This is a summary of a short story from an adventure-comedy novel, Frosted Castle.
In this story, we are introduced to the fantasy castle that our bakery is set in.
From Rat City To Bunny Valley
It was a somber yet oddly beautiful time. Global warming had wrought havoc upon the earth. People had successfully cut carbon emissions and returned to a sustainable way of living, but it came at a cost. The knowledge the people had access to was modern, but many of their methods of doing things were now medieval in order to be sustainable. They had it easier because it was combined with modern knowledge that led them to choose efficient energy production methods and farming methods.
In a large city in the green and warm land, there was a group of four children who were friends. Unlike the previous generations who had endured the havoc of global warming, the children had grown up on wholesome foods, breathed clean air, and had ample time for play. Since their bodies and brains were well taken care of since birth, unlike their poor grandparents who had grown up in a time of strife and instability, and their parents who had had their ways of thinking passed down to them, the children were highly intelligent and very energetic. They often came up with ingenious plans to get what they wanted and they loved to read. This was not yet common among the people of the city who had only just entered a stable and prosperous time. The oldest child was 14 and the youngest 12.
There was a recent problem in the city. The city was being overtaken by abnormal rats.. These rats were giant and spread horrible disease. None of the scientists in the land could figure out why the rats would not be eliminated by typical extermination methods. They were intelligent and somehow knew to avoid rat poisons by their smell. Not only that, they were muscular. They fought their way out of mouse and rat traps easily. The rats multiplied and spread like wildfire because nothing kept them down. They ravaged businesses and homes and spread disease into the food supply. The authorities did everything they could to stop this but they only managed to cut it back by 4% and the rats were gaining ground, slowly but surely.
As this war of rats raged on, the children escaped to the library to read. Much of the scientific books there were dusty, having not been touched in years. The children frantically sought the answers to why the rats were so resistant to everything when that had never been known in history.
They did not find any answers to that question. They did, however, find one thing.
Reading on the recent history of rats, one of the children, Ciele, found that rats in the past century had been bred to be gluten intolerant. The first time celiac rats were discovered by scientists, many years ago, they had been bred in labs for experiments as celiac disease was mysteriously increasing among humans. Millions of rats escaped the labs when wars arose due to the havoc of global warming. By this year, it was estimated that 98% of rats in the wild were now gluten intolerant.
The children looked at each other in excitement.
By the next day, every business in the city which was within biking distance of the children's houses had a small, brown, natural paper note stuck under its door.
The owner of the most popular bakery in the city opened her business the next day.
She picked up the note in surprise.
RATS CAN'T HAVE GLUTEN
FEED THEM BREAD
HIDE EVERYTHING ELSE
THEY'LL LEAVE YOU ALONE
She looked around the bakery.
There were rat traps in every corner. The traps had rat legs in them but no actual rats. It was the same as every other day. These rats had super strength and it was not known whether it was because of genetic modification, breeding, or something else. They were able to escape any trap short of the most complex ones, which were not sustainable to mass produce. The owner got a knife and cut open the electrical tape she had been using to seal her bakery case closed overnight. She took out a loaf of crusty sourdough. Full of that delicious, strong gluten, kneaded for so many minutes, very well formed. She was proud of that bread, but now she was even more happy she had it.
She tossed it to the corner and waited.
Before long a giant grayish rat came out of somewhere. It made a beeline for the bread.
Two more rats came and tried to join in, but the first rat was starving and was not about to let the younger rats take his treat.
The lady grinned and watched as it chomped down the entire loaf in about 20 minutes.
The rat could hardly move from the corner because of its full stomach.
After 10 more minutes, the rat was feeling the effects of the gluten.
It writhed on the floor. It hopped and jumped about in agony.
The woman gaped. Whoever had given her that note was onto something.
She called over some friends to watch. In this time, she would usually have been baking before opening for the day, but today she wanted to do something else.
She and her friends watched the rat for a bit longer. She got impatient that the rat was taking so long to die. She decided to go and finish it off herself if the bread wasn't going to do anything but make it writhe for hours.
As she approached the rat, a thick spray of brown escaped from its behind as it tried to run.
She screamed in horror.
Her friends burst out laughing. Then, she did too. The rat had left her bakery, squeaking and pooping. It was so unlike their usual aggressive behavior. They never left before when she shooed them out.
"Lesson learned. Next time, I'll give 'em the bread OUTSIDE the shop," she thought to herself.
The fire department was called in to sanitize the smelly residue of the celiac rat. Samples of the rat droppings were sent to labs for disease tests.
The head of the fire department was amazed on hearing what had caused the incident. He asked the bakery owner to give them a call if she finds out who had left the note.
By no later than that very evening, there was a huge and hopeful stir in the city. Hundreds of thousands had seen the effect of bread on rats and the authorities were very much well aware of it, having been forced to clean the poop of at least 341 rats in that very day due to people following the advice of the mysterious notes.
However, the governor of the region was the happiest person of all. Agents were sent to find out who the mysterious note-givers were so they could be rewarded and consulted. Announcements were made.
The people of the sustainable city were honest. It was a close-knit and supportive society. People didn't falsely take credit for others' achievements. So the note writers remained unknown.
Following the line of thinking in the notes, the city government, backed by scientists who had got back on the case and realized what they could do with this new knowledge, made a plan to eliminate the rats.
They would feed them bread until they would starve due to constant and extreme pain and inflammation in their stomachs making them unable to eat anything else. They would not be allowed access to any gluten-free food. They would feed them all the bread and wheat flour in the city. Humans would subsist on gluten-free staples like rice and potatoes which they would keep securely locked up. It was announced that it would be given free to anyone who was hungry and did not have anything gluten-free to eat.
The children were scared. They had not expected the rat poop-demic. They had never seen celiac disease or its effects in real life and had only thought that it would repel the rats like something that tastes real bad. The children were certainly not going to give away their identity. They heard business owners grumbling every day about the liquidy droppings and writhing rats.
The city dwellers were hopeful about getting rid of the rat problem but also terrified of new diseases from the rat poop that was now everywhere.
The scientists, however, were not worried. Over the span of a couple days, they printed instructions for dwellers to keep themselves safe from rat-spread disease, such as never letting the rats eat the bread inside their houses, rather leaving it in parts of the roads which would be saved for that purpose. The instructions calmed everyone down.
The children were relieved that the rat dung problem that they made had been solved by the scientists.
Ciele's mother had been arguing with the children about letting the city know that it was them who had discovered the solution. The kids said they would never do it. They were too scared of the city businesses turning against them. Then they wouldn't be able to buy their favorite candies or toys anymore. "Let's just let the scientists deal with it all from here on out," Asten said. "They're fine now."
Asten's older sister who was 24 found it all pretty funny. The next morning she nonchalantly walked into the city building and told them everything and gave proof it was her sister and her friends who did it.
The city officials were shocked upon realizing it was only children who had found the answer, rather than some mysterious scientist with little-known knowledge.
Realizing the potential of education, they started a campaign of educating everyone in science and reading, restoring to them the educational customs their grandparents had been deprived of.
Every bakery in the city started to offer many gluten-free options.
As for the children, they and their families were given an entire castle on the outskirts of the city to live in. They were rewarded with enough money to not have to work for their entire lives, as their discovery had helped to save an entire city from disease and economic destruction.
This was a beautiful castle in a serene place named Bunny Valley. The castle was on the side of a green, forested mountain in a place of gentle valleys, gurgling streams and snow-capped mountains. Fluffy brown and white bunnies scampered about as they had no reason to fear humans who had been nothing but kind to them.
It was a sparkling white castle with blue roofing. It was so clean and beautiful against the pristine green mountain, resembling a white and blue cake, that it was endearingly titled Frosted Castle.
The children were not pleased at all with the arrangement. They wanted to work. They wanted to make their own money like everyone else.
Ciele's sister decided to start a gluten-free bakery as many others in the city had. She told the children not to worry; she would employ them when they're old enough to handle baking safely.
After a few years, the beautiful castle became the best spot in the land for gluten-free baked goods. The children and their families contributed their intelligence and creativity to making the most scrumptious and beautiful gluten-free doughnuts, cakes, and pastries the world had ever seen.
They decorated the cakes with edible flowers, candied flowers and fruit from the kitchen garden of the castle. They served gluten-free foods as well and hosted gluten-free banquets with vegetables freshly picked from the gardens.
There was always a long line of people waiting to be served in the morning. They would take the delicious treats and then picnic with them in the green countryside and the castle gardens where they were welcomed.
After a few months, people's happiness and health ratings in the city went up measurably.
They were entering a new and delightful era filled with gluten-free goodness.
And that brings us to today.
Welcome to the Castle.
The Castle Bakery of our vegan and gluten-free dreams.