It was my grad advisor’s birthday but I’d forgotten, too busy running experiments to think of anything other than my project. Because it was late and I had no money, my cubicle mate offered me a party favor she’d saved from a gathering the previous weekend: a giant chocolate-dipped fortune cookie with festive blue confetti in a clear plastic box. It was perfect. Holding it between us, we sang, tunelessly, our rendition of “Happy Birthday” as we entered Dr. D’s office. Cracking open the cookie, his smile was replaced with confusion upon reading the message inside: “Congratulations, it’s a boy!”
Jennifer Lai loves reading fortune cookie fortunes. Sometimes she eats the cookie.