Walnut Whip

Kelly’s nose pressed up against the window, her big brown eyes caressing the hand made chocolates displayed tantalisingly on silver and cut glass dishes. There were chocolate caramels, peppermint creams, rum truffles, Turkish delights, coconut fudge, praline, and there right in the middle of the display was the biggest walnut whip she had ever seen. Kelly’s mouth watered as she contemplated biting into its soft creamy centre. Her brain suddenly rattled against her skull and her ear stung as her father’s rough hand connected with the side of her head,

“Come on dilly dreamo, ’ere tek the key an dontcha lose it, tell yer mam when she gets in I’ll be ’ome when I’ve ’ad enough”

Miserably Kelly watched her father disappear inside the Dirty Duck pub.
She hoped in vain, for her mother’s sake that he wouldn’t drink too much tonight,

Kelly let herself into the neat terraced house, everything was still but she thought she could detect the delicious smell of recent baking, obviously it came from next door. Her mother never had the time for that sort of thing with working at the factory till five, then cleaning the doctors surgery from seven till nine she barely had time to cook a meal for them. Her father’s inevitably ended up in the bin if he was too drunk to retrieve it from the oven.

Kelly went through to the back room, the moment she pushed the door open the light went on almost blinding her, her mother’s voice rang out “Happy birthday to you,” Kelly stood open mouthed waiting for her mother to finish her song.

Kelly looked at the table in the centre of the room, there were daintily cut sandwiches, jelly, blancmange and there… the centrepiece a whipped chocolate cake with a ring of walnuts around the top looking for all the world like the giant walnut whip in the shop window.

“I hope you like the cake sweetheart, It’s butter cream, I couldn’t afford real cream, perhaps next year ay pet?”

Kelly’s happy smiling face told her anxious mother all she wanted to know.
Kelly’s eyes were fixed lovingly on the walnut whipped cake, the chocolate still soft and running deliciously onto the doily.

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