Cuckoo for Cocoa

“Not all plants have your best interests at heart,” I remind myself as I snap off a piece of the chocolate bars in the freezer. Senia brought us a bag from the Theo chocolate dumpster. Dark chocolate with coconut and salted peanuts, bits of toffee encased in bittersweet goodness—I long for that hit of sugar and theobromine.

Saskia said we should keep an eye out for a package from her and open it right away. Since Saskia’s correspondence is liable to be delicious, I was happy to see a package in our mailbox. The only trouble was that the box was essentially the same size as the mailbox itself, and I had to claw it out an inch at a time. I must be out of shape if I work up a sweat getting a package out of the mailbox. Anyhow, I made back those calories when I opened the box. In it was Saskia’s famous chocolate hazelnut roll, without a hazel out of place in the thick ganache frosting. I had a piece even though it was late in the evening.

The next morning my first thoughts were of that cake, of having another slice. I did. The dark-faced chocolate god reached out from hot damp jungles and tickled me under the chin, giving me a broad smile. Don’t you hear him beckoning?