Big Sister

A milk chocolate bunny

sweats and softens in a small pot on the stove

as I help Christopher make chocolate-covered

pretzels, chips, marshmallows, crackers, and

everything edible we can dip in chocolate.

Carefully, I interview him as he samples the results.

Don’t you dare take a single taste,

just smell it all deeply.

I hold the chocolate so close to my face,

almost touching my lips,

take a meditative inhale

allow it to fill the top of my throat

with a suede waft of fruity cocoa.

Can smelling such luxury make you fat?

This is fun for Chris,

his self-absorbed older sister

whose dry sense of humor

matches his own

fully present, focusing all her attention on him.

I grow annoyed when he claims to be full,

and he obligingly

eats for me.