Are the Cookies Ready Yet? The chef is an employee of the household. He represents the irresistible man who makes one weak with food and then finishes off with charm. The nude woman is seducing the chef with all her powers. The man in the robe is smelling the cookies and contemplating a descent into the kitchen or a return to ignorant slumber. This piece deals with a time in my life when relationships could end before one knew that they were over. One could be left "holding the cookies" or become the chef, lending a hand to help hasten the demise of a relationship. The attraction of a new lover, the predictability of old ones, the exhilaration of having, the dejection of being left--and all the while, knowing your actions affect more than one, and possibly three or four.