A “second” compounds issue and makes a minute, sixty times more offensive. Give me a second when you have a minute, and similar language is a common or timely response. Sports are sometimes measured in microseconds, which exaggerate everything by approximately sixty thousand, and human eye still has a finite response time. A second, perhaps, has nothing to do with a second chance, and is unsympathetic and unrecoverable. Presumably, it is too fast to recover, by something so slow.

If a minute was badly made, then a second and its divisions were made with over-zealous and ambitious incompetence.

If I could live for just one more second, how many I had, would have little significance. If I could live for just one more minute, then it would be less significant by a factor of sixty; such is perceived importance of a second. If I could possibly live for just one more microsecond, then........sorry.....out of time....and its implied irrelevance.

Such timely attributes and elements are of ultimate importance, when one has to dodge a well-directed bullet with an unpleasant payload. Of course, this time pressure is exacerbated when one has to tend to microwave contents and its ill-timed bell, while such a bullet is in flight!

Having said that; and if you are still reading, then you made time where it was anyway. You simply prioritised it a little differently. Having said all of that, I have minus eight days and 0.0000279 seconds, to attend my dental appointment.

“We made minute; can we make time for it?”

For dough:

* 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened * 3/4 cup sugar * 1 large egg * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract * 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour * 1 teaspoon baking soda * 1 teaspoon cream of tartar

For decorations:

* 1 cup prepared vanilla frosting (from a 16 oz. can) * Assorted colored sugars * Mini chocolate chips * Candy corn * Red fruit leather

Special aids:

* Hand-shaped template or cookie cutter * Small resealable plastic bag * Scissors

Making cookies:

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add egg and beat for 1 minute longer. Beat in vanilla just until incorporated.

In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Using a wooden spoon, stir butter mixture, one-third at a time, into flour mixture until blended. (The mixture will be crumbly.)

Gather dough into a ball; flatten into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly spray 2 baking sheets with vegetable cooking spray. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. Using a template made by cutting out a tracing of your hand or a hand-shaped cookie cutter, cut out cookies.

Transfer cutouts, 2 inches apart, to prepared baking sheets. Reroll scraps for additional cookies. Bake until lightly browned around edges, 8-10 minutes; transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Decorating cookies:

Spoon frosting into a resealable plastic bag; snip off 1 corner. Pipe a feather design onto each finger.

Sprinkle "feathers" with colored sugar. Pipe a dot for "eye" on each thumb. Place a mini chocolate chip on each frosting "eye." Cut a candy corn for each nose and attach to thumb with a little frosting.

Using scissors, cut fruit leather on its backing paper into 2-inch pieces; cut out "wattles."

Remove paper from fruit leather. Using a dab of frosting, attach "wattles" to thumbs. Let stand until frosting is set, about 1 hour.