Clara Bennett
Clara Bennett had once been the proud owner of the busiest little chocolate shop in town. Her success, however, was almost entirely thanks to one elderly customer: good ol’ Agnes. Every morning, Agnes would shuffle through the door and buy practically everything Clara had made that day—truffles, fudge, caramels, chocolate bars, pralines, and whatever strange new confection Clara happened to be experimenting with. Clara considered Agnes her guardian angel, even if the rest of the town whispered that the old woman was a witch. Clara never believed a word of it. As far as she was concerned, Agnes was simply a very enthusiastic chocolate lover.
Then, one morning, Agnes stopped coming. And the next morning, she still didn't come. Before long, Clara's shelves were overflowing with unsold chocolates and the once-busy shop became eerily quiet. Clara tried everything: posters in shop windows, flyers around town, standing outside waving samples at passersby, even shouting about her “FRESH HOMEMADE CHOCOLATES!” from the doorway. Nothing worked. She began watching the road hopefully whenever anyone approached, especially that strange new family who had moved into the woods—a lumberjack and his two children. Perhaps they would become regular customers. Clara just couldn't remember their names... Handel and Gretna? Something like that.