Lucy's Italian Bakery

Lucy’s Italian Bakery is a quaint little bakery with giant store front windows. There are shelves, in the windows, filled with delicious traditional Italian pastries. There are rows of Panettone wrapped in cellophane with giant red bows tied around each one. Sfogliatella that looks so flakey and delicious. They are delicately placed on white rectangular platters. The Bombolone are stacked mile high on a cake platter with a light dusting of powder sugar.   Custard oozing down the sides of a few of these fluffy doughnuts.
The bakery storefront always creates pedestrian traffic on Hazelwood Avenue to come to a standstill. Everyone stops to look at the beautiful dessert displays. People start to drool if they look at the delicious desserts to long. The sweet aromas coming from the bakery can be smelled for miles.
Lucy, the owner of the bakery, is practically a town celebrity. She is a big boned Italian woman with thick black hair that she always wears in a victory roll. People describe her as classy and conservative but, don’t try to cross her because that would be a battle you would never win. There is the legendary story of Giuseppe Russo, the neighborhood boy who tried to rob the bakery at gun point. He failed miserably. Lucy had a rolling pin near the register and wacked him so hard over the head he saw stars. Giuseppe tried to get away, but he was so disoriented the cops were able to catch him on Gladstone Street which is a few blocks from the bakery. Lucy gladly pressed charges.
Lucy even banned the Ricci family from her bakery because they said her “pizzelles are too crispy.” Lucy started waving her hands and screaming “how are they to crispy? The pizzelles aren’t even burnt! Get out of here and don’t come back.” Within 24 hours she posted a picture of the Ricci family on the front door and wrote banned in big bold black letters.
This bakery is her life. She had lost her husband Norman during WWII. Norman was a tall lanky kind of man and everyone can remember him for his whimsical sense of humor. Norman was a Military Police Officer. He was guarding his post one night and the Germans ambushed his post. Norman was shot several times. Amazingly enough he did not die because of the gunshot wounds he died due to a bad infection. The doctors did what they could for him, but it was not enough. Lucy was devastated when she got the news, but she refused to sit around and mope. Six months after Norman’s death she opened Lucy’s bakery.
Lucy is very close with her family. When she told her family, she wanted to open an Italian bakery her father was too drunk to care, which was typical. He just mumbled something and continued to drink his wine. Her mother gives her a big hug and said in broken English, “I support you.” Nickolas and Joseph, her older protective brothers, volunteered to help to do most of the leg work. Such as finding the location, help make the renovations, and making sure no one tried to scam her. Just being typical protective older brothers.
Jenny, her younger sister, was hit by a trolley car a few years earlier and lost part of her hearing. She thought Lucy said she wanted to open a French Creperie.  Jenny jumped up in such excitement and said “Lu, I love crepes! How can I help?” Lucy looked at Jenny like she had ten heads and said in an irritated tone “what’s a matter with you? I said Italian Bakery not a French Creperie!” Everyone busts out laughing.
On December 14, 1942, Lucy’s Bakery had its grand opening just in time for the Christmas rush. Jenny does a great job handling the customers at the counter, despite her not being to fully hear the customers. Items are flying off the shelves. Lucy frantically tries to keep everything stocked. The cannoli sold out within the first hour of the store opening. No one was surprised that the cannoli’s sold out so quickly. Lucy used the recipe her great grandmother has passed down to the family for generations. The customers and passer-bys were raving how great everything tasted, looked, and smelled. The line was out the door and around the block. Lucy had hoped her bakery would be successful, after that first day, it looked as if her dreams would come true.
Jenny and Lucy were preparing to close the shop for the day. Joe came busting thru the doors carrying a giant jug of red wine. He said “let’s celebrate!” Lucy and Jenny locked the doors, kicked their shoes off, and started to drink right out of the jug. They looked exhausted, but not regretting their decision of starting this business and looking forward to the future success of the bakery.
Every Sunday the bakery was closed. Lucy attended mass with her family at St. Stephens Catholic Church. She always donated pastries to Father Falcone and the nuns. They were always grateful for the donation. After mass she would head back to Mama’s house for a Sunday spaghetti feast.

Natalie is the author of The Many Colors of Natalie, a book of poetry.  She holds an associates degree in Specialized Technology Le Cornon Bleu Pastry Arts and in her spare time is an artist and percussionist.