Perspective

They all said that everybody gets what they deserve, that if you are a good person then good things are gonna come your way, but, as Maeve was shoving yet another tray of bread in the industrial oven, did not feel it to be true.

On the contrary, Maeve had been waiting for years and years doing nothing but good things, and? Nothing happened. She was still in this prospect-less job, baking goods for the local supermarket, being just a pair of hands that continuously poured bread, pastries and what not to forever hungry crowds.

Usually she was pretty easy going, minding her scones and her buns without paying too much attention to what happened around her, but that morning, when she saw in the employee canteen the notice that Edna Hume, the young cashier that had just started in their store not even a year before, was now being promoted to floor manager, all her dissatisfaction rose to the surface, now bubbling in full force.

Thank God the ovens were smart ovens and did the work themselves as she was barely minding what she was doing, huffing and puffing to herself about the injustice. Edna was barely twenty five while Maeve was thirty eight, not that she would admit it to anyone.

Maeve always started her day before the rest of the staff, as the bread needed to be done and ready for sale when the store opened, so, by the time everybody else got in she had had so much time to stew in her unhappiness, that she just preferred to hide between her tall trolleys of trays, than have to go and see them all congratulate the annoying person.

That is where 1pm found Maeve, doom scrolling on her phone, hiding behind her bread trays, looking forward to the end of her shift which was only one hour away.

When it all started Maeve was totally ignorant of the drama unfolding in front of the cash registers. Then, all the shouting and banging drew her attention and it made her peek out from behind the display with baked goods she had just restocked.

When she saw him, she thought that it was not real, must be a joke or a get up for a party or something. A lanky, strange looking man was waving a large axe yelling from the top of his lungs.

Maeve instinctively looked around and saw the terrified customers hiding behind the selves or trying quietly to walk to the back of the store. Her heart broke when she saw a young father with his two little girls leading them slowly to the back exit, next to the freezer section. The girls seemed oblivious to what was happening, and the young man was trying to keep them focused on himself telling them something engaging.

The security guard had all but disappeared, Maeve being unable to see him among the frightened people.

The three cashiers that had been opened when the man entered the store, had opened their cash drawers and ran inside the store also.

From where Maeve was placed she had a straight line of vision to the line of cash registers and to the man noisily hitting the metal lanes with his axe while yelling something that did not really make sense. That is when she saw her.

A little girl, maybe six or seven, had climbed into the space under the cash register and was sobbing uncontrollably. Her mother was right across her behind a shelf trying to get her attention and to have her crawl to her. But the little girl could not hear or she was just paralyzed with fear, as she was not reacting in any way to her mother’s signals.

Maeve saw the man with the axe getting closer and understood that the cash register where the little girls was hiding was next to be emptied.

Without thinking, Maeve dropped to the floor, all her 105 kilos, and noiselessly crawled to the little girl. She surprised herself with how fast she could move and in no time she was next to the little girl signalling her that she needs to be as silent as possible. The little girl hugged her and hid sinking her face in Maeve’s bread smelling hoodie.

The axe wielding man kept shouting and banging his axe loudly until all of a sudden it all went quiet. Later people that could see said that he had a car waiting in the parking lot, and they drove away at speed as soon as the man was out of the store and into the car.

Maeve shied away from all the gratitude of the frantic mother and went behind her bread trays where she was most comfortable. When she found herself there she breathed easy and an overwhelming feeling of happiness came over her. She truly loved her job, the routine, the set things she could count on.

The Gardai came to take statements and to file a report which the store needed for insurance. The customers all received a bottle of wine and a chocolate for the children. And it was finished. A crazy life episode that you never think can happen to you, in your neighborhood, in your local shop.

The next day they all checked the papers, nothing about it, not even in the local ones, it was as if it was their own private nightmare.

Not even a week later, when Maeve was happily shoving her trays in the oven, she heard a little voice at the entrance of the baking section.

‘Hello!’, the little girl from under the till was standing there in a fluffy pink dress.

‘Oh! Hello! How are you?’, Maeve could see the mother a few steps back picking things up from the vegetable section.

‘My granny says you are a real life hero!’, her little face was exuding joy.

‘Well, who am I to disagree with your granny? She sounds like a very smart woman!’, Maeve replied jokingly now sat on her stool, so she could be closer to the little girl’s height.

‘How are you? All good?’, Maeve asked hoping that the craziness of the attack did not cause her bad dreams or anxiety.

‘Yeah, I am ok … ‘, and then she got a bit closer and whispered ‘I am not sure my mommy is though … ‘, her voice was a bit sad and a bit concerned.

Maeve’s heart went out to the little girl worried about her mother.

‘She will be fine, she just needs a bit of time … ‘

Silence fell over them and then the little girl ran way to her mother waving good bye to Maeve and promising to stop by again.

While finishing up for the day Maeve heard two little voices bickering in front of the pastries baskets. As she peeked out she could see it was the two little girls she had seen with their father, they too seemed to be back to their childhood endeavors.

Maeve smiled to herself, she was happy, happy for her little life spent among trays of baking bread and between people, annoying or not.

Maybe she already had what she was looking for, her reward, only she was too focused on the hole of the doughnut to see it.

‘A little pastry joke there for you!’, Maeve chuckled to herself.