The Pride of Tastesville

“Did you hear Margaret?”, Charlotte shouted as she burst through the screen door into the kitchen. “Oh, what Charlotte”, retorted Marge, “I’m on the phone!” Pipe down! Charlotte totally ignored Margaret’s response as she jumped from one foot to the other. “They’ve brought it, they’ve brought it, it’s here! Margaret froze in mid-sentence, dropped the phone and slowly turned towards Charlotte. “What!” “Are you sure!” Questions came spilling out of her mouth. “When!” “Where is it?!” “Oh, stop running-on”, chided Charlotte. “Put up that phone and come on!”  Margaret jumped up, snatched the phone and barely put it back on the receiver as she turned to follow Charlotte dashing out the door. “Wait, she said, Wait for me!” She finally caught up with her a block later, gasping for breath. Charlotte had stopped to join a group of people that had gathered on the corner. They were all a buzz! Snatches of conversation was heard. “Sometime last night.” “They said they were going to set it up in the recreation hall’s multi-purpose room.” “They don’t know the hours yet, they’ll let us know.” Charlotte’s and Margaret’s heads were bouncing from side to side, just trying to keep up with the flow of exchange. Finally, Shefford Gladson let out a shrill whistle that pierced the air causing folks to raise their hands and cover their ears. Everyone stopped talking and abruptly turned to face him. That whistle had won him the blue ribbon two weeks ago during the town’s fair. In fact, he had been duly dubbed the official “Recognized Notifying Introducer of Important Announcements”, whatever that was. He waited until he had every eye on him and had everyone’s attention. “Now look here folks”, he began with great pomp and circumstance, “it seems to me that we are not going to find out any more about this unless we go to the hall ourselves!” A few heads nodded in agreement; others just continued to stare at him. They hadn’t gotten over the notifying whistle. Shefford went on. “Now as I see it, we can all go down there together, or appoint someone as a representative, to gather information and relay it back to us. Personally, I recommend appointing the representative and yours truly will be more than happy to volunteer for the task!” He unfolded the broadest smile and thumped his chest for emphasis. Francis Wilson looked at Charlotte and Margaret and shook her head. “Seems like a lot of trouble just to find out about something like that” Charlotte and Margaret shot her the most disturbing look. “Francis”, Margaret reprimanded, “bite your tongue! It’s one of the most important things to happen to us.” Frances just shrugged her shoulders and looked away. Charlotte whispered, “She’s just upset ‘cause she didn’t win the contest.” Margaret nodded her head in agreement. Not getting the unanimous reaction that he had hoped for, Shefford suggested that they take a vote. How many for a representative? he inquired. Some folks raised their hands, some crossed their arms across their chest, some still had a blank look on their face (they hadn’t recovered from the notifying whistle) and some just plain walked away. “See”, said Francis as she walked away herself. The majority was still standing around, however. “Maybe we can sign a petition”, someone suggested. The look on Shefford’s face plainly showed that he did not appreciated this diversion from his moment of greatness. “My offer to volunteer still stands”, he now said with a deflated sense of importance. Just then, the front door on the other side of the square opened and a figure appeared at the door beckoning the crowd with an outstretched hand. No one seem to notice as the crowd ignored Shefford’s second attempt at self-nomination and returned to talking amongst themselves. “I wonder what it will look like?” “Will it be layered or flat?” “Will be it dark or milk?” “Unsweetened, perhaps?”  The dejected Shefford, confused and miffed, turned his back to the crowd, and saw what was now a two-armed waving gesture. “Hey, it’s Mayor Beasley,” he alerted the others. Everyone kept talking. "Fffwwwwooooooooohhh"!!! Everyone stopped and turned. There was that earsplitting whistle again responded to with the same reactions. “It’s Mayor Beasley”, he repeated. Now everyone made their way to the hall. “It’s ready, the mayor beamed, “It’s on display, come in!” Everyone tried to get through the door at the same time. “No shoving”, Mayor Beasley scolded, “it will be on display all day. Everyone will get a chance to see it”, he assured. “And see it, you should!” As the crowd quickly passed through the door, he led them to the brightly lit multipurpose room. The room had been a gift from a dear octogenarian, Mrs. Miller, who had just passed on. As the crowd filtered into the room, they saw Mayor Beasley position himself near a display stand placed right in the middle of the room. His hand laid hold of a gold cord attached to a scarlet cloth draped around the stand. Seeming very pleased with himself, the mayor stood as to address the crowd. “We wanted something that would stand out in this town, right!” he shouted. He waited for a response. “Right?” he encouraged. “Right”, came the response. “We wanted something that would make this town be known for, right?!” “Right” came the response even louder. Then, with all the oomph that he could muster, he announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Tasteville’s rendition of the chocolate cake!” With a flourish of hand and a pronounced pull on the cord, the draping fell to the ground. There were gasps! A few sideward glances at each other. The crowd slowly gravitated towards the stand. There on the stand was supposed to be a chocolate cake! “It’s not chocolate cake like I’ve ever seen.” someone snorted. Someone even ventured to stretch out their finger to taste it before Mayor Beasley was able to stop them. “It doesn’t taste like it neither!” “But different!”, someone offered. A chant started to make its way around the room, “That it is!”. Because, right before their very eyes wasn’t a dark, milk or even unsweetened chocolate cake, but a white covered cake, white everything, filling and frosting – white chocolate!