You see the child sitting in a chair by the door while its mother is at the counter filling out the proper forms. It’s trying to unwrap a sucker, presumably given to keep it occupied, the wrapper only adding to the clock.
Kids are so stupid.
And sugar is your Kryptonite.
You promised yourself you’d be good today, but now this child is dangling it in front of you like it knows your weakness. And it’s sitting right by the door too. You could snatch its treat away and be almost to your car before it can babble to its mother what happened.
But do you dare? You’ve been lingering too long, and now it’s time to move. Before anyone senses what you’re thinking.
Do you dare?
Yes, you do.
You take one last look at the mother and she still hasn’t noticed you. In two steps you’re halfway there. The child is tugging hard with its dirty sausage fingers and you think if you had waited a moment longer your sugar might have been covered in slobber. You reach a hand up to rescue it even as you keep one eye on the handle of the door.
Four feet.
Two feet.
A foot.
Whack! The wrapper comes loose so unexpectedly the child’s hand smacks your fingers away. It doesn’t understand how any of it happened, but it doesn’t need to. Its mother is already looking, and you’re left standing empty-handed as it pops the sucker into its mouth and garbles out, “Thawwyyy.”