When Elena reached the bakery she found a great crowd there. The four o’clock cakes were coming out of the oven. Far back in the glow Elena could see her own ciambella on the stone floor of the oven, larger than all the rest, its feathers waving tantalizingly in the heat.
In the midst of the women and children stood the cook, with smooth black hair and huge earrings of gold and pearls, which reached to her shoulders, and with a clean flowered kerchief tucked into her corset. She was bare-armed and brown, and held what looked like a great pancake-turner with a very long handle. With this she could reach into the depths of the oven, which was as big as a pantry, and scoop out the cakes, even those quite at the back. There were all sorts of cakes, large and small; some were cookies, and some were big loaves made with almonds and honey and eggs. The whole place smelt delicious, and every one stood on tiptoe to see his own cake pulled out of the oven. Finally Elena’s ciambella was put into her hands, still hot and fragrant, though she had waited for it to cool somewhat on a tray.
Just then a little girl named Letitia came in to ask for coals with which to light the fire at home. The cook raked a few from the oven and put them into the pot of ashes that Letitia carried. Covering them with her apron, Letitia went out with Elena.
‘Just look at my ciambella,’ said Elena proudly, as she carried it carefully on both hands. ‘Isn’t it a beauty?’
‘Yes,’ said Letitia, ‘I am going to have one, too. It will be baked to-morrow. Of course,’ she added, ‘it won’t be quite as big as yours, because Maria will have one and Gino will have a horse. But they’ll all taste the same.’
‘Just think!’ said Elena, ‘Giuseppa isn’t going to have any at all.’
‘Not any?’ cried Letitia. ‘How dreadful! I never heard of a house without a ciambella! They must be very poor.’
‘Yes, but at school Giuseppa always has a clean apron and clean hands. She helps her mother a lot, too. Well, chow, Letitia.’
‘Chow, Elena.’
The girls parted, and Elena walked proudly through the streets, carrying the cake as though in a procession.