Below is the transcript for the very first episode of This Place! You can find the podcast at either YouTube or Soundcloud and the art at DeviantArt. Cheers!
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| The Cupcake House |
Downtown, nestled between two tall, anonymous buildings of glass and steel is the Cupcake House. It’s the last of the original city structures - a literal house. The sign painted "open" swings between two white poles at the foot of the entrance path, beckoning visitors inside.
The cobblestone foundation marks a sharp contrast to the brightly colored home. Old fashioned siding is painted pink and the roof is faded purple shingling. It has been a long time since anyone has paid attention to that roof, and empty places mark missing shingles. Windows paned in delicate fanning shapes frame a warm light coming from within. All around, the smell of sweet baking fills the air like an intoxicating incense.
There is a small walkway leading to the front door and a set of stark, concrete stairs. No doubt put in because of city code regulation #318, barring wooden stairs from the facades of business. The white railing does its best to distract from the eyesore, standing bright and freshly painted. It almost succeeds.
On the sturdy oak door, a cupcake is painted in a fading green that matches the plain wooden sign overhead that reads, simply, "Cupcakes". There are no slogans here, nor banners, no neon or flashing lights: just plain paint. Look closely. Behind the color, the grain of the old tree is still visible.
The door is open and beyond it the house is one room. Overhead, the ceiling rises to curved rafters supporting the roof. To the left, paintings line the wall. In each is a unique cupcake, carefully rendered in vibrant color, and framed by the same dark oak that makes the door. The paintings overlook small booths, carved with shapes and swirls like clouds settled on the hard wood, leaving their impressions behind. Each table has a napkin holder - a ceramic cupcake with white paper tissue peeking out from a hole at the tip of the glossy frosting.
To the right of the door is a long, glass counter. On top are spinning platforms made of crystal and curled steel to hold the precious goods that the Cupcake House was built for. Inside the case is a rainbow of iced confections, each one a tiny dream in whipped swirls and curling fondant. Behind the counter is a line of cast iron ovens. Ancient technology and only useful to the few skilled with its workings.
One such, a woman, stands in front of the house at the window, swirling icing onto a single cupcake on a twirling platform. Her name is Maryanne. She is the short, stout, and very perky owner of the cupcake house after her own mother, and her mother's mother before that. They were the daughters of settlers. A dynasty of businesswomen maintaining their humble castle.
"Cherry Whip with rainbow sugar crystals," Maryanne explains, showing off the way the glittering sprinkles refract the light onto pink icing. She places a brilliant red cherry on top before gently positioning the cupcake in its own small box. After a flurry of nimble movement, the box is wrapped in colored twine and ready to deliver.
To whom? Perhaps it's a secret, because she doesn't say.
At the far end of the counter is an antique cash register in bronze and gold. The numbers are ivory, made long before the plight of elephants was known. The characters are as crisp as the day they were painted. Each cupcake is one dollar and twenty five cents, or ten dollars for a dozen. Cheap, but priceless. Receipts are written on faded yellow paper.
The wood floor creaks on the way out, and the sun is fading. It's time for the Cupcake House to close, and Maryanne changes the sign at the edge of the pathway before walking back inside to keep working at her trade, and her art.
This Place is a podcast written, performed, and produced by me, Ree Callahan. Thanks for visiting, and don't be too shy to stop by again!
Download at Soundcloud
Look at DeviantArt
Watch at YouTube
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