the seven dollar cupcake

why are your cupcakes

so expensive

i ask the woman

behind the counter.

she's wearing

an apron with a giant

heart

embroidered

on the front. the image

of a cupcake

inside.

she smiles at my question.

we use the best

ingredients,

the purest

sugars and cream,

fillings.

organic eggs, and one

thing that can't be measured.

what's i that, i ask.

each cupcake is made with love.

yeah.

i tell her, but seven dollars

for a cupcake?

i can go buy a box of pillbury's

cake mix

and make a dozen for about

three dollars.

next, she says. pointing

at the door,

telling me to leave.

no cupcake for you.