CANDY CANES & THINGS – #flashfictionmagic
The bell above the door to Sweet Treats: Antiques you can Eat jangled primly, bringing a wave of strong peppermint. Juliana Cane shoved aside her messy bangs and peered over her gold rimmed glasses and around the shelf of ancient petit fours she was dusting. Hidden by the iron girding, she scanned the black suited man with trepidation. Not a drop of color marred his shiny shoes, ironed trousers, crisp black shoulders, black everything—even his eyes were obsidian midnight, gazing right at her—
She froze midbreath. Somehow he’d spotted her through the shelf.
“Can I really eat the antiques?” he asked, a bemused wrinkle on his forehead as he scanned the shop, pausing to take in the towering wedding cake display in the window.
“Ah…” Juliana managed. She took her time stepping into view like a normal proprietor—er, as normal as the owner of this kind of establishment could be. Personally, she wore four kinds of stripes in four different variations of white, red, and green.
His eyes widened a fraction as she stepped out, and she squared her shoulders. “Of course you can eat them. It’s what the sign says, isn’t it?”
He stepped closer. “But are they antiques if they’re edible?”
If he didn’t sound so earnest, she’d toss him out on his black suited rump. As it was, she glared up at him over her glasses. “The ability to preserve sweet antiques has been in the Cane family for generations.”
His satisfied nod was not at all what she expected.
He pulled up his pants to reveal brilliant white and red striped mid calf socks. “I’m from Sweet Weaves Incorporated. We’ve been creating edible clothing from candy for generations.” Here he gave a tiny smirk. “With the exploding fascination with antiques, we’ve been looking for someone like you for a long time.“
She tilted her head, eyeing his socks. “Are you saying one could eat your socks and they’d taste like…”
“Candy canes, yes.” His grin turned impish. “Can’t you smell the peppermint?”
#peppermint #freestory #whimsicalstory #flashfiction #christmasflashfiction #writingcommunity #sheriyutzy