My $75 Cookie Date

When I agreed to meet a friend for a mid-day cookie date at The Chippery in Dallas, I had no idea it would turn out to be so expensive. The warm Snickerdoodles and Vanilla Cokes were a reasonable $5, but something about the comfort food made me comfortable enough to roll through a thoroughly red stop light on my way out of the shopping center.
That’s right – the cookies made me do it. It was green, then yellow, then red. Look at all the pretty colors…la dee da…

After coasting past the other rational drivers sitting behind the white line, I looked in the rearview mirror and a chill came over me. My stomach turned over as I realized there was a reason all those other drivers paid respect to the yellow light.

It was those curious wired devices sitting on top of the lights that struck me. As I kept driving I noticed these “Little Big Brothers” on nearly every intersection in Dallas and I was horrified. Why oh why, you stupid lazy woman?!?! I never run red lights….I hardly tip the speedometer over the speed limit…I am a staunch utilizer of the blinker…and most of all I AM OBSESSED WITH FOLLOWING RULES. It makes me feel cozy and secure. Not superior, just secure. What in the world had gotten into me as I watched the light turn red before my very eyes?! I didn’t even speed up. I just floated right through…warm Snickerdoodles…la dee da…

The only answer is this: the cookies. They had put a spell on me. I just wasn’t myself for that brief moment of lingering pleasure. Of course, this argument will mean nothing to a camera snapping a photo of my license plate meandering through a still intersection, so I am left to kick myself and live up to the fact that, well… I deserve it. There, I said it! I deserve to pay the $75 for my actions, or lack of action, or delayed reaction, or whatever that mysterious phenomenon was which I’m certain will come back to haunt me once the rental car company tracks down my address. From now on, I’m sticking to salad for lunch, and considering starting a crime-prevention organization…just say no to cookies.