SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
This next story is for those who believe good things come in small packages. Twice a year, the team at Audio Flux invites anyone to create a three-minute story. Each competition, called a circuit, has some unique parameters. This fall, the theme was confection. Stories had to feature a neighbor, had to mention a sweet treat and had to incorporate some kind of audible fluctuation inspired by the tempering process of heating and cooling chocolate. Entries came from around the world. Before the winners are announced this week, we wanted to give you a taste. Reporter Giacomo Bagni, brings us a story about Greta, whose parents asked us not to use her last name because she's a minor. As Bagni explains, Greta started school in Italy.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GRETA: Zebra.
GIACOMO BAGNI: Greta is 6.
GRETA: (Speaking Italian).
BAGNI: Back in Italy, she's my neighbor.
GRETA: (Speaking Italian).
BAGNI: These are her cookies, her animal-shaped cookies. Greta found them in Germany.
GRETA: (Speaking Italian).
BAGNI: The first time she had them was at a campsite with a bunch of horses running around. Now, she's running out of them, and not just any animal cookie will do.
GRETA: (Speaking Italian).
BAGNI: They need to be from this specific German brand, and they need to be the chocolate version, not the regular one. The problem is that Greta lives in Italy and these cookies don't.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
BAGNI: In a few days, she starts school. New classroom, new teachers, new friends. I decide she really needs those cookies. I have to take a flight to Berlin, so I tell her I'll go on a mission to find them.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)
BAGNI: It's Saturday evening. One of the last days of summer. People are out drinking and schmoozing. Instead, I walk from supermarket to supermarket in search of crunchy animals. It's not easy.
(Speaking German).
My German doesn't help.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking German).
BAGNI: Leibniz.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Leibniz?
BAGNI: Leibniz.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking German).
BAGNI: OK. (Speaking German).
I think I'm asking for cookies, and instead, I'm asking for cake. Either way, no animals.
(SOUNDBITE OF BARCODE SCANNER BEEPING)
BAGNI: Rewe, Edeka, Lidl, Aldi, Penny, Kaufland. I try them all. It begins to feel like a lot of work for a cookie.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
BAGNI: But I understand Greta. I spend half my life in Italy and the other half in Germany. Two homes, two sets of keys, two supermarkets where I never quite remember where anything is. Every time I arrive somewhere, I have to sit down and think how life works there. And just when one place starts to feel normal, it's usually time to leave again. In a few days, Greta will wake up and go somewhere she's never had to go before. Someone else will tell her where to sit, when to eat, when to play. There's not much she gets to decide about any of that, and there's not much I can do about it. But the cookies. I thought I could take care of the cookies.
(SOUNDBITE OF COOKIE BAG RUSTLING)
BAGNI: The noise of victory.
And then I see them. Yellow package, an elephant on top. Same brand. Chocolate. These are them.
Leibniz Zoo Kakao. Greta, I am coming home with your cookies (laughter).
I can make sure that for a little while longer, at least one thing says exactly the same.
(SOUNDBITE OF COOKIE BAG RUSTLING)
GRETA: (Speaking Italian).
(SOUNDBITE OF GRETA EATING COOKIES)
PFEIFFER: That story was produced by Giacomo Bagni and Veronica Lugaro for the Audio Flux storytelling competition. Winners will be announced this week in Portland, Maine, in collaboration with Maine Public. Hear more and learn how to create your own three-minute story at audioflux.org.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE HUMAN LEAGUE SONG, "LOVE ACTION (I BELIEVE IN LOVE)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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