactly what he wanted. This brought a slight sense of relief to Ben, knowing he would be able to get his paczki soon. Ben went back to scanning his choices. Even though The Garden Bakery only had five varieties of paczki, he was generally frozen trying to decide.
“Hi, I’m Phil,” said the man to Linda. Linda seemed to not care.
“What can I get you?” asked Linda.
Phil thought for the briefest of moments, “Can I get one raspberry and one plum?”
Ben, overhearing the choice of plum, thought, “Eww. I guess he’s that guy who buys the plum flavor.”
As Linda turned around, grabbing the wax paper and then the two paczki, she asked Phil, “Is a bag okay?”
“A bag will be fine.”
Linda led Phil over to the register, but Amy noticed panic come over Phil as he reached to his back pocket and noticed his wallet wasn’t there.
As Phil got to the register area, Amy could hear Phil, with a quiver in his voice as if he might cry, “Is there any way I can take them and come back with the money. I forgot my wallet.”
Linda replied, “We have plenty. You can just come back, and we’ll probably still have some.”
“You don’t understand, I don’t have a lot of time,” as tears started coming to Phil’s eyes.
Linda seemed agitated and said,“I’m sorry you forgot your wallet, but you can come back.”
While Amy was paying attention to the interaction between Phil and Linda, Ben was oblivious to what was happening at the register, still unsure of what his choices might be.
Phil had a look of being both crestfallen and despondent that he had forgotten his wallet. Meanwhile, Linda, growing impatient, started to make the motion of taking the paczki out of the bag to put them back on the shelf.
Amy walked over to the register, “I’ll pay for his. How much is it?”
“$5.50,” replied Linda.
As Amy handed Linda her credit card, Phil had a look of stunned relief and gratitude saying to Amy, “Oh my God. God bless you. Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me. I’ll pay you back. Can you let me know how I can contact you?”
Amy replied with comfort in her voice, seeming to understand that, for some reason, these two paczki meant the world to the man, “It’s Fat Tuesday, enjoy!”
Ben noticed Amy paying for Phil’s order. He seemed inquisitive at what had happened, but was more concerned with his upcoming choices.
With Phil being done with his order, Linda came over to Ben.
“Hi, what can I get you?”
“I’ll take a raspberry and a rose. Can you also add a chocolate triangle?” Ben then turned to Amy, “Honey, tell Linda what you want.”
Amy shook her head, knowing Ben ordered too many items and would complain about the rose-flavored paczki, then looked at Linda, “I’ll have a raspberry.”
As Amy and Ben made their way to the register, Ben asked Amy, “Did you pay for that guy’s paczki?”
“Yeah, he forgot his wallet.”
“Who comes to a bakery without their wallet on paczki day?” asked Ben with a sound of bewilderment.
What Ben didn’t know was that Phil’s mother was about to die.