A dejected figure with cookie crumbs on her clothes and a furtive look enters the basement of a local hall. Other figures, better groomed and seemingly cheerful greet one another. Most grab a cup of coffee, though a few of them surreptitiously head for the fridge and pour themselves a long, tall, cool glass of moo juice, the beverage of choice of all cookie addicts. The newbie shuffles to the podium...
"My name is Moira (*gulp*). This is my first meeting at Cookies Anonymous...(takes a long slug of ice cold milk and continues...)"
"I...I never met a box of Animal Crackers I didn't like. You guys can have everything else. I started early. It was an innocent gesture on my parent's part to distract me on those long trips to the A & P...then, it became something else... At first I told myself it was "just the box" I wanted with the cunning little string handle and the old time images of animals in cages...how could I know that I would be the one in the cage soon? I thought that I just wanted to pretend I had a train of circus animals to pull around the yard. Then I started to take notice of the devilishly simple cookie inside. Then I heard the giraffe, the zebra and tiger, and, oh, the elephant calling my name and reminding me of the power of...the cookie."
(A longtime sponsor at this meeting, a blue ball of fuzz named Mr. A. Cookie Monster, strides forward and slaps Moira back into sensibility and control...)
"Thanks, I needed that...
I...er, I think the only way to avoid eating these is to NEVER go down the cookie and cracker aisle in the super market. One healthier substitute for that cookie siren song are clementines. They're little, they have vitamin C and are satisfying to the sweetest tooth. They've gotten me through many a night....besides, it looks pretty weird for a grown woman to be playing with a train of boxes out in the back yard...I guess. Thanks for sharing!"
