hel_ana | Girl Guide cookies

I wandered into my local Zellers on Saturday to pick up a flour sifter and candy thermometer.

I got two feet in the door before two angelic little guides (not long out of Brownies, I'd say) descended upon me with an out of synch chorus of "Do you want to buy some Girl Guide Cookies?" Ok, granted, I'll admit that since they were about waist-high, perhaps "descended" isn't the right word. Maybe converged.

Now, I have to confess something. If you want to get me to buy something, send a child to sell it to me. I swear to God, I'd probably buy one of those penis enlargement scams that clogs up my Hotmail inbox, were it being sold by a little cherub with a lisp. (Those of you with children doing fund-raising, please, I beg of you, use this knowledge for good, and not evil.) So, of course I'm going to buy some cookies.

There were about eight little girls clustered around the table, with two adult Guiding leaders behind it, and a refrigerator box, all decorated up beside it. I payed little attention to the box, as I was going through my change purse to pick out the toonies and loonies I had, until a chorus of little voices asked

"Do you want to use the machine?

"Well, actually, I like people."

And one little voice: "But the machine IS a person!!"

I almost fell down laughing. So I handed over my money, got my order card, put it in the slot on the "machine", and another little voice, faking a robot accent, told me that i had ordered two boxes of cookies. Here were my two boxes.

I don't know whose idea the cookie machine was, but it made me happy, and the girls loved it. It, like Guiding in general, was a really good thing.