Chocolate Chip Cookies are Biodegradable (So, I must admit, am I)
by @jay-claywell
I wrote a book in this place.
I have filled notebook pages
hunched over this very table.
Virtually every time I’ve
come here to write,
I start with a ¢.97 chocolate
chip cookie and the ‘Sunday Special’,
an ¢.87 cup of dark.
Today, upon entry,
I stumble upon
Chocolate Shift Change.
I watch as she tosses the
first molasses disc into the
garbage can.
I ask:
“You’re just going to throw them away?”
She says:
“They’re old.”
“As am I.” I think, but don’t say.
Instead:
“I’ll buy them all right now.”
(She looks at me embarrassed just a bit,
but hurries to pull the rest of the expired cookies
out of the warmer.)
“We can’t sell you the old ones.”
“The fresh ones taste better.”
I doubt if I’d have known the difference.
(Expired confections slide from her grasp.)
Purchasing one, fresh,
I speak of lost profits
and typical first-world
wastefulness.
She nods knowingly,
but shitlessly,
(In that she couldn’t have
given a shit.)
I ask for a pack of smokes
as well,
meandering off in search of pulp
and fire.
My mind racing with the temporary
status
of
everything.
***
-JBClaywell
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