The Bakery

The next few days, young Thom worked hard in the old house to bring back to a decent condition the few rooms that he intended to use. Every morning he made a visit to the bakery for his daily ration of bread, butter and eggs. As the villagers stumbled upon young Thom in the shop, they had little alternative than to address him. Most often they would start by asking him small questions like were he came from and how long he planned on staying and always he would reply patiently and ask some small questions on his turn. One villager brought up memories about young Thom’s father but then suddenly halted, as if realizing where this path of conversation would lead to. Although his family was all that was on young Thom’s mind he thought it not a good idea to bring this up too early. For now he was content with the first breaches in the villagers’ defence.
One morning the butcher’s daughter entered the crowded bakery. As if a stranger had entered, all conversation came to a halt and after some unpleasant silence, the villagers started leaving one by one - even without their errands fulfilled. In no time only the butcher’s daughter and young Thom remained in the shop. He greeted her as friendly as possible – this being not without self interest as he realized she was well placed to know more about his family. And so he offered her to precede him – with an all too transparent excuse that she was probably more in a hurry than he. She kindly accepted the offer but it was to no avail. As soon as she received her bread she left again with a polite goodbye.
As young Thom strolled back to the Inn, he thought about how to proceed with his inquiries fearing he might have to turn some stones the villagers would like be left unturned. But the more difficult it appeared the more determined he felt. This week was to be the last of tittle-tattling.

Next : The Deal