Discontinued

 I read an article about people searching online for favorite items no longer in stores.  Paying big money if they are lucky enough to find them.  I have suffered the loss of so many small pleasures through the scourge of “discontinued.”

I still think fondly of Burny Bros. cinnamon toast bread. There was a time when Burny Bros. Bakeries were everywhere in Chicagoland.  Heinemann’s too.  (Heinemann’s has a small afterlife at my local Jewel.)

Long gone from my neighborhood, I was delighted one day to see the familiar Burny Bros. sign as I was walking in the loop.  When I asked for a loaf of my favorite bread, the clerk said: “That’s been gone for years.  When the bakery was sold to those big shots, it was the one recipe that the family held on to.” 

So now, I imagine somewhere one of the brothers or a descendant is popping a loaf into the oven.  I can smell and taste it even now.