The Cookie Jar (A Short Story by Sadhika Menon)

Louie wakes up every morning and waits around the kitchen counter staring at his object of affection- The cookie jar. He almost can’t wait for Lisa to wake up and give him his daily dose of sugary goodness. Everyday his patience wears thin and he will make countless attempts to reach the jar. Once he managed to hop over the stool and almost toppled it over but that damned Lisa woke up and as a punishment he did not get any cookies. And that made him so sad he did not even feel like going for his evening run with Lisa. How was he supposed to be a good boy at all times? So, life was hard and unfair for Louie sometimes.

Reminiscing about all the horrid cookie-less days he decides to stays put. He sees a figure coming towards him and he goes running to check out who it is. ‘It doesn’t smell like Lisa, maybe Jack is going to give me my morning cookie today’, he thinks. He runs to Jack and runs around his feet to get all his attention. Jack pets him on the head and goes about making his own breakfast. Louie can’t believe it. Something doesn’t feel right. He goes running to Lisa’s bedroom to wake her up since Jack was ignoring him. He goes in and is shocked as Lisa is not there. How did he not get to know she had left. How could she leave him without feeding him the cookie. Betrayal and sadness is all that poor Louie feels. But he overcomes that in seconds.

Louie chins up and decides to get his demands heard by Jack. He knows if he yaps enough he could get his way with Jack. But no matter how much he yaps on this day, Jack is just not paying him any attention. Louie jumps on his lap, licks his face, looks at him with the saddest eyes while he is devouring his bacon but nothing. Louie has never felt so unloved. He misses Lisa terribly.

Jack is walking out the door. Louie tries one last time to run after him but before he can reach him, Jack is gone. Louie is sad. It was one of those terrible days he would have to get through. But he did not do anything to deserve this and he feels hopeless. He has just about to resigned to his fate when he hears the door unlock. He feels a bout of excitement and hope and goes running to the door and hold and behold it is Lisa. He jumps on her, licks her, tells her how much he missed her and she hugs him back. She goes to the kitchen and gets him a cookie. Louie cherishes each bite and goes back to sleep with contentment. He knows this day is just going to get better.