Mae's Real Stories

Anna's Bakery -- a real business that sells croissants, cupcakes, coffee, and similar things -- has a case with a miniature bakery. There are several items like ours, especially the red table and chairs and the cash register. There's also a wall phone like one of mine (not in the photo). I once had a gum ball machine, but the top was glass and it broke. Their tiny cakes and pastries are very nicely made.

I like the little orange crate which says "Goleta." The bakery is in Goleta, California, just outside Santa Barbara; I think there were orange groves here before they built all the shopping centers and subdivisions around here.

One thing that Anna's has that I have never seen before: a mini espresso maker.

Sheila sent another poem for Miriam:


The Cougher

There’s a tickle in your throat
And you’ve hardly heard a note
And you’re wishing you were in some other place.
In this silent, listening crowd
You're the one who’ll cough out loud,
And you know you’re facing imminent disgrace.

Yes, right now you’re in a pickle.
The unmanageable tickle
Is a torment, and it’s threatening your poise.
Can you hold out any longer
As the urge to cough grows stronger?
Any moment you’ll emit a mighty noise.

If this bloody piece were shorter,
If you had a glass of water,
It would help. But there is nothing you can do.
Oh, if only you could be
Safe at home with a CD,
In an armchair, free to cough the whole way through.

Do you hear a rallentando?
Does this mean the end’s at hand? Oh,
What a mercy. Yes, they're really signing off.
They perform the closing bars
And you thank your lucky stars
And it’s over. You have made it. You may cough.