Dough or Die

Five o’clock came and went. No Tammy Nader. No Kevin Nader. The bread shop was long closed. Maggie had left a few minutes before five, and Olaya had followed just after that. Now it was just me and the plate of skull cookies. I’d had to go on a little Easter egg hunt earlier to find them to put out, but I’d managed—without alarming Maggie—and had set them aside with a note that I’d be back and not to touch the cookies. I’d taken the fun out of the hunt for some little boy or little girl this afternoon, but it had to be done. I hoped it hadn’t been for nothing.

By five fifteen I was beginning to wonder if I’ d been stood up. I went out onto the sidewalk and stood under the awning, looking up and down the street. A woman strode down the street holding the hand of a boy, dragging him along with her. I threw my arm up, waving. She hadn’t stood me up after all.

Tammy waved back, speeding up. The little guy dragged his feet. “She has cookies for you, Kev,” I heard her say as they drew closer. If I’d hoped that cookies would make the boy happy, I was so wrong. He was the unhappiest looking nine-year-old I’d ever seen.

I greeted them and held the door open. Once the boy set eyes on the plate of cookies though, his face broke into a grin. He looked up at his grandmother. She patted his head, moving her hand to the back of his head and nudging him forward. “Help yourself.”

Kevin bent over the table, examining each of the intricately decorated cookies. He looked up at both of us again. He was a cutie. Blond hair. Gray-blue eyes that came alive when he smiled. He looked small for his age, but puberty would catch him up. After Tammy and I both nodded at him, he chose a cookie, sat down, and started munching.

Now that I had them both here, I wasn’t sure how to bring up the little boy’s mother. I pulled Tammy aside. “Would you like something to drink?” I smiled. “Or a cookie?”

“They look good.” She dipped her chin, her gaze softening as she looked at her grandson. “I haven’t seen him smile like that since his granddad went into the hospital.”

Now her face lit up. “So much better. It’s going to be slow, but he’s on the road to recovery, no question now.”

“I’m so glad to hear it.” I leaned back against the empty display case. “Mrs. Nader, I wonder if I could ask you a question.”

She’d been relaxed, but now she stood up straight, her arms folded over her chest like a barricade. “You looked up my son’s accident?”

When she said it aloud, it sounded kind of on the creepy side. Before I could offer up an explanation, though, she snapped at me. “Is that why you asked us here? To interrogate me about my family?”

She strode to Kevin, grabbed him by the arm and yanked him up. “We have to go now,” she told him, somehow managing to soften her voice for him.