Manna entered the bakery. He welcomed the warm building as much as the warm welcome. “Manna,” a few people shouted as he entered. The regulars knew him by name. The others learned his name quickly with all the shouting. He had worked there for what seemed the longest time.
The cashier, Milad Zhe usually had a smile on his face. It was yellowish green on the left and light brown on the right, the color splitting his face slightly left of the middle. He wore the plain white uniform of the Apple Mint Bakery. Their symbol a green outline of their famed cinnamon fold “growing” on a branch took a small portion of his left collar. It took the entirety of the back.
Milad’s cheerfulness was in the perfect amount, stopping just before it became annoying. His temperament made him quite a good cashier. Some people may have come just as often to talk to him as to buy their bread.
A few people stood in line choosing their breads. Others sat waiting anxiously to get the first fruits of the fresh warm batch. It was worth waiting for. Manna’s return was the first hint that the wait was ending.
Milad glanced at the clock, “You’re just in time.”
As Manna walked back to the kitchen, his robes adjusted themselves to a more suitable appearance. Thin metal chains woven into the fabric of his robe granted him control of his clothing. His flowing sleeves wrapped more tightly around his arms. The rest of his robe adjusted around his body as well. By the time he reached the apron rack, his robe had altered into a long shirt. Granted, the folds remained but now he didn’t have to worry about anything dragging into the flower.
The Apple Mint Bakery team was all doing their separate tasks as the break time was ended. The Chef Thetis Xian sat with Assistant Chef Pilar Wu talking about business. The two ladies usually sorted out all the formal stuff. It was all above Manna’s head. All he knew was to mix, knead, roll, and cut.
Teal Bing, the oven master, sat across the room on his handheld playing Champions of Battle. It seemed that his champion was following or chasing another champion. Occasionally, a gunshot was heard or a fireball would fill the holographic image, pretty dangerous stuff. Seeing Manna enter the kitchen he looked at the clock. Touching his ear he said, “Gotta go, work.” At that he set the handheld down and went outside to the wood shed to get the fires ready.
Manna walked to the center of the counter and stopped. His work before him had become quite the attention taker. The dough left rising on the wooden counter had reached its maximum size. Almost filling the counter, it had become quite the monster in those forty minutes. It was time to tame it again.
When Manna started working at the bakery, he was nervous around dough. Now, it was second nature. Pilar and Chef Thetis taught him all that he needed to know about kneading techniques. Flour below, flour above, flour around, press, fold, and press; Manna felt like an expert.
Before long the mighty monster was tamed and separated into three almost equal sized balls. Each ball had its unique purpose. Manna knew exactly what the bosses would want made first.