June 14, 2026

By Arthur H. Gunther III

thecolumnrule.com

There are two ways to anticipate cake or pastry, and they can be metaphors for emotions between people.

One anticipating moment is to watch the lady in the true corner bakery – it’s usually a woman – put the goods in a fresh, crisp, white box after folding it into shape as she seems a bit lost in thought or having banter with you, then pull down a length of traditional red and white bakery twine from an upper dispenser, and with precision and experience wrap the box. It is then presented to you.

The second anticipation is to carefully carry the box to the car and then home and put it on the sideboard awaiting dessert time.

The trip to the bakery, standing in line, choosing the treat(s), then saying “yes” when asked if you want a box, as if that made the purchase classier than accepting a bag, and finally being handed the completed, tied package is, of course, anticipation too. Depending on emotions, this is not a far-fetched metaphor for meeting someone whose look – aka the box tied in twine – means a special moment.

At home, placing the bakery box on the side for later enjoyment, its goods kept under wraps by red and white twine, can be a metaphor for whatever emotions might play out between people as the moment develops.

Boxed bakery goods also remind you of Sunday visits to grandmother or others with your father stopping by the corner bakery for dessert, an offering to relatives or friends.

Finally, whether you or those whom you visit use scissors to cut the twine, the string usually ends up in a kitchen utility drawer for good luck, as grandma would say, or even for repurposing.

Even that action is a metaphor, for proof that though the cake or pastries may have been fully devoured, memory of a visit with family or friends is safely in the drawer.

The writer is a retired newspaperman.

-30-