The sky just barely broke with the first hues of daylight as Alex dusted his palms with flour and began kneading the proofed dough. Thoughts of his recently deceased father weighed on his mind.
His lips curved up in a smile as the memory of his first baking lesson with his father breezed in. It was like cool, refreshing air in a humid atmosphere. The old man donned his apron and cap, wagging a finger at him. “Son, beware of strange dough.”
A week after the funeral, that warning made sense. When the lawyer called and affirmed him as the sole owner of his father's bakery and estate, a distant relative he'd never met before showed up and wanted to “help” him manage the estate. Friends of his father also came for the funeral and offered their assistance.
As an only child, he'd always wished for siblings and the arrival of these people made him feel accepted.
He rolled the dough into a smooth big ball and tucked it into a steel bowl before covering it with a soft towel. Money, he discovered, rose like yeast. It swelled with conversations, softened motives, filled empty silences with promises and made awkward smiles look genuine.
A month after he accepted the “help”, he lost twice as much money, a little more each day until he audited the accounts and almost wept. All he heard from the so-called relatives and friends were excuses directed at the failing economy.
The bakery was his place of solace. That evening, exhausted, he took out ingredients to bake some comfort snacks. A recipe he had never tried before.
Opening his father's old cookbook, a photograph of his parents working together in the kitchen, laughing, fell out. He picked it up and turned it. His father wrote behind the photo—Real bread takes time.
Alex made changes to his business that night. The next morning, he declined the relative's and friends’ proposals to fix things and sent them away.
A strange dough won't make good bread. He put on his apron and began to bake pastries for his shop.
I hope you enjoyed reading this short piece. It's inspired by the Freewrite #dailyprompt phrase "strange dough”.
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