She came to the door in
A mini-skirt bearing the gifts she had
Promised yesterday.

She handed over two boxes of Trefoils. I
Looked at her in puzzlement and said
I already have those, and she smiled slyly.
We were out of the mints, she said,
But… I did bring me

She pushed me back into my own kitchen
Scattering plates and cutlery
From the top of the granite island
Before she took me in a rag-tag frenzy
And never took off the skirt

Afterwards, she smiled ruefully
And apologized for my misunderstanding her
The day before. I suppose it was my
Turn to say all my fault, but the words
Wouldn’t form in my throat.
She smiled at my stinginess;
My inability to admit I was wrong;
She said, do you know why I’m here?

I’m not here for the sex. I never am.
I’m here for the man.
The one who will listen. The one who turns
His ear willingly to my every word ,
Be it foolish or profound.
Be it a simple, stupid joy I could not share with
The utterly dense or the pain the utterly dense
Never acknowledges I could possibly have

And while we’re at it, she added
Let me tell you a secret about women:
We don’t cheat for the pleasure of this,
She said, with a flourish of a dainty hand
To us, it’s no sin to lay with a man
Who would understand, or take
The time to know what
We can’t understand

And we breathed quietly for awhile
Recovering
The unanswered question left hanging
In the afternoon
Why could I bond with her so intimately
And know every warren of her secret life
And still not understand those of the
Lady who bore my name

Shrugging, not understanding it myself,
I tried to be playful, hoping to divert her
From the interrogatory that demanded,
If not an answer, then an invitation to
Begin the inquest

Let’s have one of these cookies, I said
And ignoring her furrowed brow
I tore the packaging asunder and opened the cookies,
And we were both astonished
When the first one crumbled in my fingertips.

She took the crumbs in her thumb and first two fingers
And sucked them in. Then she winked at me.
Work on an answer, will you? Then, with
A sly smile, she touched the crumbs.

I’m sure it’s in here, she smiled. Among the orts.

And I’ll be back to quiz you on Wednesday.

04/10/2011

Author's Note: The sequel to "Girl Scout Cookies" as requested by Alison and Katrina...and one or two others....:)

Posted on 04/11/2011
Copyright © 2025 Ken Harnisch