How the Cookie Crumbles

With several hours before taking her flight
A woman was waiting at the airport one night
She bought a good book to pass some time reading
A small bag of cookies for casual eating

Immersed in her book, a man took a chair
And blatantly ate of the cookies right there
Just picture yourself and how you would feel
A stranger sits down your cookie to steal

She musters resolve without causing a scene
And chomps on a cookie to show what she means
Still undeterred the strange man takes a second
She’s aghast at the fact that he’s bolder than reckoned

Determined she is, not to let words be said
So they both just keep taking more cookies instead
With each one she takes he chooses one too
Now with only one left, what was she to do?

It didn’t take long for her to discover
As he walked away leaving half to recover
She couldn’t believe it, how unjust and how rude
How dare he march off with such ingratitude!

The cookie thief vanished with no trace at all
Just at the time of the flight boarding call
With feathers still ruffled she got to her seat
And searched through her things, her book to complete

She reached in her purse, to her great surprise
A small bag of cookies, still full, met her eyes
The “falsely accused” was willing to share
And she wore the badge of a thief in despair

Too late to go find him, too late to confess
She swallowed her pride with the crumbs of this mess
I’m so very sorry she haltingly mumbles,
for sometimes in life, the cookie just crumbles

This poem was a finalist in the January 2020 poetry contest