The Exquisite Piece of Art

“Are you sure it’s up here Sarah?”

“It’s here somewhere. My Granny never threw anything away.”

A few weeks before her wedding, Sarah remembered that her grandmother had an old box of things from Aunt Kara’s wedding that never was. Well never was may not be the correct phrase. It was an old family story and an odd one at that. Sarah never knew her Aunt Kara, so the stories were all she had of her mother’s eldest sister.

“Tell me the story again,” said Krissy.

“The day before my aunt was supposed to marry her high school sweetheart, she disappeared. More like they disappeared. She had an appointment at the bakery because there was a problem with the cake topper that she had selected. Jeff drove her downtown because afterwards they had to pick up his cousin at the train station and my aunt didn’t have her own car.

“Did she go to the bakery?”

“That is one of the odd parts of the story. Kara and Jeff were doing everything for their wedding, so Granny didn’t know where she ordered her cake. There were only a few bakeries in the general area and none of them claimed to have Kara’s order.”

“The police were contacted but there was never a trace of them. A few weeks later, a small box arrived at my Granny’s house. Inside was a beautiful cake topper. She showed it to me once when I was a little girl and I’ve dreamed of that cake topper ever since. With all the craziness with my wedding plans, it completely slipped my mind. I’m not superstitious. I want that topper for my wedding cake.”

Opening a trunk in the corner, Sarah shouted, “Eureka! I found it.” Lifting it out of the box and removing the tissue paper, Sarah and Krissy smiled at the exquisite piece of art.

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With the cake topper task completed, the next few weeks flew by in a whirlwind. On her wedding day, Sarah arrived at the church and when she marched down the aisle, Joe was there waiting to become her husband. It was a beautiful wedding.

Later at the reception, their guests made many comments about the exquisite piece of art that topped the cake. Most people didn’t know the story behind the topper. Joe and Sarah approached the cake, took the engraved silver cake knife in hand together and began to cut the first piece. Suddenly there was a great flash of light as if a million cameras flashed at once. When everyone’s vision cleared, Sarah and Joe were gone, the cake was intact and the exquisite cake topper was changed.

Outside the beachfront banquet room, Aunt Kara and Uncle Jeff, an exquisitely beautiful bride and groom walked into the sunset.

Twitter: @ma_Holloway

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This story was submitted for the Short Story and Flash Fiction Society Flash Fiction #9