Pecan Pie Latte

Elise sighed as she watched a spider crawl into the safety of its web in the dusty corner of the coffee shop. The café was as quiet as a classroom on Saturday. No one had come in for hours. Elise gazed out the big window which was the portal to the bustling downtown street. She watched as shoppers and diners strolled right by her aunt’s café.

It was a crisp autumn Sunday morning and every business on Main Street was thriving. Every business, except Aunt Edna’s Café. Elise peered around the outdated, yet cozy café her aunt had owned for over 25 years. The chairs were worn out, the cushions sunken down, the tables were dented and scratched, the books scattered around were faded and torn, and the wallpaper hadn’t been in style for over 20 years. Elise adored her aunt’s café, she had grown up here alongside the coffee shop; all her fondest memories took place here. But even she knew the outside world did not view Aunt Edna’s Café the same way she did. Elise knew it was time for the café to be updated; at the very least it needed some new enticing drinks added to its menu.

Elise had conjured up several ways to bring the coffee shop to the current decade, but Aunt Edna would have none of it. Edna McCallister opened this coffee shop all on her own when she was only a young lady in her 20’s while simultaneously raising her dear niece Elise. It was Edna who hauled all the heavy furniture into the shop, and it was Edna who spent hours plastering the flowery wallpaper. This coffee shop was a labor of true and deep love, and the thought of needing to change it to conform to the modern world was more than Edna could bear.

As Elise was beginning to think of a different way to approach Aunt Edna with her ideas of updating the coffee shop, Edna herself strolled into the café with a fresh bouquet of flowers from the florist down the block. An adoring grin spread across Elise’s face, another thing that had not changed in 25 years was Aunt Edna’s love of fresh Sunday flowers from Mr. Allen’s floral shop.

“Mr. Allen certainly outdid himself this time,” Aunt Edna praised as she inhaled the sweet autumn scent of sunflowers and roses.

“He sure did,” Elise agreed as she softly stroked a rose petal. She could feel a lump growing in her throat. She wanted to talk to her aunt about her ideas for the café, but she also dreaded potentially ruining Aunt Edna’s Sunday.

Elise shot a desperate glance at the door, crossing her fingers in hopes someone would stroll in. No one did. A heavy sigh escaped Elise as she rubbed the rose petal again. Aunt Edna, ever the intuitive one, noticed Elise’s downtrodden sigh.

“What’s wrong my dear?” Edna inquired.

Elise bit her bottom lip as she fought with herself on whether or not to discuss café upgrades with her aunt today.

“It’s just, I’ve been behind the counter all morning and I’ve only served one Americano and one latte.”

Aunt Edna’s soft, concerned expression turned cold. “Elise, I am not interested in your ideas on how to change my café.”

“I know, Aunt Edna, but please hear me out.” Elise began following Edna around the café as Edna began furiously dusting and tidying up. “We could get some new books or maybe add a few new drinks to the menu. We could do those fun seasonal drinks like pumpkin spice lattes like other coffee shops.” Elise began to talk more rapidly as Edna quickened her pace to get away from Elise.

“Aunt Edna, please listen to me,” Elise pleaded one final time as she was running out of breath.

With her still hardened expression, Aunt Edna whipped around to stare down her niece. “I am not interested in what other coffee shops do. But fine, since my beloved books that have been read for years by my loyal customers bother you so much, you can toss them aside in the attic among the cobwebs where no one will be able to read them again.”

A pained look flashed across Edna’s face and for a moment Elise thought her aunt might shed a tear. But instead Edna rushed up the stairs to her bedroom and slammed the door, shaking the dust off the shelves full of mugs.

Elise felt her heavy heart sink down to the pit of her stomach. She glanced at the door one more time, but the knob didn’t turn. As the dust settled, Elise gathered an armful of her aunt’s worn out books and began the trek up to the attic. Guilt rose quickly, but Elise shoved it back down. She reminded herself that she was doing this because she loved her aunt and the coffee shop.  

The attic door creaked open as Elise stepped through it. She was greeted by cobwebs and boxes of treasures from the past. Elise made her way to the pile of boxes; each marked with the word “BOOKS”. As she lifted the flap on one of the boxes to dump some books into, one spine with gold lettering caught her eye. Even though there was no light to be reflected, the golden words seemed to shimmer. Elise gently set the heavy books in her arms on a rickety barstool as she bent down to take a closer look at the leather bound book that seemed to be calling out to her.

Elise wiped the layers of the years gone by off her attic find. “Café Recipes?” Elise pondered out loud as she read the title. Her curiosity begged her to flip through the aged pages. Elise peered over at the door to make sure her aunt was not going to catch her rummaging through her belongings. Aunt Edna had always been secretive about the contents of the attic. Hesitantly Elise opened the cover and studied the contents.

In cursive scrolled across the front page read, “Edna McCallister’s Recipes for Future Café”

This only piqued Elise’s intrigue even more. She began examining the many recipes her aunt had dreamt up, but there was something odd about these ingredient lists and instructions. Elise had never seen a latte recipe call for a sprinkle of grated pinecones or using sunflower petals and blackberry thorns to make tea. But that’s exactly what her aunt’s recipes called for. Not only were the ingredients a bit odd, but the directions were abnormal as well. They told the barista to chant words such as “Pecan pie, peacan pie, cozy cabin by the fireside,” as she concocted the mysterious drinks.

If Elise didn’t know any better she would think these recipes were not for coffees and teas at all, but instead they were for potions. Elise’s puzzled mind grasped at logical reasons as to why her aunt would come up these strange recipes. Clearly these were not actual recipes her aunt believed in for Elise had never seen Edna chanting around a cup of coffee or a tea kettle.

“So I see you’ve found my old recipe book?”

Elise jumped slamming the book shut as she whipped around to find her aunt with her arms crossed over her chest, staring Elise down for the second time today.

“Aunt Edna, you startled me. I was just putting the books from downstairs up here and I happened upon this book. I thought if it was a recipe book maybe we could use some of the drinks in here for the cafe,” Elise stammered through her explanation as best she could.

Edna raised an eyebrow with her eyes still locked on Elise. Edna’s long pause filled Elise with anxiety and she was about to stutter out another explanation when Edna held up her hand to stop her niece from digging her grave deeper.

“I think it’s time we have a chat my dear. Bring the book.” With that Edna disappeared from the attic doorway and Elise quickly followed her.

The café was still empty when the two made it back downstairs and sat at their favorite table in the back corner underneath the peacock painting. Elise gulped and tried to appear less nervous. She had no idea what her aunt was about to say.

Elise waited for her aunt to speak for what seemed like hours. Finally Edna let out a deep exhalation and lifted her gaze to meet Elise’s. She wrapped her steady yet soft hand around Elise’s which instantly soothed her anxious niece.

“Elise, there is something I have kept from you your whole life because it was your mother’s last wish that you not be involved with what I’m about to tell you.”

Elise’s body tensed up at the sound of her aunt’s words. So many thoughts were racing in her head. What was her aunt going to tell her? What were they involved with? Why didn’t her mother want Edna to tell her about it?

“There is no easy way to say this so I’m just going to lay it all out there for you. Elise, my dear niece, we are witches and that book is not just a simple café recipe book, it’s a spell and potion book.”

Elise froze in place as the realization of what her aunt said washed over her. Edna waited expectantly for Elise’s response but the reaction she got was not what she expected. Elise laughed. She laughed as though her aunt had just told her the funniest joke she had ever heard in her life. Edna had never known someone to laugh when talking about witches.

Elise noticed her aunt’s puzzled expression and tried to contain her laughter. “Oh come on, Aunt Edna, what is it really?”

“I’m telling you the truth, dear niece. We are witches. I’m a witch, your mother was a witch, your grandmother was a witch. You’re a witch.”

Elise wanted to laugh again but something about her aunt’s expression told her this was not a time for giggles. “Aunt Edna, witches aren’t real.”

“Oh yes they are.”

“Prove it then.”

“Fine,” Edna reluctantly replied as she rolled her eyes. Why couldn’t anyone ever just take her at her word?

Edna pondered for a moment before snapping her fingers and pointing at a mug. With her index finger she motioned for the mug to make its way to her. The cup began violently shaking. Elise was afraid it was going to fall off the shelf and shatter but instead it sprouted little wings that carried it over to the table. The mug neatly landed directly in front of Aunt Edna.

Aunt Edna had a triumphant grin as she ran her index finger around the rim of the mug instantly filling it with steaming black coffee.

Elise’s eyes were ready to pop out of her head and her jaw was to the floor. She could not believe what just occurred before her own eyes.

“So do you believe me now?” Aunt Edna slyly asked as she took a sip of coffee from the flying mug.

Elise was speechless. The only thing she could muster up was a nod with her eyes still glued on the coffee cup. Elise’s brain was frantically swimming in this new life changing information. But one thing was for certain, if she was a witch then surely they could save the coffee shop with a little bit of magic.

“This is great, Aunt Edna, we can use this to revive the café!”

Edna was taken aback by Elise’s enthusiastic statement. Of all the things to do with magic and Elise was only focused on the café. Edna shook her head as Elise continued to throw out ideas on how they could use magic to help the coffee shop. “…and we can use this recipe potion book of yours to create new drinks for the café!”

“Elise, no. None of that will be happening,” Aunt Edna sternly barked at Elise. All of Elise’s fire left her as her aunt’s icy tone clawed into her.

“Why? Why can’t we at least use these drink recipes? Surely there was a time when you wanted to use them for your café, otherwise you wouldn’t’ve created them.” Elise clung to the book, afraid her aunt would rip it from her hands.

“There was a time when I wanted to use those recipes. I designed them to not only be a beverage, but to create a whole experience for the customer. You see the pinecones in the pecan pie latte takes the consumer to a place in their mind where they are sitting in a cozy wooded cabin eating a freshly baked pecan pie and the sunflower petals in the tea takes them to a sunny day where they walk blissfully through a sunflower field.” Edna’s eyes glassed over as she fondly remembered the dreams of her past. “However your mother did not want you involved with magic. When I became your caretaker, I honored your mother’s wish and put away all of the magic and opened this café without spells and potions. Besides it’s too late to save the café now, not even a spell would bring it back to its glory days.”

“But we can try. Come on Aunt Edna, your recipe for the pecan pie latte sounds enchanting! You can teach me how to create these caffeinated potions and we can see this place thriving once more.” Elise’s voice was so full of hope; it broke Edna’s heart to not be able to join in on her niece’s optimistic outlook.

“Elise, it’s too late. We are 5 months behind on the café rent; I got the eviction notice yesterday. A few new drinks won’t save the café.” Edna stood up from the table and kissed her niece on the forehead. “It’s time to say goodbye to the cafe, my dear.”

Elise watched Edna make her way up the stairs. She could hear her soft footsteps enter her bedroom. When Elise heard the bedroom door shut, she hastily opened the book back up.

“I’m not ready to say goodbye.”

The next morning Edna awoke to a beautiful crisp fall morning. She watched the vivid leaves make their slow descent to the ground below. She could hear the life of bustling Main Street. Edna adored hearing the chatter of her fellow downtowners, but for some reason on this morning, the chatter sounded like it was coming from inside. Perplexed, Edna made her way down the stairs into the café. What she discovered once she had entered the coffee shop stopped her dead in her tracks.

Aunt Edna’s Café was filled to the brim with people all laughing and talking while they sipped their warm drinks. The aroma of freshly roasted coffee along with a warm sweetness and a faint woodsy scent filled the air. The café smelled of a fresh walk in woods with a warm cup of coffee in your hands.

Edna gazed around the café, utterly speechless. When her eyes landed on her darling niece, her heart soared. Elise was behind the counter, joyfully serving a latte to a smiling guest.

“Oh my word Elise, how did you do it? I haven’t seen this many people in the café in ages,” exclaimed Edna as she wrapped her niece in a grateful hug.

“I used your recipes,” Elise held up the recipe book with the gold lettering. “And I made a few signs to put out front telling folks about our new fall inspired drinks.”

To say Edna was impressed was an understatement. “I’m so proud of you, my dear little witch,” Edna praised.

“Thank you Aunt Edna. It took all night, literally all night long. Coffee and tea spells are more difficult to master than I thought.”

“Well now that you have started your witchy journey, I would be happy to guide you the rest of the way. I know it was against your mother’s wish, but you are old enough to decide for yourself now.”

“I would love that.”

The two hugged once more, both filled with pure joy and hope.

“Miss Edna, I have to tell you, this is the best dang latte I have ever tasted!” exclaimed Mr. Allen as he approached the counter for a refill. “What did you call this again Miss Elise?”

“It’s a pecan pie latte,” Elise replied as she filled up his mug.