Writing Prompt Boot Camp, Day 3

Mystery Cookie

First Monday

“Did I miss an email about this?” Jennifer asked her cube neighbor, Larry.

“What are you talking about?” Larry asked in return as his head appeared over the wall that separated their workspaces.

“This,” Jennifer said as she pointed at something on her desk. There, right next to a yellow pad of sticky notes, sat a chocolate chip cookie on a cocktail napkin.

“That’s a cookie,” Larry remarked with only a slight note of sarcasm.

“Ha ha ha, thanks for the news update,” Jennifer said as she stared at the cookie.

“A gift from a secret admirer?” Larry offered, his tone changing to one of concern.

“I mean, I hope not?” Jennifer said. She picked up the cookie and held it close to her face, examining it. “It’s still warm, and it smells great. Like, freshly baked great.”

“Ok, that’s weird,” Larry said. “Where’s the nearest place that you can get a freshly baked cookie? Didn’t that bakery three blocks over close during COVID?”

“Yeah, it did,” Jennifer said. She took another big sniff and then nibbled a bit of the cookie.

“Hey now! Was that a smart move, Jen? You don’t know where that came from or who gave it to you.”

Jennifer chewed the cookie with obvious pleasure and swallowed. Before taking another bite, she broke off a piece and handed it to Larry. “Go ahead, Larry. Enjoy the taste of the mystery cookie!”

Larry accepted the piece, sniffed, and then popped it into his mouth. He chewed it and a smile bloomed on his face.

“Mystery cookie tastes good!” Larry exclaimed.

They finished the cookie and then started their day.

A new chocolate chip cookie appeared on Jennifer’s desk every day that week.

Second Monday

Larry popped his head above the wall as Jennifer got to her cube.

“Look! Look!” he said excitedly. He stretched his right arm over the wall and pointed to the cookie sitting on Jennifer’s desk in its (now) usual place. Jennifer dropped her bag onto her chair and picked up the cookie. A big smile spread across her face.

“Will you accept this cookie?” Jennifer said in a robotic voice.

“I will accept all cookies!” Larry replied robotically.

Jennifer broke the cookie into two pieces and gave Larry his half. They munched quietly for a moment.

“Peanut butter,” Jennifer noted.

“Peanut butter,” Larry echoed.

“I guess I should be concerned about the mysterious origin of these treats, but they taste too good to be poisonous!” Jennifer said.

They chewed, swallowed, and went to work.

Jennifer found a freshly baked peanut butter cookie on her desk every day that week. Larry enjoyed the cookie but became more and more concerned.

Third Monday

“I’m getting worried about these cookies,” Larry said as he took his half of a snickerdoodle from Jennifer.

“Why? They taste great and they’re free!”

“Yeah, but we still don’t know who is leaving them on your desk or why.”

“You shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, isn’t that how the saying goes?”

“Horses are one thing, cookies are clearly another,” Larry retorted.

“Fine, I’ll just eat the next cookie all by myself!” Jennifer exclaimed imperiously.

“Cookie hoarder!” Larry exclaimed in return.

They both laughed, finished their cookie, and sat down.

Snickerdoodles that week.

Fourth Monday

“Nobody else is getting a cookie, are they?” Larry asked Jennifer.

“No, just me,” she answered.

“Why you, though?” Larry asked through narrowed eyes.

“What are you asking, Larry?”

“I’m just wondering what you did or why you’re so special.”

“I’m not!” Jennifer said. She held a sugar cookie in her hand, complete with multicolored sprinkles. “Do you want a piece, or not?”

Larry looked at her evenly, then his brows furrowed.

“I don’t like sugar cookies,” he said and disappeared behind the cube wall.

Jennifer ate all the sugar cookies herself that week. They tasted less and less sweet with each passing day.

Fifth Monday

Jennifer was not looking forward to finding another cookie on her desk, so she was relieved that no cookie was present. Relief gave way to anger, and she almost shouted at Larry to confess to stealing the cookie. But then she saw a large manilla envelope sitting atop her keyboard. It looked like an inter-office envelope used to transfer documents from one person to another. But they didn’t use those anymore, did they?

Sitting on top of the manilla envelope was a smaller envelope. It was about the size of what you’d find attached to a bouquet of flowers you’d send to someone you cared about. Jennifer let her bag fall to the floor and sat down in her chair.

“Hey, Larry?”

No answer.

With trembling hands, Jennifer reached for the envelopes. She decided to look in the big one first and ran her index fingernail along the flap. The envelope opened and she found four sheets of paper inside. She removed one of the sheets and discovered a recipe for snickerdoodle cookies. Recipes for sugar cookies, peanut butter, and chocolate chip completed the set.

Jennifer didn’t know what to make of this, so she grabbed the smaller envelope. She was about to open it, but she realized that the side facing away from her had bumps and ridges. It was embossed with something, so she flipped the envelope over and beheld the image of a ram in profile. Its horns were curled and sharp, and it appeared to be smiling, or at least smirking. And there was something dripping from its smirking lips.

Jennifer didn’t want to open this small envelope, but she knew that the explanation for all of this would be found inside. She opened the envelope and slid out the small card that was folded inside. She read the following, which was written in a small, yet elegant, script:

                  Dear Jennifer,

                  I’m so glad that you enjoyed the cookies! And I was very impressed with your willingness to share with your coworker. He was disappointing to me, so you will not see him anymore, I’m afraid. Why can’t people simply accept the gifts that they are given?

                  Give the recipes a try! They should produce wonderful results!

                  Regards,

                  D. Crowley

Jennifer was held captive by the words on that card that she did not hear her boss approach her cube with one of her assistants in tow.

“Jennifer, can I see you in my office? I need to tell you something,” said Jennifer’s boss.

Jennifer stood up, looked over the wall into Larry’s empty cube, and followed her boss to her office. She looked back to see the assistant move into Larry’s cube. The assistant began to pack up Larry’s things.