A Short Story about Prejudice: "The Cookie Thief"

This is a short story about a woman who suffered a lot. She felt angry and let anger rule her heart. This made her see things under very dim light.
A Short Story about Prejudice: "The Cookie Thief"

Last update: 11 June, 2020

This short story about prejudice is about a woman who was angry at the world. She felt lonely and thought everyone didn’t understand her. Although she didn’t trust people and avoided contact, she still complained about her loneliness.

It wasn’t always like that. When she was young, she fell in love and married the man of her dreams. She had two beautiful children, a boy and a girl. She was happy. However, her husband died young and she changed after that. She never smiled and became reclusive; she even shunned her children.

Her children left home as soon as they got older. Although they loved their mother dearly, they had a hard time dealing with her demands and constant criticism. Although they visited often, they tried their best to deal with her bad temper.

“The words of a good person are like pure silver, but the thoughts of an evil person are almost worthless.

-King Solomon-

A person giving another a heart.

An unexpected visitor

Her daughter didn’t want her mother living alone and bitter. Thus, one day, she asked her to spend the summer with her and her family. Maybe a change of scenery would be good for her and, maybe just once, she’d feel at ease with life and people, even for a little while.

Says this short story about prejudice that, after thinking about it for a long time, she agreed to visit her daughter. She didn’t want people to think she was a bad mother. Thus, when the time came, she took her bags and went to the train station. She didn’t seem happy, though. She looked tormented.

She bought her ticket and sat on a bench to wait for her train. However, two employees told her that her train was late and that it would take a couple of hours to get where she wanted to. She was angry, but there was nothing she could do. It was hot, so she bought a bag of cookies and a bottle of water. Then, she waited.

A young smiling man is a key character in this story about prejudice.

A peculiar companion

The woman put the bag of cookies and the bottle of water in her purse. Shortly after, a smiling young man sat beside her. According to our short story about prejudice, although she wanted to wait alone, she stayed sitting on the bench so people wouldn’t think she was rude.

A few minutes went by. Suddenly, the young man started eating cookies from a bag of cookies. She looked at her purse and saw it was open a bit. The young man kept eating, while she got angrier because she believed he was eating her cookies.

The young man smiled. Then, he took a sip of water. The woman just couldn’t believe it. This meant he had stolen her cookies and her water. Now he was eating and drinking her things without shame. So, as soon as the man put the bottle down, she took a sip. The man just kept smiling.

A bitter woman looking out the window thinking about this story about prejudice.

The moral of this short story about prejudice

While her train arrived, she kept eating as much as the man. If he took a cookie, she’d do it too, looking defiant. When he drank, she’d drank too.

Minutes went by and there was only one cookie left. The woman stared at him. She couldn’t believe he’d be bold enough to eat it. The young man looked at her, took the cookie, split it in two, and offered her half. She unwillingly took it, while cursing him in her head. Then, he did the same with what was left of the water.

At last, her train arrived. She got up and sat in her car. She was very angry. In this short story about prejudice, she was overwhelmed with anger.

At that moment, she opened her purse and saw her bag of cookies and her bottle of water. She looked out the window and saw the young man smiling at her.


All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.


  • Villegas, M., & Mallor, P. (2010). Recursos analógicos en psicoterapia (I): metáforas, mitos y cuentos. Revista de psicoterapia, 21(82/83), 6.

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