I left school and made a beeline for the bread shop. I kept my head down and I continued to make sure I wasn't being followed to the shop by any of my classmates looking to kick the shit out of me.
It was another slow day at the shop. We had six customers before I arrived.
My father was standing behind the counter. He asked me to sweep up a mess that was made earlier in a corner of the shop. Someone knocked over dough and it leaked out of the bag like river. Now, the dough itself was picked up, but there was plenty of powder left spread across the shop's dirty floor.
As I was sweeping the floor, I heard the door open. We had another potential customer. I was not able to make out who it was until I looked closely enough. Luke had entered the bread shop and looked around. I have never seen him outside of school before.
"Hey, Luke!" I shouted from across the shop.
Luke retreated a few steps before realizing who I was. I didn't try to scare him.
"Can you help me with something?" Luke asked.
"Yeah! Of course! Can you give me a second?"
I finished sweeping up the floor before making my way over to Luke. He seemed overly anxious about something, but I didn't really take it into mind as I started to talk to him.
"Okay! Can you please help me reach that shelf? I would like two loaves of the scali bread," he quickly requested.
"Yeah! No problem!"
I grabbed the two loaves of bread and handed them to him. My father was downstairs so I had to work the register. Luke quickly rushed to the counter and asked if he could buy the bread. As I was beginning to scan his items, I tried to start a conversation with him.
"So what brought you to the shop today?" I asked.
That is the dumbest conversation starter I have ever used.
"I guess I needed some bread," he sarcastically replied with a little chuckle.
I laughed a little bit and continued on with the conversation.
"Well, I have never seen you in here before. I just thought I'd ask you," I said.
"It's cool. Don't worry about it," he said.
I noticed Luke clutching and rubbing his right elbow. He was sweating, but I didn't know if it was because of anxiety, his elbow, or the temperature in the shop being sweltering. It could have been all three.
"Are you okay?" I asked him.
"I'm fine. Can you please hand me the bread so that I can go?" he asked.
"Of course," I replied.
I handed Luke the bread quickly. Without a word, he raced out of the store as if he was being chased by someone. I didn't know what was going on with him.
आप पढ़ रहे हैं
Breaking Bread
लघु कहानीA journey of self-discovery for two characters (a father and his son) as they deal with obstacles that challenge their everyday beliefs and values. PS THE COVER IS TEMPORARY UNTIL I CAN CREATE ONE! ALSO, THIS WILL BE UPLOADED PART BY PART
