We had barely pulled into the bank drive-through when my daughter behind me started asking for a sucker in her croaky, congested voice. I couldn’t help but smile because she sounded so cute — a survival of the species tactic. Fortunately, my maternal sense kicked in.
“Suckers are full of sugar, and sugar is not good for you when you’re sick,” I told her.
“I’m not sick, Mom,” she said slowly, deliberately, downright emphatically.
I tried not to laugh out loud. After I made my deposit, I gave her the little dum-dum.
“Of course you’re not, sweetheart,” I told her, and I decided to hope that at least for a little while she would stop coughing and make herself well by sheer virtue of will.
With her strong will, anything’s possible.