It wasn’t me who drank the last drop.
That would be absurd, seeing as it
wasn’t even mine. It was yours, and you
finished it. That much you know is true.
But I will say this, and say it this once,
I did take a drop or two on Monday and
maybe on Wednesday too. I had a hand in it,
yes, I had a part to play in the quick
consumption of the bottle you brought home.
But have you not also taken a drop
of my soap? There are only two bottles of
washing up liquid on the sink, and
there are four of us. I’m sure I’ve given
you back your milk’s weight in soap,
and, dare I say it, with interest.
So let us be fair. Soap cannot be drunk,
and milk cannot scrub the dishes clean.
But the one thing we needed the moment
we needed it — that is what makes
a dairy cow and a soap factory equal and
profitable in every measure.
(Unless the other soap bottle is yours,
then in that case I am very sorry.)