Newhaven: Week Nine - The Chang Family
Previously for the Chang family: Chris, widowed mere hours before giving birth to twins, had single handedly raised her children without any assistance from her late husbands family. Whilst her children finally did meet their father’s family after the death of Gretchen Chang-Ngai (whose mistrust of Chris had lead to the family’s seperation), Chris worked hard to instil in them values of self sufficiency. Yin grew up blissfully unaware of her mother’s struggles and wanted a life of pleasure and a career in gaming. Her twin Jin on the other hand had always been more mature and dreamed of a life of learning and a family of his own.
Despite their different personalities, the twins had always been very close. As such it was of no surprise that they shared many mutual friends and most afternoons the sociable pair could be found hanging out on the front lawn with other Newhaven teens.
It was from friendship that romance blossomed between Jin and Nichola Baruch.
Jin quickly found an afterschool job in business. He had been aware of the family’s financial struggles even as a young child and wanted to ease his mother’s burden.
His mother tried to assure Jin, not for the first time, that it wasn’t his responsibility and that her job at the High School’s newspaper was paying the bills.
But he respectfully insisted and Chris relented, agreeing he could work after school on the condition his grades didn’t drop.
He refrained from saying it wasn’t his grades she should be worrying about, thinking of the many times he had had to share his answers with his sister the morning their homework was due.
It was fortunate Chris had given in to Jin, as shortly after she was fired from her job.
Chris had no idea what she was going to do next until her friend Mayhew, who had visited for dinner, complimented her cooking and suggested she should start selling her delicious cakes. Jin thought it was a wonderful idea and had many suggestions learnt from his part-time job.
That night became the first of many late nights baking.
Tight finances meant Chris’ Cakes was two tables and a cash register on the front lawn. There were obvious difficulties, the lack of refrigerated storage meant there could only ever be a small selection of stock otherwise the food would soil, and wet weather prevented the cake stall from even operating.
But word of mouth soon spread, and soon the new business began turning over a small profit.
A small business grant allowed Chris to pay for the front room to be separated and for the purchase of refrigerated storage cases. It was still far from a professional operation, but with Yin’s help after school, she was able to produce more deserts for sale and the business continued to grow.
Eventually there was enough money to complete painting and install a table for customers who wanted to enjoy a slice of their favourite sweet treat.
It was long hours for Chris, when the shop closed, the baking started. She didn’t know how she would have done it if her children didn’t help out around the house as much as they did.
But the success of the venture drove her and she didn’t dream of stopping. Even her birthday didn’t slow her down.
As the business continued to grow, Jin left his after school job to help with the business. He would never admit it to her mother, but he had concerns about how much she was working in her elder years.
Whatever the reasons, it proved to be a very successful partnership.