COOKIE CALLS

My friend Jim Byrne and his wife Susan have four children; Charlie, Harry, Dierdre, and "Cookie".

I first met "Cookie" when she was a baby and her family rented a room at the Dolphin Motel in Chatham, Mass on Cape Cod for a week of summer vacation. "Cookie" had just mastered learning how to walk and when I was visiting their room at the Dolphin and sitting in a chair; "Cookie" came up to me and started handing me some of her stuffed animals and beanie babies. She gave me more and more of her stuffed toys and Dierdre started helping "Cookie" as well and soon I was almost literally covered in the toys. Luckily I survived this and I didn't suffocate or anything.

As "Cookie" started to learn how to talk she used to announce to her Mom Susan; "I gonna call Rickshaw."

So, "Cookie" used to call me and tell me her thoughts and experiences. I wasn't always sure exactly what she was talking about but I enjoyed hearing from her and listening to her stories. I made sure that I said a lot of "Oh!, and Wow!, and That's Nice, as well as asking her a few questions about "Blues Clues" and things like that.

As time moved on, "Cookie" stopped calling ... but I did enjoy her calls....

Even today, sometimes when the phone rings at my house I say to myself before I answer the phone, "I wonder if that's "Cookie" calling ?"