Cookie Thief

Jason perched on a stool, like a giant parrot. He chattered away, talking about school, friends, the dog, the cat, his sister, and more importantly, the video game he loved.

“I didn’t ask you about those things, Jason. I asked if you took some cookies without permission.”

“No Mommy, I didn’t. Sally did.”

“One more time, and do you swear to tell the truth?” Mommy looked straight into Jason’s bright blue eyes.

“No Mommy. I don’t swear. Swearing is bad. You and Daddy tell me that all the time. I don’t use bad words. Because if I do use bad words, you’ll make me have a time-out and then not let me play my game and then not let me go outside…” and on he babbled.

Mom sighed, long and loud. ‘This child will be the end of me,’ she thought.

“…And Sally loves cookies, you know that Mommy, so I know she took the cookies, she takes them to her room and eats them at night when no one is watching.” Jason stopped his monologue. Tale told, he grinned at his mother.

“Alright, but if I find out you're the little thief, then you will be punished. Understand?”

Mom paid her attention back to Sally, a baby in the highchair.

That night Mom heard some little footsteps outside her bedroom door. She followed Jason as he wandered into the kitchen, grabbed a few cookies from the cookie jar and wandered back to his room.

She turned on his dinosaur light to find Jason still asleep, cookies in his hands.

“My little sleepwalking thief, mystery solved.”

W/C 266