Pebbles: A Collection of Short Stories

The Baker's Son

Everyone has a moment when life's map begins to unfold for them. For Izzy, her moment was pulling out a piping hot batch of gingerbread cookies from her Nana's oven. The smile on Nana's face still lingers in Izzy's mind every time a batch of cookies comes out of the oven. It usually brings a smile to her face, but this day was different.

There was a melancholy in Izzy as she mixed the flour with the spicy warmth of ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Her mind wandered to the peaceful smile her Nana had as she watched the clumsy young hands of Izzy whirl a whisk with such enthusiastic vigor that clouds of flour would billow to the air. She only wished that she had her own tiny apprentice to spill the vanilla and crack the eggs.

It was not that Izzy was lonely or had a life unfulfilled. She had a successful bakery on Main Street and a loving husband who doted on her. Still, Izzy had desperately wanted to have a child. Izzy and Peter had tried for years to conceive with no luck and, while both had agreed to take a break from the stress of trying, Izzy couldn't help but feel her chance for a family was slipping away.

Perhaps it was these thoughts that were ringing through her head as she kneaded and rolled the dough. Two chubby little legs and two chubby small arms haunted her mind as she sliced through the dough. Her emotions were so strong, as she lifted her work to a baking sheet, that a few tears slipped from her eyes to her creation below.

It was then, as the bleariness cleared from the few fallen tears, that she realized she was gazing upon a gingerbread boy. A laugh slipped from her lips at how silly her mind had worked. Her longing for a child was so intense that her hands obliged. "No use in letting the little guy go to waste." She said to herself as she slid the pan into the oven and set her attention to the icing.

Izzy sifted and whisked her way to icing as her sweet little man baked beside her in the oven. "He will be funny from the nutmeg." She mused to herself. "Warm and kind from the cinnamon." She continued as she set the icing in the mixer. "And, of course, he will have some mischievousness from the ginger. But mostly, he will be my sweet as sugar little boy."

A nervous giggle erupted from deep inside Izzy as the baking timer chimed. "I am so silly," she thought to herself. "It's just a cookie; no more a boy than this oven mitt." But as she pulled the cookie from the oven, she couldn't help but feel a special bond for her sweet boy.

Izzy tenderly laid him on the cooling rack before grabbing the icing. She kept stealing glances at the cookie as she filled the piping bag. She began by edging pant cuffs, and if her ears did not deceive, she swore she heard a stifled laugh. Next, she outlined shirt sleeves and a collar around his neck to another round of muffled laughter. "No, I'm just hearing things." She said to herself as she pinned three tiny buttons down the cookie's front.

A broad smile came next, but, to her surprise, it formed an O all on its own. "Oh, it feels so good to have a mouth." The voice creaked at first as the little cookie lungs filled with air. "If only I could see who I should thank." Izzy was startled, but once the words registered, she pricked two eyes on the tiny face only to see them immediately begin to blink. "Oh yes, I knew my mom would be the prettiest woman I've ever seen." The icing mouth spread to a broad smile. "Although you are also the only woman I've ever seen, you must be an excellent baker. I bet I smell delicious." His smile slipped to a bit of a ponder at the thought of smelling.

"Oh, I can fix that." Izzy piped a tiny nose in the center of the small face.

Immediately she heard the swish of air. "Ah, I do smell delicious. Too sweet to eat, right mom?"

Izzy looked down on this little guy gazing back at her. "Yes, much too sweet to eat."

The cookie sat up and looked at the kitchen around him. "What is my name?"