Muffins and Lattes 1

When Fang You was in high school, she would walk past a small cafe every morning. It was so early that the cafe was not yet officially open, but the clerks inside were already busy, and the whole store was injected with life, no longer just a pile of concrete and bricks, but with sound, light, movement and smell, which converged and filled the place into a living thing. Especially in winter, even the cloudy sky at the top of the small town is just dawn, the other stores on the street are not open, still drowsy in the chaos, woke up in the middle of this one cafe, orange light from the glass window, a warm bright. Fang You did not dare to get too close to the window, but would stop at a few steps away and stare at it for a while. She was looking at the muffins in the window, freshly baked round cakes, even the heat from the oven has not yet dissipated, fluffy and puffy, like a light yellow cloud. Several layers of pancakes are stacked together, frozen by the flowing translucent honey, and topped with half a cut strawberry or a full cream flower, like the birthday cake Fang You ate years ago. Fang You tried to imagine its taste many times, but couldn't quite think of it, and could only default to the taste must be very good and sweet. Soon she would be keenly aware of the first glance the clerk threw at her, then bounce away from the window, her steps quick and fast, only to slow down again once she turned a corner at the street. She had no money for a muffin. In fact, she didn't have money for anything for breakfast, and it was hard enough getting her uncle and aunt to pay for her lunch in the school cafeteria. Because she was sure she wouldn't buy anything, she hid even the pleasure of a few more glances, as if she had stolen this impractical thought from the clerk. The girl squeezed the strap of her school bag and walked slowly to school with the fond memory of the muffin still left in her memory. The time has gone from winter to summer, the cafe has always been there, the muffin has always been there, Fang You will still stand in front of the window from time to time with the eyes to taste the fresh muffin again, through the glass window to imagine the taste of it. Even after the summer break when she didn't need to go to school, she would sometimes pretend to pass by the cafe in the morning when there was still nothing on the street. There was no other reason, she just needed the sweetness of the unknown taste. But once she went there in the evening, when it was raining, and she ran out in a hurry, not daring to take an umbrella from behind her angry and drunken uncle, and by the time she got outside the cafe, she was already half drenched. It was the first time she had stood so close to the glass window that her arm was pressed against it, hard and cold, soaking the bruises on her arm and making them hurt even more. But she still stood close to it, letting her thin shadow melt into the light coming through the window. I just want to borrow the eaves here to hide from the rain. Fang You thought sickly, looking at the continuous raindrops, and tried to shrink inside, gaze to the roadside of the small weeds swaying in the wind and rain, heart flashed another thought. If only people could live by drinking water alone. Unfortunately, people can't just live by drinking water, they need a lot of other things, so being human is hard, a tiredness she doesn't want to suffer anymore. At this time from the store door came out a person, Fang You a tilt of the head, and each other see each other.