Tastes Like Spring

While walking down the street yesterday, I passed my favorite bakery as a father and son emerged from the store, triumphant.

The Dad balanced two boxes in one arm. In the palm of his other hand he held a 4-inch-tall piece of strawberry shortcake on a sheet of bakery paper. He looked about to take a bite as I walked by.

His boy held in one hand a giant waffle cone stuffed with ice cream, and in the other, a heavily frosted cupcake decorated with a mound of mini-marshmallows glued together with drizzles of chocolate.

The kid took turns nibbling both the cupcake and the ice cream, for what must have been a sugar-overload feast.

Dollops of pink petals from spring blossoms in the trees cascaded all around them in dancing, windswept swirls like the icing on a cake.