Doughnut Machine
There is a doughnut machine in Kreske's dime store. There are many wonderful things in Kreske's but the doughnut machine is my favorite. Whenever I am in Kreske's all I want to do is stand in front of the glass shield and watch doughnuts being made.
Behind the glass is a round basin of hot oil. There is a shiny steel tube posed over the edge of the basin. At regular intervals a blob of white dough oozes out of the tube and plops into the boiling oil. It has a hole in the center of it, a doughnut-in-the-making.
The doughnut travels around the perimeter of the basin. It starts to turn brown at the edges. The dough on top gets bubbly. The hole in the center gets smaller as the doughnut gets bigger. Halfway around the basin, a slotted steel arm rises from the oil. It appears under the doughnut, lifts it up and flips it over, back into the oil.
Now the doughnut is upside down in the oil. Or is it now right side up? Is this the older, more mature side of the doughnut? The color is pale but gets darker as the doughnut continues to bob around the edge of the basin.
Just before the doughnut reaches the space under the steel tube another slotted arm rises from the oil.
This second arm flips the doughnut out of the oil, through an opening in the glass wall around the basin. The doughnut tumbles down a slotted steel slide, like a playground slide, to join its older brothers and sisters. They are waiting to be powdered and sugared and put into boxes. They will go out into the world, snuggling with their siblings in a shiny white box, warm and sweet and fragrant. Yummy-yum-yum.
I always hope the second arm will malfunction and miss the doughnut. I want to see the doughnut float under the dough tube again to receive a crown of white, raw dough, then turn into twins joined head to head.