The Cupcakery

A lonely girl fulfills a craving at the cupcakery.

The Cupcakery opened two weeks after Isabelle paid for a twenty month membership to Weight Managers. Every night, as she drove by on her way to work, she yearned to turn the car around and pull into the Cupcakery's parking lot.

One dark evening, she pulled into the empty parking lot.  Pressing her nose against the dark window, Isabelle drooled over the assorted trays of cupcakes, dreaming of the day she would walk inside and make a selection. How could I ever decide on just one flavor? Chocolate of any kind is always good, but a white cupcake with lemon filling and coconut on top sounds wonderful. Of course, I could always have carrot cake with cream cheese frosting sprinkled with pecans. Who knows what marvelous things can be found in a Cupcakery?

Placing the orange Mason's Super Store tag on the box with the pricing gun, Isabelle put the box of cat food up on the shelf. Well, this pallet is finished, I'd better go back to the storeroom for another one. Glancing down at her watch, she saw it was 2:43 am. Almost time for lunch! As she pulled the pallet jack back to the storeroom, Isabelle thought about the lunch she would soon be devouring, a frozen diet meal and a salad. Don't forget the diet soda...wouldn't a chocolate fudge cupcake top that off nicely?

Isabelle's eyes wandered towards the Cupcakery, as she drove home to another lonely dinner from the freezer.  Drive to work in the dark and drive home in the dark.  What kind of life is this?  I feel like a vampire.

Isabelle was eating her dinner, when most people were getting up to eat breakfast.  As she stabbed a spear of broccoli, Isabelle flipped through the TV stations with the remote.  Isabelle finally decided upon a romantic comedy she had seen several times. 

After the movie - which Isabelle dozed through - she brushed her teeth, then her long red hair, and crawled into bed. The windows had room-darkening shades, but they couldn't keep the light out.  Isabelle always slept with an eye mask and one pillow over her head to block out the light.

Waking at 5:00 pm, Isabelle scrambled two egg whites in a coffee mug, crumbled a slice of fat-free cheese over it, added salt and pepper, then popped the mug into the microwave, cooking it for a minute and a half.  Isabelle watched the news as she slowly nibbled her breakfast.

The anchorman seemed like family to Isabelle, after all she spent every evening with him.  He was covering a story about a handsome young man who proposed to his equally beautiful girlfriend on camera during the Lucy Landon Show. That will never happen to me, I'm too fat. How would I ever meet a guy anyway - unless he suddenly needs a bag of animal bedding at 2:00 am.

Slipping off her robe, pajamas and slippers, Isabelle eased herself onto the scale in the bathroom.  Only two pounds this week?  Guess I should be happy I didn't gain. Hopping into the shower, Isabelle got ready for her day - everyone else's night.

Isabelle was almost late for her weight-loss meeting, the last one to be weighed in. Slipping off her shoes, she prayed to have magically lost a couple more pounds than her bathroom scale had announced earlier. The good thing about being late is that no one else has to see how much I weight. Isabelle always wore the same light-weight pants and short sleeve shirt to every weight-loss meeting; she couldn't take any chances that her clothes would add an extra ounce to her weight.

The meeting had already begun, scanning the room, Isabelle spied the only available seat on the far side of the room. She would either have to squeeze down the isle saying, “Excuse me,” to about twenty different people as she tripped over their legs or she could parade herself across the front of the room. 

With a slight smile on a face the color of Santa's suit and feeling like she was in the midst of a hot flash, Isabelle advanced to the front of the room saying, “Sorry, there was a lot of traffic.” Can't you come up with a better excuse than that?

As Isabelle sat down, the speaker asked for all newcomers to stand up and introduce themselves.  A grandmotherly woman announced her name was Helen. There was a teenage girl named Brittany. Then she saw him! He has the bluest eyes, a little over-weight sure, but everyone here is. He said, his name was Tony. All through the meeting, Isabelle's eyes kept wandering to him. Quit staring at him like a lovesick puppy, someone will notice.  After the meeting, Isabelle rushed out to her car keeping her head down, making eye contact with no one.

Arriving at work early, Isabelle parked her car under a street light and read a romance novel.  At 10:50 pm, Isabelle grabbed her lunch and dragged herself into work as if a prisoner going to the gallows.  Another day, another dollar...make that another fifty cents. Are they ever going to give me a raise or move me to first shift?  And so Isabelle started another work day in a monotonous series of work days.

On Thursday Mandy, Isabelle's boss, approached her and said they needed to talk.  Mandy handed Isabelle her pay check.  I hope I'm not losing my job! 

But Mandy just smiled and said, "How would you like to move to first shift on Monday?" 

Isabelle squealed "Yes, yes, yes!"  There was a spring in her step as she walked out of work that morning and a twenty cent raise in her paycheck.

On May 25th, Isabelle watched the morning sun inch it's way up into the azure sky.  Isabelle was celebrating her thirtieth birthday with a day off.  What a glorious day!   After three long months of adhering to a strict diet, attending weekly weigh-ins, and losing 39 pounds, Isabelle was finally going to treat herself to a cupcake " just one " from the Cupcakery.

The sun shone brightly as the warm breeze caressed Isbelle's cheek and tousled her.  Opening the Cupcakery's door, she was assailed by smells of chocolate, vanilla, almond, peppermint and who knows what, all pleading with her to, “Pick me, pick me!” Debating on the merits of plain old chocolate fudge over banana chocolate chip with cream cheese frosting sprinkled with walnuts.

At the sound of a familiar voice, Isabelle looked up into his compassionate blue eyes. He was much thinner than the first time she saw him. Oh, oh busted! “Just buying cupcakes for my niece's birthday party,” she announced. Wait a minute, what is he doing here?

Isabelle had never seen a grown man blush so completely. 

With a twinkle in his eye, he said, “Hi, you're Isabelle from Weight Managers, right? Guess you caught me, I was about to drown my sorrows in a cupcake or two.”

He remembers my name! Then realizing he had stopped talking, Isabelle answered, “Your name is Tony, right?   What sorrows do you have to drown? You look great, how much weigh have you lost anyway?" You look better than great, you look fabulous!

“I've lost fifty pounds.  I was on my way toward gaining a few of them back until you caught me. Thanks for saving me from myself".

"Hey, you want to go over to Java House, for a cup of coffee? I owe you something for your heroism.” Tony asked as Isabel admired his now lean body. 

“Sure,” Isabelle gushed. He's asking me out! He's really asking me out!

As she turned to leave, Tony asked, “Hey, what about the cupcakes for your niece's birthday?”

She smiled her brightest smile and said, “Oh, I was just checking out the prices and trying to decide on a flavor. Her birthday isn't until next week.”

That is how the Cupcakery fulfilled Isabelle's biggest craving without her eating a single delicious crumb. Well...she and Tony did come back a year later, placing an order for six dozen assorted cupcakes frosted in white with ocean blue accents.