The Taste of Chocolate

I woke up Saturday morning to a purple gift bag with a flower on the front of it, and a card sticking out of the top. I pushed myself out of my bed and took the present off my nightstand, venturing inside to see what it was. A small white rabbit made of chocolate was wrapped in plastic and inside the card was twenty dollars, and the writing of my mother.



I knew my mom planned on being in the garden for most of the day. Rain or shine, Easter was her favourite day of the year because it just screamed colour, and she believed that it was a sign for a fresh start. That meant she was going to start planting and watering everything she owned in her garden. My father, on the other hand, just kind of disappeared.

Shay and I had planned on going to the mall together, but her boyfriend Eric had unexpectedly shown up and decided to surprise her by taking her out for Easter lunch, but she had slept over the night before so we at least got to have breakfast together. I didn’t really have all that many plans for the day, because Gage had to work at the shelter for once in a very long time. So I decided, before I ate anything, I would go out for a run. Shay liked to come with me on them, so I kicked her awake and she groaned.

“You’re a pain,” she mumbled. “What do you want?”

“I’m going for a run.”

“Oh. All right, let me get my pants.”

“I’ll be downstairs.” I put on a pair of workout shorts and a t-shirt, pulled them over my undergarments and went downstairs. I had left my music on the counter the night before so I grabbed them, pulled on my sneakers and opened the front door. I nearly stepped on it, but right in front of me was a small chocolate egg, and a tiny piece of paper underneath it.

I could only stare at it curiously for a few short moments before I bent down to pick it up and read it over.

Twenty-four hours in each day,
Eighteen eggs, come out and play.
Nine by sun and nine by night,
Each clue leads to small delight.

A Summer’s Day shaped like a star,
Pass the beach, you’ve gone too far.
Find the egg and the next clue,
And the answers will be revealed to you.

Shay appeared beside me and read the note over my shoulder. “Is that from Gage?” she asked.

“Most likely,” I laughed, putting it in my pocket. “It’s his attempt at being romantic.”

“Is he sending you on an Easter egg hunt?”

I read the note over once more and nodded. “I would say so.”

“That sounds like so much fun!” she exclaimed. “I want to join! Can we do it?”

“You’re having lunch with you’re boyfriend,” I reminded her.

She went “pfft,” and said “we can go to dinner. It’s no big deal, he’ll understand. Come on! It’ll be fun! And it is pretty romantic, at least in my opinion.”

“That’s because you’re weird.” I smiled at her, putting the chocolate egg inside before I closed the door again and stepped onto the driveway. We started jogging lightly in silence until I got a little bit ahead of her and she tapped me on the shoulder.

“Are you going to do it?” she asked.

“Do what?”

“Find the eggs!”

“I kind of have to now,” I replied. “I just don’t know where to look.”

“Can I see the note?” I took it out of my pocket and gave it to her, continuing with my run but she slowed down, and then completely stopped when she lost her focus. I sighed.

“Come on, Shay. We’re losing valuable daylight here,” I called to her.

She looked up and frowned. “Dude, we’re like, a minute away from your house.”

“So?”

“So we’re never going to get through this run and you know it.”

I scowled at her and walked back with my hands on my hips. She turned around once I was by her side, and headed unreasonably slowly back to my doorstep but she was still entranced by the note, so her attention was elsewhere. I probably could have shoved her off her track into a fire hydrant and she wouldn’t have noticed until it nailed her in the gut. I decided against it.

“Okay, so there are eighteen eggs and you’ll find nine during the day and nine when the sun goes down. That much is obvious,” she said. “What does he mean by ‘A Summer’s Day shaped like a star’? Isn’t that kind of contradictory?”

“Well, there’s a pancake shop down by the lakeshore called A Summer’s Day,” I suggested. “That might be it.”

“Don’t they sell star-shaped pancakes?”

“I believe they do.”

“Awesome! Now we know what we’re having for breakfast,” she said, and immediately ran back inside the house to have a shower and get changed.

“Oh Gage,” I mumbled, laughing to myself and shaking my head. “You’ll never learn.”