It was Abbey’s 5th birthday and her mom gave her a quarter to spend at the local bakery. The bakery was just around the corner from their house and was best known for its specialty, cupcakes. Abbey’s mother took her by the hand and led her through the door. The sweet smell of cupcakes filled her nose and she looked around at the colorfully decorated store.
“Pick any one you want,” her mother told her. Abbey walked around the store, examining row by row of decorative cupcakes.
She went over to his mother who was talking to Mrs. Wallace, the store owner, behind the counter. “Can I have a cookie?” She asked, tugging on her mothers arm.
Abbey’s mother gave Mrs. Wallace a questioning look and Mrs. Wallace just shook her head. “Honey,” she began, leaning over so that she was the same height as her daughter, “what’s wrong with the cupcakes? You love Mrs. Wallace’s cupcakes.”
Abbey shook her head, “But I always get cupcakes here, I wanna cookie!” She stomped her foot on the ground.
“Do you have any cookies?” Abbey’s mother asked Mrs. Wallace.
Mrs. Wallace replied apologetically, “I’m sorry dear, cupcakes are all we have.”
Abbey’s mother sighed and took her daughters hand, “We’ll just have to go somewhere else,” She muttered as she left the store.
Mrs. Wallace watched the customers leave mournfully. The bakery had never sold anything but cupcakes and it had never been a problem. She shook her head, sighing to herself, and went into the back room of the bakery.
“What was that about?” The voice came from Indigo, a brightly colored blue cupcake.
Her best friend Periwinkle answered, “I dunno, what’s wrong with cupcakes?” Indigo shrugged.
Cobalt spoke up next, “I betcha their going to replace us all with cookies and other stuff,” he said defiantly, “there’s gonna be no cupcakes left at all.”
Periwinkle looked nervous. “They’re not gonna do that, everyone loves cupcakes, why would the get rid of us,” Indigo disagreed. Cobalt shrugged.
Amber, who had been listening to the conversation from a few shelves below said, “Maybe they won’t get rid of us, but we’re definitely going to see some changes around here.” Just then, the door opened and another customer came in. The cupcakes fell silent.
Days passed and talk of Amber’s rumored “changes” died down. Things returned to normal. That is, until that morning when the cupcakes were woken up before it was time to open the shop. Mrs. Wallace had rolled a cart into the center of the bakery. The cart was loaded with cookies! There were chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies and even more that the cupcakes couldn’t even see. Mrs. Wallace was beginning to rearrange the shelves to make room for the cookies. Periwinkle, Indigo and Cobalt were all squished together. The cupcakes were all used to having their own space but it was evident that this wasn’t going to be the case anymore.
“I don’t like this,” Indigo grumbled.
“Me neither,” Periwinkle agreed.
When Mrs. Wallace left the cupcakes all turned towards the cookies angrily. They had been given the shelves by the window and everybody knew that was the best spot.
“What are you doing here?” Indigo snarled. She didn’t like the idea of these new guys getting the nicest spot in the bakery.
The cookies all looked around nervously, no one wanted to be targeted by this angry looking cupcake. Finally one of them spoke; he was a thin sugar cookie, frosted with creamy white frosting and lightly coated with blue and green sprinkles. He said plainly, “We live here now.”
All the cupcakes exchanged looks. Indigo spoke again, “Well we were here first, what makes you think you can get the window seat.”
The cookies didn’t have an answer for this; they looked around at each other. The cookies were eventually forced out of the window seat. Indigo and the others happily took their spots. All except Amber.
A while later there was the familiar sound of the bell as the door opened. Mrs. Wallace rushed to the counter to greet the customer. The customer looked around the bakery, he paused at the cookies and the cupcakes glared resentfully.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Wallace,” he greeted her, “I see you have a new addition to your stock.”
Mrs. Wallace nodded joyfully, “Just got ‘em today. Would you like to try one?”
He thought for a moment, looking around at the cookies, and then said,” Aw, I couldn’t, I’m too much of a fan of your cupcakes.” He picked one off the shelf, paid for it and left.
The cupcakes smiled triumphantly at the cookies.
The next customer who came in was a young woman. She looked around the bakery and also commented on Mrs. Wallace’s new cookies. “Would you like to try one?” Mrs. Wallace asked.
“I’d love to,” The woman replied. She plucked two round chocolate chip cookies off the shelf, paid, and left with one of the cookies already in her mouth. It was the cookies turn to be triumphant.
The rest of the day, and the next couple of days all went on like this. Some customers chose cookies and some cupcakes. Although, to the cupcakes distress, the new cookies became very popular. The cookies realized this, too.
“It’s not fair,” Skippy, a young peanut butter cookie, insisted one afternoon. It was a beautiful day and business was better than usual. “I don’t understand why they get to sit by the window, we sell just as good as them.”
Penny, a particularly round chocolate chip cookie, sighed as she looked longingly as the cupcakes on their shelf. “It’s not like we have a choice,” she sighed.
Skippy sat up excitedly, “Why not? They don’t have the right to push us around; we’re just as good as them!” He hurried over to a group of peanut butter cookies and told them what he thought. They all agreed heartily. Soon all the cookies were turned into an angry mob.
“Hey!” Spike, a big burly chocolate chip cookie, called to the cupcakes. The cupcakes spun around, annoyed. “You have no right to tell us where we can and cannot sit around here!” he told them, “We demand that you share that window seat with us!”
Indigo went over to the edge of the window shelf and was just about to tell the cookies no way when Periwinkle stopped her. “Maybe their right,” Periwinkle began nervously, “I mean, they do sell as good as us.”
Indigo opened her mouth to argue but found that she didn’t have a proper argument. The cookies started yelling. “We deserve the window shelf!” one of them yelled.
“Get out of our spot!” another one shouted. The yelling became so loud that Indigo didn’t know what to do.
“Fine,” she shouted back to them, “you can have your shelf!” There was a collective cheer from the cookies.
“Wait!” Cobalt interrupted. “That isn’t fair! We were here first so we should get the shelf. It’s rightfully ours!” This time, the collective cheer came from the cupcakes. Indigo looked back and forth between the cookies and cupcakes. The mob of cookies was greatly intimidating but she couldn’t let her own friends down.
“What if we share,” everyone’s head turned to Amber. Amber had generally kept quiet ever since the cupcakes took over the cookies spot; in fact no one had paid any attention to her since then.
“Share?” Cobalt asked.
Amber explained her idea, “Yeah,” she said, “We are both important parts of this bakery, and we wouldn’t be a good one with out us, all of us. Some cookies can go on the shelf and some cupcakes.” The cookies and cupcakes all exchanged worried glances but no one could think of a proper excuse. Reluctantly the cupcakes moved over to make room for the cookies. This didn’t sit well with the cupcakes who continued to be as rude as ever to their new neighbors. Because of this, the cookies were also bad-mannered to the cupcakes.
It rained the next day making it a very slow business day at the bakery. That is why, when the bell chimed, signifying the entering of a customer, everyone looked up. In walked Abbey followed by her mother. The cupcakes glared at the girl who the felt was responsible for their problems.
“Cookies!” Abbey squealed, running over to the shelf of cookies. She looked at all of them with wide-eyes.
Abbey’s mother talked to Mrs. Wallace who appeared behind the counter. “I see you decided to add cookies to the menu, “she said.
Mrs. Wallace nodded, “Yes, and it was a very good business decision, I’m getting double the profit.”
“Good, but why stop there. You’re a bakery for Pete’s Sake, bakery’s don’t just have two items to choose from! They have tons.” Abbey came running up to her mother, chocolate chip cookie in hand. She tugged on her mother’s arm and she paid for the cookie. The two of them left.
Mrs. Wallace stood behind the counter looking shocked and offended at the same time. Then, she went to the back room mumbling to her self.
Periwinkle glanced nervously at Indigo. “You don’t think-“ she began.
“I hope not,” Indigo answered.
When Indigo was woken up before opening time the next morning, she knew that her fears had come true. Both the cookies and cupcakes watched nervously as Mrs. Wallace rolled in a new cart.
