Preview...The Stranger

On a warm summer night a stranger stalks the streets. No one knows who this stranger is or where it  came from. All they know is that the stranger appears and walks slowly down the dark streets. Many of the locals in the town believe it is a vengeful spirit while the authorities attribute the stranger's carefree night walks as pranks to scare people. This stranger that wears a large, loose trench coat that doesn't appear to fit their frame. Strides that reminds people of how a bride walks down the aisle and the head always stares straight ahead as if expecting something or someone...

Craigslist: Roy's Royal Bakery Hiring!

Looking for someone with experience selling desserts and know how to use a cash register.  Applicants must have a positive attitude, can handle customer complaints, good leadership skills, and genuinely easy to talk to by everyone. We are expanding our bakery and will welcome anyone that fits the criteria mentioned above.

Smiling is a must when greeting customers! 

Please send your resume with all of your experiences and accomplishments thus far.

Bakery Dust Storm

Roy stepped out of his car and look at the small light brown building in front of me. The words Roy’s Royal Bakery in big red letters is sprawled at the top of the building. It is located between an ice cream shop and a steak house. What he noticed immediately was a wooden crate about the 5 feet tall and 6 feet wide was at the front of his bakery. Roy walked over to the crate and inspected it. ‘Strange’ he thought. “I wasn’t expecting any deliver today.” Roy muttered to himself. Roy walked around the wooden crate to see if there were any labels that can identify where the crate came from. There were no markings to identify who put it there. Roy decided it is better to go inside and ask his cashier about the crate. Phil is the cashier of the bakery and a high school friend of Roy. Phil is the first to arrive and the last to leave the bakery every day. He had always had a thing for sweets and when Roy offered him to work at your bakery, he was thrilled. Roy walked inside his bakery and weaved around the empty tables and chairs towards Phil. Phil was busy staring at his favorite dessert, a chocolate and mocha tiramisu layered cake with pieces of white chocolate flakes sprinkled on top over the thick chocolate glazed top. He eyed it like a hawk and only looked up when Roy tapped on the desk.

“Oh, hello Roy.” He said with a smile on his face. Phil hasn’t changed since high school. He still has a skinny frame that made people wonder if he eats enough at home. His black long hair is tied in a ponytail and he is wearing our bakery’s magenta colored uniform with the words: Roy’s Royal Bakery in bold black letters on the back. “Did you see that big box outside?” asked Roy. “I sure did!” Exclaimed Phil. “I didn’t know we ordered something that big.”

Roy looked over his shoulder to give the crate one more glance. “Neither did I.” He said. “It was here when we got to the store.” Said two voices in perfect unison.  Roy jumped from the shock and spun around to see the twins Timmy and Tommy. He had forgotten that the twins are here in the bakery. “You almost gave me a heart attack!” Roy said in an annoyed voice. The twins had always looked the same but also dressed the same. Like a perfect picture of each other. However, they are both in the store’s uniform and staring at Roy with a blank look on their face. Roy thought about what to do, his bakery will open in 45 minutes and this big wooden box is in front of the entrance. “We can push it out of the way of the entrance.” Said Roy. And with a quick hand gesture, he made the come with me hand motion towards the twins and Phil. Soon the four of them are outside and standing around the crate. “We should push it towards the left since it is closer towards the left” Said one of the twins. Roy can never tell who is who with those two. He just randomly shouts Tommy or Timmy and one of them comes over. Roy is positive he is wrong half the time but they respond anyway without indicating which one of the twins they are. The four of them started to push the box towards the left side and that is when you hear an angry voice coming from the direction Roy’s group was pushing. “Don’t you dare put that burden on us!” shouts a stout middle aged woman. Roy looked over and sees Mary. Mary runs the ice cream shop next door and has been a thorn by your side ever since you met her. She claims his business is here to steal her customers even when it is winter. “I am sorry.” Says Roy. “But we need to move this box so we can clear the entrance to our bakery.” Mary glares at Roy with hate in her eyes. “I know what you want to do. You want to sabotage my business by blocking my front door.” Roy sighed. He walked over to Mary and said “If I can get away with doing that to you, I would have done long ago.” Mary’s mouth hangs wide open as shock spread across her face. This was quickly replaced with anger as she pulls out a cell phone. “I am going to call the police if you don’t move your stuff off my property!” she shouted. Roy looked around nervously, people walking by are starting to stare with a few stopping to take out their phone to hopefully record some “action”. “Can we hurry this up?!” Ask Phil. “I heard today will be very windy and I don’t want to get dust in my eyes.” Roy turned around and told them to push the crate towards the right. “Maybe we can push the box in front of our windows.” Says the twins in unison again. “That would block out the view of our bakery.” Says Roy. “We want people to see what our bakery has to offer them.” The wind started to pick up and Roy can see Phil’s ponytail get blown to the side in a few seconds. He looks up at the cloudy sky and said “Let’s just do that. I don’t want to spend any more time out here with that woman glaring at me.” So, it is decided to push the crate right and towards the windows of Roy’s bakery. Just then Phil tripped over his own feet and in his fall, he grabbed the side he was pushing on. With the sound of nails falling on the concrete, the entire crate fell apart, revealing a large pile of saw dust. “What is that?” asks one of the twins. Roy looked at the saw dust and then up at the sky. Mary is now hysterical after seeing the saw dust. “So, you are trying to sabotage me! You are going to use the saw dust and the wind to scare away my customers!” Shouts Mary. Everyone is now covering their eyes with their hands or sleeve as the wind picks up as much saw dust as it can and disperses it everywhere. “Well that didn’t go well at all.” Says Phil. He is grimacing as he tries to see through all the saw dust in the air. Henry, the owner of the steak house, comes rushing out of his steak house. “What is going on here?” He asks in an angry voice. He is a balding man with a beer gut that would put Santa Clause’s stomach to shame. Roy walks over to him and tells him what happened. Henry was not having any of the excuses and told Roy that this will cost everyone here a lot of business today.

Roy and his employees walks back into the bakery and closed the door. “We can wait this out.” Says Roy. “I am sure the wind would blow away all that saw dust in a few hours. We can keep our bakery open in the mean-time.” The twins looked at Roy and stared at him. Roy always get creeped out when they do that. He knows it is what they do when they want are thinking about what to say to the person they are looking at. However, to Roy, they remined him of the twin girls standing in the hall of a haunted house. Before one of the twins can say a word, Phil speaks up. “I think we should all take a day off until this is over. I don’t think the wind will die down today.” Everyone looks out the window to see the yellowish haze that is the saw dust blanket everything in sight. They can’t even see anything out the window. Roy sighs and walks towards the back exit located in the kitchen. “We’ll take the day off and come back tomorrow. Hopefully it would all clear up by then.” The twins looked at each other and high fived each other. Then they followed Roy out of the bakery. Roy poked his head in the kitchen and shouts towards Phil. “Don’t forget to lock up the place Phil.” Phil yelled back “I’ll remember, don’t worry.” Roy walks away towards his car.

Phil sits on his chair and smiled. What a great day it has been. A day off and he get to eat as much of his favorite dessert as he wants. “It was a good thing I got that crate of saw dust for today.” Phil said to himself. He can finally indulge in his cravings instead of watching other people buy the delectable dish. “I should do this more often.” Says Phil with a smirk on his face.