Have a ccokte....

I remember this story being related by my father more than my having a vivid memory of it, though I can conjure up some memory of it. When Joseph was about three years old, he would play at handing out imaginary cookies. "Here, have a cookie," he'd offer, and give a pretend cookie to my parents, and probably me. ( Dorothy was probably not yet born, as almost 4 years separated them.) I gather Joseph would act out this little routine on a regular basis, after supper time. My father had what I guess would be called a rather dry sense of humor, though probably not much opportunity for humor existed in life back then. One evening, when Joseph offered my father the imaginary cookie, my father, instead of pretending to eat the non-existent cookie in keeping with the unwritten rule of the game, opened his hand to reveal a real cookie that he had bought and hidden til then, and proceeded to eat it. "Yum, this is a good cookie." I don't remember the child's reaction, but I do recall my father's thinking it was a great prank, so I assume he must have given cookies to all present. Could that have been the end of the game for Joseph: I guess that's a question only he can answer.