‘I am the ginger bread man. You can call me Ginger Bread’.

Diana had gone to the baker’s shop to get some of his special butter bread. In the end, it turned out that she took ginger bread instead.

Diana walked into the shop and heard somebody sobbing. He wasn’t the baker. He tried to stop when he saw her but didn’t quite succeed. She tried to console him and find out the problem. Once he realised that he could trust her with his secrets, he burst out into louder and more heartbreaking sobs. Finally after five minutes of patience, patting, hugging and consoling, she heard his story.

‘I was walking from home to the shop after I got a call from my brother, Dick. Dick told me that he had burnt his hand and couldn’t go on baking and if I could take his place. He was worried because he got an order from a girl to bake ten loaves of his special butter bread.’ It suddenly struck him that Diana could be that girl. ‘Are you that girl, miss?’ he asked her. ‘Yes’, said Diana. It looked like he was going to cry again but luckily he didn’t. ‘Well’ he continued. ‘Dick gave me his recipe. I lost it and decided to make my ginger bread. Then it struck me that some people did not like my ginger bread and you may be one of them. I didn’t know what to do. Also, I had to sell my shop to get money because there was a bigger shop which opened up across the street. It sold ginger bread and other things too. The minute it opened, everyone forgot me.’

‘There there now, just you forget your troubles and make ten loaves of your ginger bread and sell it to me’ said Diana.

He suddenly lifted his head with shining eyes. ‘Oh miss, he said, will you really buy it?’ ‘Of course’, she said. ‘Then, he said with satisfaction, you don’t need to wait. I already made it this morning so here you are’.

Diana was having a party that evening and decided to call Ginger Bread too. He accepted the invitation and came and was pleasantly surprised to see everyone enjoying his baking. Then Diana suggested that he open a shop, a bigger one, with his brother in her town. It would be a success, she knew, because everyone was enjoying the food so much. He agreed and now there is a shop very close to her house with two happy men running it.

- Sakshi Arora

Sakshi is a sprightly 12 year-old studying in Bishop Cottons Girl’s School in Bangalore. Sakshi has a good imagination and strong story telling ability. She participated in the Basic Creative Writing course that Word Quotient conducted in May 2009.