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 Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 9:34 pm
 Barry had been up all night baking, but he was so proud of himself he hardly noticed how tired he was, and only knew what time it was by accident. He had baked trays and trays of cookies, fresh and lovely. He decorated them all for summer and bagged them up in little mesh bags with ribbons and cards on each.
He was going to go set up his usual shop, out in front of one of the only stores in town that tolerated his cookie peddling. Maybe one day he would have to find somewhere else, but for now, the mom and pop style antique store was the nicest place in town, and he loved being able to brighten their day, and the day of their customers, with his baked goods.
Barry had not been there for a few weeks, because his job and his online activities took too much of his attention away. Even now, he'd snapped pictures of his baking and decorating process and was worrying about getting them all uploaded and with a write up for his blog. That was for later, though: he had to go out and distribute them before he locked himself away behind his computer desk. A bit of fresh air would do him good, however nice the air in his home smelled after baking all night long.
Putting the bags into a large box, Barry made his way out to his car, a fairly old model Mini that was absolutely useless for anything but carting himself and one of these boxes at a time. He loved his car, though, and as long as it kept running, he would keep using it. It did not take him long to get to the store and park his car in its usual, out of the way spot. He went into the store through the back door and called out his arrival jovially, greeted by the four employees who happily each took a bag of cookies after he offered them.
They helped him set up a table out front and he sat down, ready to hand out his cookies. They were for the antique shop, the little card with an ad on it and nothing more. No price tag. He had no lock box for money, no cup for tips. He called out to anyone passing by and happily offered them cookies for their accomplishment of simply being in the area.
These were free, fresh cookies.
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 7:53 am
Waking up that morning had been sort of a struggle for Nat; it'd been a long night for her too. It wasn't really her fault that she had picked up Arkham City again on a whim -- okay, so that part was kind of her fault -- but really, could anyone blame her for losing track of time in Arkham City?
She would have just slept in (weekends were the best), but her dad had forgotten his lunch this morning; her mom had to take her younger brother to his dance class, and forget getting her older brother to do anything. So naturally, it was up to Nat to make sure her father didn't starve to death or eat one of his birds or something crazy like that.
Anyway, the job was done; now it was just a matter of getting home and making the ever difficult decision whether to go back to sleep, or stay up and glide around as Batman some more. Choices, choices...
Wait. She paused mid-step, her eyes drawn to a table outside of a small shop. It was an antique shop, she knew that, but... well, those little bags definitely didn't look anything like antiques, now did they? She ambled slowly closer to the table, openly staring at the table. "Are those...?" There was a hint of hopefulness adding a lilt to her voice. Please tell her those were what she thought they were.
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 9:50 am
"Hello, Miss!" Barry said cheerfully, as the young woman approached looking very curious about the small bags of cookies. He held one up to her, smiling ear to ear.
If there was one thing Barry loved more than baking, it was giving out what he baked. There was always something magical in handing someone a free cookie or a fresh baked cupcake, and it was hard to have a bad day after that, right? Whether getting the food or just being able to give it, Barry was sure all problems could be solved, at least for a little while, by baked goods.
He chuckled, hoping that this young lady would be happy with a bag of cookies to start her day.
"Go ahead and take one! They're free! There's chocolate chip, coconut and a chocolate cookie with white chocolate chips!" The pink haired man was not much of a businessman or a salesman. Though he tied little ads for the shop to his cookies, that was as far as he would go with the advertising for them. In his mind, he was just here to give away the food, but it was free for the shop and they liked him around, so they never complained about it. Anyway, he always left his extras behind, which they loved.
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 10:21 am
To be completely honest, he sort of lost her a little after 'free'. "These are free?!" Nat gasped out, stepping closer to the table. Her fingertips twitched, and there was already a smile blossoming on her face; anyone who didn't want to smile when the words 'free' and 'cookies' were involved really just shouldn't even bother talking to her. The only reason she even hesitated at all was -- "But they're so pretty. I can't just take them!"
Her brows furrowed just slightly as she said it, and she reached into her back pocket. She had a few dollars on her, right? She better have something! "There's so many, too -- how long did it take you to bake all of these?" Her eyes were bright with shameless awe and excitement. Even if she felt bad just taking them, look at those! Usually when she tried tying a ribbon around something it just looked like a knot gone wrong.
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 10:52 am
"Of course you can take them! I made them to be given away!"
He did not believe in taking money for something he made to be nice. He could always make things to sell another time, but these had always been intended to be free gifts for those walking by the shop today. It was just one of the small joys in life, and he took that as payment enough. Doing something just because he could, and he liked to? That was not something everyone could do whenever they wanted.
It was nice, and he was happy about it. Simple things, for a simple person.
"Ah, it took me a few hours, but I knew it would! I love having epic baking nights, every once in a while. It's like a work out... mostly for my oven, but still."
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 11:03 am
She felt the singles -- hey, she did have some -- but she let them stay in her pocket for now. Nat was determined to give him something, even if she had to get sneaky about it.
It might have been easier to try for sneaky if she wasn't so excited about the cookies in the first place. She smiled at him as she took one of the pretty little bags. "Thank you so much..." Definitely took her mind off being tired. Except now that she'd remembered she was supposed to be tired, the edge of haze that came from too little sleep flared back up again.
But still. Cookies. Yes. "You really sit up all night and cook all this for nothing? You're a really nice guy, huh?" she teased him, even if it was true. Most people wouldn't go out of their way for someone like that.
She was trying to open the bag -- but of course she was fumbling with the knot because she'd just clipped her nails two nights ago. That figured.
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 11:32 am
"Well it's not for nothing! You get to try the cookies I've baked, and it made your morning a little better, I hope! Those are two very good reasons to spend the night baking, especially considering I love baking. So it's a win situation all around, for me."
Barry tried to be positive about things. That was not to say he did not have his own faults, for he had many and he had to work through them one at a time like anyone else, but he liked to give others reasons to be happy. Even if he was bad for their diets. To him, baked goods were as good as a handshake.
He got to meet a lot of nice people this way, after all!
"Did you need some help opening that up?" he asked, smiling at her. He was happy because she was so excited, feeding off her energy like a leech. Except he was not stealing it away from her, just thriving on the situation.
While she was working on it, he handed another bag to a passer by. Her standing at the table was drawing others over as well.
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 10:46 am
He sounded unreal, like a Disney character or something -- not in a bad way, more like the opposite. Most people just didn't go that out of their way to do something random and nice for people they didn't even know, and Nat wondered if her mother would even believe her when she heard the story.
No, scratch that, she'd believe her. But this was the woman who went out of her way to make sure no one tampered with any Halloween candy, and even doubted the Santa in the mall when he'd passed her a candy cane one year. 'Didn't like the look in his eyes, ' she'd said. She'd probably just send the cookies in to be tested for poison or something. Maybe call someone to get his guy checked out. Better safe than sorry was her policy.
Fortunately for her, Mom wasn't here! "No, wait, I think I've almost -- " She tugged on the edge of the ribbon determinedly for a few more seconds, but it was getting slippery from sweat gathering at her fingertips and that just made it all so much worse.
With a sigh of resignation, she looked to Barry almost dejectedly. "I'm sorry... I failed, " she sighed, holding out the bag of cookies. "Thank you..."
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 11:39 am
Barry watched her struggle with the ribbon, then moved to stand and walk around the table so he could help her. He was dressed like a baker, with an apron full of baking supplies around his waist, as if he were just going through his days ready for any baking emergencies that popped up.
One could never be too prepared, right? In his line of work... no, he definitely could be less prepared, and make it through things alright.
"Here, I'll help! I think I may have tied this one too tight. I should make the ribbons easier, huh? I haven't thought about it, and usually people take the cookies and go on their way, so I don't see them struggling to open them. I feel bad now! I wonder how many people have had similar troubles."
He managed to get the ribbon undone by using a small pair of scissors he kept in his apron-belt. He offered her the successfully opened bad, sheepish and apologetic.
"It will be sad if they're not worth the hassle!"
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2014 12:51 pm
"It's probably just me... " she mumbled, her fingers fumbling together before and embarrassment creeping hot up the back of her neck. Way to go lose to a bag, Nat. But she perked up relatively quickly once she had the cookies back in her hands. "I mean, I was the kid who had to get the teacher to open a Capri Sun for me, " and at least now she could turn it into a joke.
"Thank you so much!" She opened up the bag to grab one of the cookies -- but she thought to ask before she went running off with one of the delicious little treats hanging from her mouth, "How long have you been cooking for? - you must love it a lot, huh?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2014 12:16 pm
Barry shook his head and chuckled. He was a very positive sort, most of the time, though he could be easily distracted and sometimes got a little too focused for his own good. He was a bit of a scatterbrain, as well, so he had to try and keep his focus on one project at a time, or his world sort of imploded a bit as he struggled to be absorbed in too many things at one time. Generally he mastered this by focusing on his teaching and his baking, and he did not worry too much about anything beyond his students and those he made cookies for.
It was perhaps an overly simple life, but it suited him just fine. And it allowed him to have an easy going attitude, which kept him from being too tense about anything as troubles did pop up. He knew that he could get frantic if he let himself get too bogged down in negativity, so he had to avoid that as best he could.
"Well, I'll make these easier to open, anyway, for kids that need to have the teacher open capri suns and cookies for them. I doubt you're the only one who had to suffer that, growing up!"
He smiled at her question and nodded his head. If his bright pink cooking attire and the fact that he almost always had an apron and emergency baking supplies on him was not clue enough, he often had flour or other baking stains on his clean clothes, fresh from whatever he had been making that morning. Of course there were days when he did not cook anything, and focused on his internet endeavors and his blog, but more often than not is was baking that soothed the soul of the beast.
"I've been doing it as long as I can remember, and I teach others how to bake now, which really helps fuel this terrible, life long addiction I've had. But it's my favorite thing to do! Mostly because it's something that's so easy to share, and enjoy, and an easy way to make new friends."
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Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 5:16 pm
That comment made her laugh, and the last traces of embarrassment vanished in that moment. "I guess you're right -- I remember this one poor kid tried so hard to get his open, he ended up spraying it everywhere." However bad something might seem at the time, it was never worth getting too down about since someone else probably had it even worse... granted, she didn't think anyone was spraying cookies everywhere, but who knew? Crazy things happened when food got involved!
She listened to everything he said from beginning to end, but what really caught her attention was when he mentioned he was a teacher of the baked arts. Her eyes lit up, and even before she opened her mouth, it was pretty clear she was interested. "You say that like it's a bad thing! If I had to be addicted to something, I'd want to be addicted to making great cakes and stuff for everyone!" she declared loudly. She really didn't mean to draw attention to herself, but especially when she got excited about something, she just got louder.
"By the way..." She pursed her lips, like she was trying to think of how to phrase it. "If you don't mind me asking... I tried to bake cookies once, right? I wanted to surprise everyone one day, so I got the stuff I needed and I looked it up online and everything. But it turned into a rock - how do I keep it from doing that?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 3:02 pm
Barry tilted his head and his eyes lit up like stars on a clear night. He laughed and pondered her question, grinning ear to ear because he already knew how he wanted to answer. Just telling someone how to bake was never enough, at least as far as he knew. He was a teacher, after all.
"Well, I think the best way to figure that out would be to remake those cookies and see if we can go through your steps again! Then we can fix the error, and you'll be able to see the result you're supposed to get."
He chuckled, thinking he had come up with the perfect solution. Sure, she could just google it for a much easier time, or he could just answer he question directly, but where was the fun in that? Baking was about the experience, and learning was doing.
"I offer lessons, so I'm a pretty good teacher. And I have an office, and a place we can bake that isn't my house, so it isn't creepy!"
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 7:19 am
Lessons? Real, true baking lessons? It was a good thing he added that part about 'other places' and 'not creepy' - not because Nat was so easily put off or anything, and she didn't think he seemed like he had a malicious bone in his body. Some people gave off certain feelings, and she got nothing bad or weird from him. Nothing but passion for what he did. But her mom probably would have had a conniption if she went wandering into some pink-haired guy's house, no matter how nice he was.
"You'd really do that for me?" and her eyes lit up too, because she was always excited to get into something new. But she had to ask, "How much are your lessons?" because she also knew that, while her parents probably wouldn't mind her going if it was somewhere safe, they probably wouldn't want to pay too much for it either. It'd be nice if she could surprise them anyway.
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Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 3:45 pm
Barry was a very kind person, but he knew that, these days, in this city, one could not be too careful. There were a lot of bad people out there, for some reason! All the strange stories about attacks and deaths and missing people... it got a little much. Barry tried not to read the papers, really, because it just gave him too much to worry about, and not enough reassurance everything would be okay.
Cookies and cakes were okay, and he could certainly enjoy himself in the kitchen more than he could buried in a paper or with the TV on, anyway. Let the world continue turning as it wanted to, and he would continue with his life as he liked it.
"Of course! It's something I love to do, and of course, my job. But don't worry about payment for now, we'll see if you actually want me as a teacher before we worry about that. First lesson will be free! At the school. Here, I'll write down the street address and what building."
He did as he said he would, writing it all down for her on a piece of paper he pulled from a notebook in his apron. On the back of it was a scribble half recipe for something he had never finished, or forgotten about, and he was not worried about giving it to her. He had written it down again, with edits and notes, as he was wont to do while coming up with a new recipe. He always ended up with a lot of extra notes and half filled pieces of paper.
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