Fortune (Notevember 2023, #10)

I chew on the cookie
(It’s crunchy but bland)
There’s paper inside!
Now unrolled on my hand
A note, it appears
– my heart starts to quicken –
It says (inexplicably):
“That wasn’t chicken”
I can’t figure out
if that means I’ve been brave
But people are staring
Did I misbehave?
Could be that the cookies
with notes but no chicken
are not to be eaten?
(The plot starts to thicken!)
I’m eating alone
so I ask of my neighbor
“Those cookies with paper,
was yours chicken flavored?”
He’s looking confused,
so I show him the text
I guess that I shouldn’t have done,
because next
He asks what I ordered
“Braised pork” (he had chicken)
His eyes go quite wide
And then he starts to sicken
It’s easy to tell
‘cause his cheeks start to puff
He runs for the bathroom
(not quickly enough)
Now people look angry
And I start to dread
that it might be my fault…
“…was it something I said?”