The Bag of Cookies

She always reached the airport much before her flight. She loved waiting there and reading her paperback and munching on something. Maybe crisps maybe cookies. Today she had a pack of cookies with her. She sat in the waiting lounge, the faint hum of announcements and the soft rustle of travellers around her blending into white noise. In her hand, a paperback—a comforting companion for the next hour until her flight. Beside her, an unopened packet of cookies sat on the empty seat, waiting for when her hunger would inevitably surface.

After flipping a few pages, she felt a slight movement beside her. A man, nameless and quiet, had taken the seat next to hers. He didn’t acknowledge her, didn’t glance her way, but what he did next sent her blood pressure spiking. He reached over and, without hesitation, slipped his hand into the packet of cookies, pulling one out casually and taking a bite.

Her eyes widened in disbelief. *Did that really just happen?*

She was no stranger to rudeness, but this was a first. Who just helps themselves to a stranger’s cookies without asking? She thought of saying something, but instead, her jaw tightened, and she decided to let it go. Maybe it was a misunderstanding, maybe he thought the cookies were complimentary or something. So, she quietly took one herself, hoping he’d get the message.

He didn’t. He simply reached for another.

*The nerve!* She glanced sideways at him, but his face remained impassive, eyes fixed on his phone. He was acting as if it was the most normal thing in the world, sharing her cookies without so much as a word. 

One cookie. Then another. They went on, alternating—her with simmering rage, him with silent indifference. With each cookie that vanished, her fury deepened. How could he?

The packet grew lighter, and with each passing moment, she fantasised about confronting him, demanding an explanation, maybe even a public scene. But she remained silent, her frustration bubbling just beneath the surface.

Finally, there was only one cookie left. This is it, she thought. Surely he wouldn’t be so bold as to take the last one.

But, to her shock, he reached into the packet, broke the cookie in half, and handed her one half with a slight nod. Then, without another word, he popped the other half into his mouth and stood up as if nothing out of the ordinary had transpired. 

Her face flushed with indignation. The audacity! She opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind, but at that precise moment, her flight was called. Too stunned to speak, she gathered her things and marched toward the gate, fuming at the injustice of it all.

Once on the plane, she settled into her seat, still stewing over the bizarre encounter. She reached into her bag to retrieve her glasses, intending to finish the last few pages of her book. As her hand fumbled inside, it brushed against something unfamiliar.

Her heart skipped a beat. She slowly pulled out the object—

Her unopened packet of cookies!!!

For a moment, the world around her blurred into an uncomfortable haze of realisation. Oh no…

Her mind flashed back to the lounge. The nameless man, sitting beside her in silence, hadn’t been stealing her cookies. He had been sharing his.

She stared at the packet in her hand, her cheeks burning with embarrassment. All that anger, all that silent fury, had been over nothing. She had eaten *his* cookies—cookie after cookie—and he, without a word of complaint, had quietly shared them with her.

A small, self-deprecating smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she leaned back in her seat. 

Life, she realised, had a funny way of humbling you when you least expect it.

Copyright (c) Pratik Majumdar, 2024. Any article, story, write-up cannot be reproduced in its entirety or in part, without permission. URL links can be used instead