At Last

I found them. Well they found me actually. Thank God Wal-Mart didn’t have the Basil Tomato Feta Cheese I needed for my famous asparagus dish I’m making for book club tonight. I was forced to make a separate trip to Kroger on Sunday to get it. Frank was with me so he had to come too.

As we were leaving a young girl of about nine years approached us and said, “Excuse me, would you like to buy…” and I immediately was ready to say, “No, thanks, we don’t need wrapping paper. We don’t need giant bins of popcorn. We don’t need raffle tickets.” But then she finished her sentence: “…some Girl Scout cookies?”

“YES!!!!!” I screamed, “Take me to them!!”

We went over to a small table where the other dealers and their leader stood. “What do you say?” the leader dealer asked of her troops. “How can we help you today?” one of the dealers asked obediently.

“I want the stuff!! I want it all!!” I exclaimed, “I’m so happy to see you, girls! Thank you, thank you, thank you. Nobody’s come to my door. Nobody’s approached Frank at work. I haven’t seen you at the stores and I had just given up. I thought 2006 would go down in history as a Girl Scout cookie-less year. A tragic year.”

The dealers continued their formalities: “And if you like coffee you should try these new cookies…”

“No, no. I don’t like coffee. I don’t like NEW cookies. I need some Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Samoas, Do-si-dos…”

“Ma’am, would you just like a box of everything?” asked the most persistent of the dealers. I forgave her the ma’am slip-up since she had the stuff.

“Um, I don’t think I have that much cash,” Frank confessed. My heart sank. He only had $7 which meant we could only get TWO boxes of Girl Scout cookies at today’s outrageous prices. We had to devise a strategy. The thing is, since I thought we weren’t going to find the little gals, I had stocked up on other chocolate faves like the VitaTops and Chips Ahoy 100% Whole Grain cookies (or “fiber cookies” as Frank calls them). We really couldn’t handle much more chocolate.

You won’t believe what we bought:

One box of Thin Mints (well that you can believe except for the fact that we only bought one box)
One box of “All Abouts.” (A new one!)

The Thin Mints are in the freezer (don’t get any ideas, book club girls.)
The All Abouts are kinda like Milano cookies but better. They each have a statement on them like “Girl Scouting is all about Leadership” or “Girl Scouting is all about Values.” At least that’s what we think they say. We keep meaning to read it but by the time we remember we’ve already bitten half the cookie so we’re just guessing that “uting ll out ndship” means “Girl Scouting is all about Friendship.”

Why no Tagalongs? Not enough bang for your buck, Frank says. Why no Samoas? Frank isn’t a fan of coconut. Why no Do-si-dos? No chocolate. Need I say more?

Yes, things were a little tense here at the Simcik household without the stuff. But now that we have it, everything is okay. All is right with the world. At least until we run out of Thin Mints.