The new bakery

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

Mr Harland said his daughter’s new bakery was her affair and he had no wish to hear about it. At breakfast he asked whether the first batch had sold. On his way home he took the longer street past the shop. He stopped outside to read the hand-painted opening notice, then brushed a fleck of flour from his coat. “I was merely passing,” he told his neighbour.