An Excellent Day for Chinese Takeout

She loved the crackling noise of the cellophane. She found the seam and carefully, she tore open the small bag holding her fortune cookie. The cookie was fresh, and it looked like it had spent almost a few seconds too long in the fortune cookie machine before being removed and shaped around the tiny piece of paper holding her fortune. She didn't put much credence in the fortunes, but they were fun to consider. Most of the time, the fortunes didn't foretell anything but offered suggestions. She liked to add 'in bed' or 'between the sheets' at the end of every fortune, and sometimes a guffaw made its way past her lips. Sometimes the funny ending made no sense and a grumble of dissatisfaction followed.

She had visited the fortune cookie factory in San Francisco one time. It wasn't much of a factory because there was only one person working. It was a tiny place, really. Very few people could occupy the space. If there were more than five people in the visitor area at one time, it was packed elbow-to-elbow, very warm, and beaded in the cloying smell of sugar on the air. The man who sat on a metal stool making the fortune cookies looked like he'd rather walk on the sun. Visitors would stand next to him to have their photos taken, and he would look blankly into the camera, perhaps annoyed to have his work interrupted, but more likely, she thought, irritated to be a side show. She wondered if he had a daily quota of fortune cookies; and if so, all the visitors who viewed him as a novelty and their requests for photos may have jeopardized his production. She thought she would hate the job, too.

Her fortune cookie today emitted the pleasant smell of vanilla, and she could tell from the rigid sides of the cookie, this might be the best fortune cookie she would have maybe ever. She decided if the cookie tasted as good as it looked, she would try to do whatever the slip of paper suggested. She would put her day into the hands of a mass-produced (not like the one man 'factory' in San Francisco) confection and see where the day would take her. 'Why not?' she mused. She didn't have anything else planned, and being a responsible adult, she could always let go of the fortune and let her day take its turn as usual.

She broke the cookie in half, and the paper remained lodged in the jaws of one side of the cookie. She broke the paperless side into smaller pieces and put a couple small-ish pieces on her tongue.

"Ah...this is a good cookie," she said. "I think today will be a very good day." She bit down on the larger pieces, and the crunch was entirely satisfying. She felt the sugar breaking down on her tongue, the cream of tartar holding up the egg white leaving just a hint of a tang. She pictured the phospholipid bi-layer of a cell wall as her teeth breached the barrier. And within seconds, the first half of the fortune cookie was gone.

She prised the fortune from the maw of the remaining half of the fortune cookie and finished it off. "Ah...a very good cookie," she sighed. The side of the paper facing up held her special numbers. Today she would buy a lottery ticket. Today she would put her fate into the hands of the fortune cookie.

With excitement, she fished her reading glasses out of her handbag. She dug past old receipts, an envelope from her bank, a package of travel tissues, a few tubes of lipstick, and finally, there at the bottom was her glasses case. After settling the glasses on her nose, she turned over the fortune. There were three words:

TRY SOMETHING NEW.

Then she added 'between the sheets,' and giggled. Her whole afternoon lay in front of her. She had always wanted to try indoor sky-diving, and she had always wanted to get a dog. She pulled out her phone to see where the nearest indoor skydiving place was, and darn it all, it was three hours away. She then looked up the address of the humane society.

She went to the pet supply place. The ceilings were tall, and the shelving towered over her. It was very intimidating, and she dug her hands into her coat pockets, keeping her increasingly rampant fidgeting under wraps. She needed a leash and a collar. Those were the two items she would need to start. She had no idea what size collar, though, and decided she would buy one of every size, unisex, and bring back the collars that wouldn't work for her future pet.

The backseat of her car was kitted out with a blanket for her dog. She had researched dogs for such a long time, and she knew she would be a good, kind, humane, loving and responsible pet owner. She knew it like she knew her own name.

"I would like to find a dog that likes me," she told the humane society worker. "I don't care about age, breed, size, gender, or health. I want a companion. I work from home, and I am lonely, and want a dog who wants to be around me. Can you help me find the right dog?"

There was a questionnaire. Then the humane society worker asked a bunch of questions, and finally, she was shown into a room, and she spent the next three hours meeting dogs and playing with them one on one to find a dog who wanted to be with her more than anything, or at least more than the other dogs.

She emerged from the humane society, covered with dog hair, a bright, broad smile, and two dogs--a bonded pair--a red tick coon hound and a westie. She kept two of the collars, returned the rest, and purchased a second leash. She filled her cart with dog food, bowls for water and food, dog beds, toys, treats, poop bags, a pooper scooper for her backyard...all the accoutrements she and the dogs might want.

She drove home with her companions, led them to her fenced backyard, unloaded her car, filled their food and water bowls, and let them into her home. "Welcome home, puppies," she said. "This is all very new to me, and I hope you like it here, and I hope we'll be best of friends, and a happy family."

The dogs weren't listening to her. They had made a beeline to their food. She shrugged her shoulders, smiling at her two canines. She turned on the television while they ate, and after they finished, they joined her on her sofa, one dog on either side, each resting his head on her lap.

And she knew she had done the right thing by going along with the fortune in her fortune cookie. The next day, she checked her lottery ticket, and she had won $2,000. Enough to cover all her expenses at the humane society, pet store, and vet bills. She didn't know whom to thank, but the day before had been an excellent day for Chinese takeout.