she steals

She steals, and she has flash cards. Their parents are against the thievery, not the learning but when she pulls out that puppy, half as big as her, and smiles like she's bringing home a prize and it's not even clean, and you ask,

"Where'd ju get that?"
(You already know. Her daddy told you.)

She smiles like she knows that you already know she stole that from school.

"School."

She is one of the best interviewees of all time.

"Did you borrow it?"

She leans in and though her eyes seem to get more serious, the smile gets more interesting, happier, more complex until in possibly a decibel above whispering, she delivers.

"I stole it."

It's not funny, and at no point should you smile, laugh, or get in her way.

You should simply say, "See what you can get tomorrow."



Today I am grateful for a large thin crusted pepperoni pizza and two hungry girls.