“Hatsu, check it out! My latest adventure maze.”

“Miguel, feast your eyes: my latest adventure maze.”

“Have you talked to Hatsu lately?”

“Uh, yeah, I just did. Now, back to my art. Beauty, eh?”

“I haven’t seen her at church for, like, ever.”

“You haven’t looked at my maze in, like, forever either.”

“Besides, what does Hatsu have to do with my amazing maze? Ba dum tss!”

“You’re going to help me bake some cookies for her after school.” “Cookies? Okay. But only if I get unlimited spoonfuls of cookie dough for quality assurance.” “I wonder what’s up with her.”

“I’m not sure. But nothing makes people feel better faster than ooey, gooey caramel chocolate bombs.” “Are they really that effective?” “Airdrop these delicious babies all over the planet,

and you’d have instant world peace.”

“Mmm. I can only think happy, chocolate thoughts. Mmmm. Mmm.

Wait, world peace is fading away. Quick, give me another spoonful!”

“No!” “But, we’re talking world peace, here. And I’m quality control!”

“You made a baker’s dozen, right?” “No.” “Come on.” “No!” “Just one.” “No.” “She won’t even know it’s missing.”

“Ah! That is why I am not a dog person.” “Hey, quiet! Chill out!”

“Oh,

hey!” “What do you need?”

“Um . . . well, we wanted to bring you some cookies, you know, to see how you’re doing, and . . .

and . . . I . . . I don’t know.”

“I’m allergic to cookies.”

“Cookie allergies? I didn’t know that was a thing. Did you know that was a thing?

Well, we did our best. Now let’s enjoy the fruits of our labors.”

“Hey! What are you doing?”

“But she doesn’t want them.” “No!” “Come on.”

“Hey, what’s up?”

“I’m thinking.”

“Well, that’s a first.”

“I was kidding.

Seriously, what’s going on?” “We haven’t seen Hatsu at church for a while, so Matt and I took her some cookies. But when she came to the door, she was mean.

I thought if you do kind things for people, they’ll be kind to you.

It doesn’t seem worth it.”

“Here, look through this. Now, what do you see?”

“Acne.” “Sometimes, when we want to do kind things for others,

we often focus on what we want and not necessarily what the other person needs.

See? You saw me, but not the problem. I overheard Mom talking with Dad.

Hatsu’s parents are going through a divorce.” “Oh no! For real?” “She’s dealing with some difficult emotions right now.

If Jesus were to visit our little neighborhood, where would you want Him to go first?”

“Hatsu’s house.” “So what could you do to help the Savior help Hatsu?”

“She needs to know that we care!”

“What?” “We brought you cookies.” “I told you, I’m allergic.” “Right, but we didn’t know what kind of allergy. So, this bag is guaranteed nut free. This bag is gluten free, with coconut flour. These were made with an egg substitute. This one is with a sugar substitute. These are dairy free. Those are chocolate free, so we just used carob. And these are no peanut butter, peanut butter cookies.” “You made all of those for me? “Miguel did.

I’m quality control. But my stamp of approval is on every bag.”

“We just want you to know that you’ve been missed in class and that we care.”

“Oh!

If you ever need someone to clean up after your dogs, Matt would love to.”

“No, I wouldn’t! I mean, yeah, I would if you needed me to.

You know, if you're really desperate and there's no one else in the world who can do it.” “Which one is your favorite?” “Of your dogs?”

“No, the cookies!” “Well, you wouldn’t think this, but you can actually taste the difference between chocolate chips and chocolate chunks.” “Really?” “Why, I think we should sample one right now.”

“Matt’s become quite the cookie connoisseur.” “It’s the shape of the chocolate that gives the cookie its zing.”