Coffee Cake

 

Got to thinking about walking home from

school when I was in fourth grade at Mary

Queen of Peace. It seemed like a long way,

I walked to and from each day.

Revisiting my old neighborhood as an adult,

I drove that route and calculated the distance

to be a little over a half-mile. Good daily ex-

ercise for a kid my age.

Sometimes when I got within viewing dis-

tance of my house, I’d see a yellow Ford

sedan parked out front. That was my Aunt

Margaret’s car. She would come to visit

Mom every couple of weeks.

Mom rarely got out. She told my brothers

and me that she had some sort of liver dis-

ease, and had no energy to go anywhere on

her own. So, she spent most of her days

at home.

Anyway, Aunt Margaret would drop by for

a visit now and again. I was always happy to

see her car when I was coming home from

school.

I liked Aunt Margaret. She was older than

my mom. She never got married, and had

no children, but she was a very nice lady.

She didn’t ignore my brothers and me

like most adults did. Always a smile and

questions about what we were up to.

Another thing I could count on, she would

always bring what Mom and she called a

coffee cake from Straub’s Grocery Store.

It wasn’t until I was older did I know why

they called it that.

I thought it was funny because each cake

was always different. Why did they call so

many kinds “coffee cake?” How did the

baker know which one you wanted if you

simply asked for a coffee cake? Needless

to say, I was confused.

But no matter, each cake Aunt Margaret

brought tasted good. And it was a real

treat for me to have something sweet to

eat after a long, boring day at school.

Now, Mom and Aunt Margaret have long

since passed away. And I got to thinking,

I haven’t had a good coffee cake in years.

I have also learned that coffee cakes come

in a variety of ways, but generally they are

served with coffee, hence the name, ”coffee

cake.”

Personally I’ve always preferred milk with my

cake. Either way, I’m sure any baker worth his

salt would think me crazy should I ask him for

his finest “milk cake.” No matter, I suppose,

most bakers probably couldn’t care less about

which one I ordered, or what I choose to drink

with my cake.

                       -30-

Chris Hanch 9-11-2020