An elderly man lay dying in his bed, when he suddenly was broken out of his death rattle of a slumber as he smelled the aroma of his favorite chocolate chip cookies wafting up the stairs from the kitchen.
Where just a moment before he had been in death’s agony, now the smell of the chocolate chip cookies seemed to change everything.
Suddenly the old man perked up, gathered his remaining strength and lifted himself from his bed.
Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom.
With even greater effort, he forced himself down the stairs, gripping the railing with both hands.
With labored breath, he leaned against the door frame and gazed into the kitchen.
Were it not for death’s agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven, for there, spread out upon newspapers on the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favorite chocolate chip cookies.
Was it heaven? Or was it one final act of heroic love from his devoted wife, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man? It was a mystery, and one that he knew he had to solve.
Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself toward the table, landing on his knees in a rumpled posture.
His parched lips parted, the wondrous taste of the cookies was already in his mouth, seemingly bringing him back to life. It was as if a miracle had happened.
The aged and withered hand, slowly made its way to a cookie at the edge of the table, when it was suddenly smacked with a spatula by his wife.
“Stay out of those”, she said in an angry voice, “those are for the funeral”.
Image used under a Collective Commons License from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chocolate_chip_cookies.jpg
