All That She Can See(13)

Cherry shook her head to clear her thoughts. ‘First things first.’ She turned to her friends. ‘The menu.’





5





Too Much Of A Good Thing





The day Cherry officially opened ‘Samuel and Daughter’ was a roaring success. She had never seen so many people in one room – nor had she ever seen so many Meddlums. They had all tried to crush through the doors at once but something had blocked them and so they’d had to settle for standing at the threshold. They cowered, resorting to waiting outside, like dogs for their owners, yowling impatiently, and each time someone took a bite of cake, one of the Meddlums shrunk and the doorway started to clear. They even threw their crooked limbs around each other in fear.

Even those who insisted they didn’t have a sweet enough tooth for Cherry’s delights were soon won over when even just the whiff of a Contentment Cookie had them smiling. No one left that day feeling like their problems were unmanageable. Every person had a sudden new zest for life and everyone returned the following day. And the day after that. And the one after that. By the end of the month, Cherry had shrunk seven Meddlums to the size of spiders and the rest weren’t far behind. What happens if they all disappear? Cherry thought. She now worried that if she continued to serve them good feeling, her friends might start to swing in the other direction. A town filled with the obsessively overjoyed with no worries to keep them balanced sounded almost as scary as the town she had started with. Can you have too much of a good thing? she thought.

Cherry soon had her answer in the form of the biggest Meddlum she had ever seen. It was so big that it didn’t fit in its owner’s house any more. Instead, it sat in the front garden, shivering and unimpressed. It belonged to Terrance Figgis. Terrance was having issues writing his latest novel so Cherry had served him a Motivation Muffin every time he’d come into the bakery.

‘Five hundred and eighty-six words. That’s it! Can you believe that? Something else is always just… more important.’ Terrance put his head in his hands in despair. Cherry slid a muffin under his nose.

‘I always find a muffin helps me get my brain in gear,’ Cherry said with a smirk. It turned out, however, that too much Motivation keeps you up for hours on end, working and working and working. In Terrance’s quest to find Motivation, he had found Exhaustion instead and it was now sitting in his garden, getting larger by the day. Balance, Cherry had realised then, was of the utmost importance. From then, she tried to make her customers’ usual orders without the extra added feeling but they soon noticed the difference and returned to ask, ‘Have you changed the recipe?’ or, ‘Why doesn’t it taste the same as before?’ Cherry started to panic. She couldn’t go on, filling everyone up with so much good feeling that it spilled out, creating new problems. It would leave them worse than before. Cherry had to do something.

‘I’m moving,’ Cherry announced. The whole bakery fell silent. She hadn’t quite meant to declare it so bluntly but her brain had been whirring and clunking over the idea for weeks and she couldn’t keep it to herself any longer. ‘I’m… moving.’ She said again, a little more gently this time.

‘But… why?’ Mrs Overfield said, a sob catching in her throat. ‘Everything’s so perfect,’ she whispered.

‘A little… too perfect,’ Cherry said, looking around the shop at all the faces she’d grown so fond of in the three months since the bakery had been open.

‘Cherry, you can’t leave. We need you here,’ Miss Kightley sounded matter-of-fact but her eyes were creasing at the edges. Cherry wondered if it was her Softening Soufflé that was causing Miss Kightley to be a little gentler than usual.

‘I don’t think you do,’ Cherry said slowly. ‘For a while, we all needed each other but things are different now. I mean, I didn’t know any of you before I opened this bakery. Not really. And now look at us. We see each other and talk every day. I know your children’s names,’ Cherry said to Mrs Brewer. ‘You know my favourite flowers,’ she said to Felicity and Fawn. ‘I know how each and every one of you takes your tea!’ Cherry felt a lump form in her throat as she realised just how far she’d come. ‘This has all escalated so quickly and I feel like my job here is… kind of… done.’ She shrugged, not knowing what else to say without giving herself away.

‘But Cherry… you can’t just quit. This is a brilliant business. How will you live?’ Mrs O came over and took Cherry’s hand in hers.

‘Oh, I’m not quitting! Never!’ Cherry laughed. ‘It’s just that I feel like I’ve helped a lot of people here. With my baking. Right?’ Everyone in the shop nodding enthusiastically and murmured their appreciation. Mr Datta even raised his plate of Humble Pie and bobbed his head in agreement. ‘Who’s to say there aren’t more people who need a little pick-me-up too?’ Cherry trailed off, wondering if she was being over-ambitious. She thought everyone’s silence was confirmation that yes, that’s exactly what she was being, until Mrs Brewer stood and said, ‘You’re absolutely right, my dear. How selfish of us to try to keep you here!’ She walked over at quite a pace and planted a big wet kiss on Cherry’s cheek, leaving a thick, red lipstick stain behind.