Bakery Life or Death

Bakery Life or Death

(A sweet story of mystery)

By: Sandy Baker

Chapter One

Patti Baker was just a young kid who wanted to find her way in a Midwest City by Lake Michigan, Milwaukee. It was summer of 1979 and she was out of work. As Patti strolled along the hot sands one summer day, looking at the twinkling waters of Lake Michigan, she saw a family eating a wonderful picnic. The picnic spread had fresh cold-cuts and a large fluffy loaf of Italian Bread which was laying on an old oil cloth tablecloth. Two people were throwing around a colorful frisbee while the winds came across the lake-east to west – and through their hair. After hours of this relaxation, Patti decided to go up the bluff to the busy street above. Brady Street they called it. Patti needed a job and to finally get started “in society” as her Mom (Marli Baker) would put it. Anyway, Brady Street had always been the hip place to be and there were many opportunities and great smells wafting in the air that day. First, Patti saw the firemen sitting on red metal chairs outside their station, Hi Cliff, she said, to one of the fine Milwaukee firemen. Then, people were enjoying the warm day sitting outside of the Fancy Bistro drinking their fancy drinks. And then, as she was walking past the bakery, she noticed a sign in the window, “Help Wanted”. Well why not, my name is Baker anyway, she thought. Patti went inside and applied with Sam, the head baker/owner. Patti was hired on the Spot. What Sam did not know is that Patti had absolutely no experience in the baking world. In fact, Sam failed the one and only baking class she took and burned the bread on top of that.

Patti started the very next day. As she grabbed a quick glance in the mirror before leaving her 2^nd floor apartment- “I look good in the new white apron” she said out loud. Once inside the bakery, the smell of fresh baking bakery made her crazy not to mention the penny candy area. Patti met Sam just inside the door. Sam, was a lady about her same age, but, probably a few years older. Sam had white hair, dyed of course, and could bake up a storm. Sam showed Patti how to made the bread dough and turned out 12 loaves in a jiffy. Patti thought she knew a bit about bakery since her Grandma Freid lived in Milwaukee near a yeast factory. When you visited Grandma Freid there was the recognizable smell of bakery and funny enough, mint smelling pain cream. Grandma Freid baked often but, was not the kind of person to share her skills. Lost in her memories Patti’s attention was brought back to the bakery to meet the rest of her other co-workers. First, Pete and Jim, the bakery delivery guys. And the other cashier was Sharon Pallow. Sharon had been in the bakery business all her life and you could tell by the size of her apron that this was certainly true. Bread has a history in almost every culture and is an ancient staple of life, said Sam as she was putting the puffy donuts into the oven.  Sharon went on to tell Patti about the Swiss lake dwellers who crushed their barley and wheat in a crude mortar to make their bread. Business was brisk that day as moms with children in strollers came in to buy their daily loaves of bread and baked goods. The wonderful looking bakery shelves included a silver tray of brightly sprinkled cookies, another shelf had crullers and long johns, both dark and white chocolate and finally all types of breads filled out the case. Patti noticed the bread slicing machine on the back shelf and made a mental note to herself about the dangers associated with that machine. The shop also had a metal rack of all kinds of baking cookbooks. Some books and pamphlets from the local yeast company and others from famous bakers. There was a case with cold milk in little cardboard cartons and other drinks too. And of-course there was the penny candy area Patti saw yesterday. There were clear jars of candy fish, ice cream cones candy, and the cube chocolates -Ice Cubes. Patti noticed that these candies were not one penny any longer but, would have to check it out after work.

Patti was enjoying her new job and was starting to make fast friends with Sam. Sam and Patti walked her dog (Sheltie) down by Lake Michigan most nights. One night when they were finishing up their walk together, the two decided to walk past the bakery. As they went past the Fancy Bistro they started to see that something was happening down the street. The red and blue lights were flashing and many police men/women were outside the bakery. As thy got closer Patti saw Cliff the fireman and knew something was terribly wrong. Patti saw Cliff laying on the sidewalk in front of the bakery as the paramedics were just arriving to access the scene.

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Chapter Two

Cliff was pronounced dead on the scene. Patti was stunned, who would want to hurt Cliff she asked Sam. Sam did not answer and looked rather pale. The police wanted to know too. The detectives on the case, Mr. Miller and Mr. Pabst, told Patti and Sam that the door to the bakery was wide open. It did not appear that anything was missing or that there was a break in. Sam told Patti that the door had been locked before they left for their walk that night. After all this commotion Patti and Sam decided to go up to Patti’s apartment to think this all over. Patti reached for her keys to the apartment door and noticed her key to the bakery is missing.  Sheltie needed to get some water and a treat too. Patti decided to go inside and look for the lost key later.  Sam only stayed a few minutes and unexpectantly had to leave after receiving a phone call. Patti had a long day and decided to call it a night. Just then, Detective Mr. Miller appeared at her door. Patti invited the detective in. Mr. Miller came to tell Patti that he had just spoken to Sam about the crime scene. Perhaps this was the phone call that took Sam away earlier. Sam had told the detective that she found an open bottle of yeast outside the back door of the bakery when she arrived at work earlier that day.   Sam said the bakery did not use much dry yeast in a jar, mostly compressed cake yeast. The delivery guys both had keys. And Sharon, the cashier, also had a key, said he deductive. He also said that Sam thought that the firemen had an emergency key too. Mr. Miller excused himself quickly and that left Patti alone with more questions than answers. This was not the first time Patti had been in an uncomfortable work situation. In high school Patti was a waitress at the local diner and her drawer kept coming up short. After leaving the diner Patti found out her previous boss had been stealing money out of her drawer. Anyway, this was a long day and the next would be even busier with a street fair taking place on Brady Street.

Patti woke up early to take Sheltie for her morning walk and also clear her own mind. Who would want Firemen Cliff dead, what about the open jar of yeast, why was the door open and where is her key? Just then she got a call from her mom, Marli Baker who told her that Uncle Rich was sick and in the hospital. The preliminary tests showed some type of poisoning. Marli was so upset and she wanted to meet Patti immediately. They talked for a while and decided to meet for lunch at the Fancy Bistro.

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Chapter Three

Patti arrived at the bakery amidst the busy street festival and the inquiring co-workers. Jim and Pete stopped in between deliveries to ask more details about the events of the evening before. Patti saw Sam talk to the delivery guys about their bakery keys. Pete seemed rather distant when asked about his key to the bakery, Patti thought. Lunch time came quickly and Marli came though the big wooden door of the bakery with a flair. Marli with her big yellow sun hat and black and white spotted skirt looked rather summery. Patti and Marli strolled down the street to the Fancy Bistro but found it to be too busy.  Patti only had a one hour lunch hour and needed to stick to one hour on such a busy day. Patti and Marli went into the local brew-haus and ordered up a pretzel dog and root beer. Patti told Marli about the fireman at the bakery last night and about the door being left wide open. Patti also told her Mom about her missing bakery key.  Just then Marli started yelling, I only have one key and threw it at Patti and stormed out. Patti was confused by her mothers’ behavior but, had to get back to the bakery. Patti was left with no more information about her Uncle and wondering why her Mom even had a key to the bakery. Once back at the bakery the questions lingered but, there was more pressing matters – the customers. They ran out of the little number tags twice so that customers were just yelling they were next. The day ended quickly and not too soon for Patti.

Once in the safety of her apartment Patti curled up to her dog Sheltie on the couch and looked out at Lake Michigan. It looked so peaceful but she could see white caps on the water much like her life too. The phone rang and it was Sharon, the cashier, and she was calling to see if Patti weathered the day. Sharon was panicked when she found out that her cash drawer had was over $100 the night that Fireman Cliff was found dead. Sharon was so upset that she wanted to quit but Patti calmed her down and hung up the phone. Had Sharon shorted a customer and they were coming back to get their money? Where did the $100 go? Was Patti’s mom involved in some way? What about the dry yeast? So many questions, no answers – Yet.

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Conclusion -

A few weeks after “the incident” the summer was winding down and Brady Street was becoming a residential looking shopping district again. Patti took her usual stroll down Brady street past the fire station and thought it was weird not seeing Cliff sitting in his red chair outside the fire station. Patti eventually ended up on the beach trying to think through all these unanswered questions. 

Detective Pabst and Miller found Patti at the lake to tell her new information about the crime. It turned out that Jim and Pete had been out drinking together at the brew-haus at the time of Cliff’s murder. Patti’s Mom fessed up that she asked for a key to the bakery because she knew Patti would lose her own key. (which she did). Sharon went through the cashier tape and found she did not ring up a large order for the restaurant down the street, which was $100.

The FBI had staged Firemen Cliffs murder and opened the door with their key.  Fireman Cliff was part of the staging and he was very much still alive. The police were investigating a crime ring who stole dry yeast from the bakery and were lacing it with drugs then baking with it. The dry yeast jar was from the crime ring and they almost got away with it but, tripped at the back door and were caught by the police. They also told Patti that Fireman Cliff would be back in his red chair after a much-needed vacation.

Patti never did learn to bake but became an excellent cashier and loved to stock the shelves with bakery and cookbooks.