Fortunate Cookie...

Fortune says I love words, and I should write a book....in bed. I'm kidding about the bed part. I learned from neighbors years ago, that fortunes from fortune cookies must be completed with the phrase "...in bed." Why? I don't know. Perhaps they are funnier that way.

I kept this fortune because for the first time ever, a fortune cookie had my number. Yes, I love words. And I've already written three books. Maybe I should write another one.

I read a story a while back that said the fortune cookie was an American invention -- not a Chinese one. That figures, doesn't it? Still, I don't think a trip to a Chinese restaurant (in America, of course) is complete without a fortune cookie. Most of the time, the cookie tastes like crunchy cardboard.

Only once did I taste a fortune cookie that made me want to eat the whole thing. It was at Prime Chinese, in Phoenix, off Central and Camelback Road. It was crunchy but in a delicate way. It tasted of almond and egg whites, not the typical pasty taste. Usually, I crack open a fortune cookie, read the inscription...adding the words "...in bed" just so that it's funnier, and then toss the broken cookie back on the table.

But getting this particular fortune in my cookie the other night has me thinking. How does one get a job writing fortunes? Now that sounds like a fun job, don't you think? Next Monday, January 26, is the Chinese New Year -- the year of the OX. Go out and celebrate, and grab a cookie on your way out. It might just have your number.