Strudel, She Said

Dear Diary:

It was a cold, drizzly Sunday morning in 1973, and I was at the Jon Vie bakery on Sixth Avenue in the West Village. The chocolate cheesecake was a specialty of theirs.

There were two customers there besides me: a man ordering at the counter and a woman standing next to me who was all bundled up.

“Here you go,” the counterman said, handing a cake box to the man who was waiting. “Our last chocolate cheesecake.”

The woman and I turned to each other in dismay.

“Not the last chocolate cheesecake!” we said at the same time.