Beer and Cookies

Today’s draft is inspired by a kind and thoughtful thing my brother did for me years ago. I have written versions of this story as part of a short story, as a personal essay, as a journal entry, and now as a poem. I have no idea if this is the version that will eventually work. It’s a sweet story about a wonderful human, anyway.

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedStanding in the empty condo, ripped away from my marriage, My brother texts, offering some kind of helpanything at all anything he could do for mefrom far away New Jersey.I just want beer and cookies I said,beer and cookies and some way to feel like I can weave myself into the world again.Two days later walking into the silence, again, alone, again,a box propped against my front door.I open it -- chocolate chip cookies, and a note from my brother:I hope this helps. And I'll buy you a beer when I see you again. I sit at the at the table, unwrap one cookie, open a beer from the fridgespend the rest of the evening tasting sweet and bitter and salt,cookies and beer and tears,tying myself back into the fabric of the world.