The Bread That Waits
A quiet story about a baker who keeps a promise
Mr. Wells has owned the small shop at the corner of the street for many years.
The sign above the door simply says "The Corner Bakery."
Every morning he wakes before the sun and lights the old .
He has baked bread in this room for almost forty years.
The warm smell drifts out to the quiet street and greets the first walkers of the day.
Mr. Wells is a quiet man who rarely speaks more than a few words.
His hands are slow now, but they still know every step by heart.
Each morning he bakes one that nobody has ordered.
It is a special that he makes with great care.
He places it on the by the window, where the morning light can reach it.
He calls it "the bread that waits."
The regulars have noticed this for years.
Old Mrs. Diaz, who owns the flower shop, once asked him about it.
"Who are you waiting for, Arthur?" she said with a kind smile.
Mr. Wells only looked at the bread and did not answer.
There is a that he has carried in his heart for a long time.
It was a he made to someone he loved very much.
His wife, Marie, was the true heart of this bakery.
She passed away a few years ago, after a long .
Since that day, Mr. Wells has kept baking the bread that waits, every single morning.
He has never explained why to anyone in the town.
That evening, after he had turned off the lights and locked the door, the street grew dark and still.
A small girl stopped in front of the window on her way home.
She pressed her face against the cold glass and stared at the bread that was waiting there.