"Yes,"
Eduardo said, provoking excited squeals from Brigitte. The truth of the matter
was that the Venetian lion generally always found himself ready to stop for
cake, whether any was on offer or not.
Brigitte simply
enjoyed anything that involved Eduardo—and she likewise found the idea of cake
exciting despite being the child of a baker. One might expect that familiarity
might breed contempt, but clearly that had not happened to this girl.
"I don't
think we should," Maggiormente said with a frown. With the motor acquired
all his thoughts leaped ahead to the use he could make of it. "There is so
much to be done."
"But cakes,
" Eduardo argued. "We need cakes."
"You ate
this morning," the alchemist scolded him. "Don't be greedy."
"Oh come
now, it is afternoon already," Fabien said, throwing his weight behind the
clear majority. "A little sustenance before you return to your labours
cannot be bad, eh?"
The alchemist
chafed at the delay. However, he was not without some sympathy for his friend
and his familiar. "I suppose a little cake and some coffee would not be a
bad thing."
His acquiescence
inspired cheers from the other three who immediately dragged him through the
door of the bakery. The inviting interior welcomed them. The heat from the oven
created a good portion of the warmth, but it wasn't the only source.
"There you
are!" Madame Fabien gave her husband a look of mock severity. "I had
begun to wonder if you had run off with the boulangereuse."
Fabien leaned
across the counter to greet his wife with an enthusiastic kiss. "I thought
better of it. I knew I couldn't last five minutes without you."
The alchemist
looked away, embarrassed as he always did at these public displays of
affection. I will never get used to Paris, he
thought, shaking his head.
"Maman,
maman!" Brigitte ran around the counter to hug
her mother's legs tightly. "I rode on Eduardo's back and we flew all
around the city."
"All around
the city?" Adèle Fabien raised an eyebrow at her daughter. "I am
wondering if that is in fact true at all."
"It is
not," Eduardo said, peering at the selection of baked goods with quite
focused attention. When it came to cakes, Eduardo exhibited a rather unexpected
earnestness.
It is true that
cakes are a very serious matter.
"Brigitte,
you are exaggerating again." Her mother shook her head and tousled the
girl's hair. "You mustn't exaggerate so much."
Brigitte folded
her arms and frowned. "I imagined it."
"Exactly, ma
cherie."
"If I
imagined it, it could be real."
"There is
some logic to that," Maggiormente said.
The others
stared at him. Fabien laughed. Adèle said, "Is there, monsieur? I must
admit I cannot see the logic."
"Can I have
that cake?" Eduardo said, pointing at one covered in pink icing.
Adèle moved over
with her knife poised. "You want a piece of this one?"
"Piece?"
The lion blinked.
The baker
laughed and brought the plate out for him.
"The
logic," Maggiorment continued, noticing that no one had listened to his
comment, "is the same one that animates my work."
"I am an
alchemist?" Brigitte looked up with delighted surprise, flakes of her pan
au chocolat scattered across her frock.
Maggiormente
chuckled. "You are like an alchemist to be."
Brigitte
considered this. "I am pleased. How am I so? I do not make things
explode."
"One need
not explode things," Maggiormente said, accepting a croissant from Adèle.
"It is like the master wrote, 'What is now proved was once only imagined.' That is the true alchemy."
"This seems
like philosophy," Fabien said frowning.
"Perhaps a
little," Maggiormente admitted.
"That calls
for wine!" Fabien and Eduardo cheered.
No comments:
Post a Comment