Shadows of Secrets

Marlowe Benning was outdoing himself. Today’s work reminded him of the labor of love he had given to the chocolate Columbus flotilla at last year’s Fantasy. It would have been the Best in Show, his greatest design, but it had been horribly bungled. Marlowe had nearly suffered a stroke on the spot as he stood over the pile of multicolored chocolate shards; nothing was left of his magnificent achievement but flotsam, a miserable waste of his talent. Marlowe’s designer ego had imploded; his anger was nearly unbearable. “All right, I stand down. You’re the boss and I, the lowly designer,” Marlowe conceded. His artistic fervor smoldered. “I can just as easily work on the carriage and I still have to dye the marzipan for the pillow.” He turned away holding his shoulders stiffly and his eyes straight ahead, so as not to acknowledge Shirley Parker’s triumphant smirk. “Trailer trash,” he mumbled as he returned to his art. “Thank you, Marlowe,” Jo offered. “You are a dear.” She cast a menacing glace that immediately adjusted Shirley’s attitude. Shirley, too, returned to her work. By this time Roy Orbison began lamenting his fate in his distinctively unique vocal range, “…then all at once, he was standing there….” Jo retreated gratefully to the kitchen, her favorite hideaway, just as Orbison cheered, “…and walked away with me.” Josefine Castle reveled in the din of clanging pots and pans and in the sensuality of the silky batter rolling thickly over and over through giant mixer blades…over and under and around. Jo found reverie in watching the slow, undulating process of the scraping and blending of sugars, melted chocolate, and other creamy fillings. This kitchen exuded childhood memories of when she was called Princess Jo and the thought of it brought gladness to every corner of her heart, except one. In that corner dark shadows continued to build impossible barriers making true happiness merely a childhood fantasy. Despite this heaviness in her heart, she had learned the art of baking from her father Fernando Castillo, who Americanized the family name to Castle. The great ‘Nanado was the robust son of Antonio Castillo, the greatest Panador de Mejico. Yes, Jo came from a long line of superb kitchen artists, but she was the first patissier, a true dessert expert.