The Candy Rack ©

“You get one dollar,” she decreed.
“What! That’s only enough for one tiny bag of skittles!” protested the boy.
“Exactly, you get one thing for once and maybe you won’t get sick,” she whispered trying to restrain her anger over the oncoming temper tantrum.
“Please can I have more?” Timmy asked, despair in his voice, his brown eyes open wide waiting for the answer. His short brown hair just barely reached as high as his mother’s shoulders.
“No,” Tabitha commanded. Her blue eyes looked down at him with disdain for the question. Her straight brown hair, which usually went a little lower than her narrow shoulders, was tied up in a bun behind her head.
“PLEASE?” he chanted over and over again.
“No,” she returned, “and if you don’t stop now you’re not going to get any candy at all!”
“Okay,” whispered Timmy, defeated.
Timmy walked over to the candy rack across from where the frozen yogurt used to be. He looked at the plethora of candy starring back at him, longing to be eaten. And that’s when he saw them; the skittles sat there, calling to him. Then they came into the picture, the Reese’s peanut butter cups. The Reese’s were on sale and there was a big bag of twenty of them for just ninety-eight cents. Which one would he get? Timmy’s eyes lit with cunning. He put the smaller bag of skittles in his coat pocket and carried the Reese’s.
He walked up to his mother who was putting the food onto the counter to pay and put down the candy. The twenty-year-old woman behind the counter, chewing her gum mouth wide like a cow eating grass, looked at him from one side lifting a nostril slightly as if he had, “I’m a thief,” written on his forhead.
“Something wrong honey?” Tabitha cooed.
“Nothing mommy,” he replied twisting about with his hand in his pocket feeling the skittles. As his mother turned away he grabbed the candy and swung it to the counter as quietly as he could.
Without even looking his mother chimed, “put it back.”
After pretending to put it back he saw the answer; he saw his mom’s favorite kind of cookies, oatmeal SUPERcookies©. Since they were getting enough groceries to feed ten elephants insecure about their weight and starving from an all almond diet, his mom wasn’t done buying the food and there was still food to be scanned.
“Look mommy, I got you your favorite cookies!” Timmy cooed sweetly trying to make the cutest face he could.
“Ah, that’s so sweet of you!” Tabitha said, faking a smile, “But why don’t you put the skittles you’re going to throw in with them back?”
“I’m sorry mommy, lemme go put it back,” he uttered if he was actually sorry.
Ten minutes later Timmy was being carried from under his arms with astounding difficulty to the candy rack by Tabitha, her face was steaming red looking around at all of the hundreds of eyes starring wide at her as people began to jeer.
“AHHHHH! I WANNA NOTHER CANDY! PLEASE!” he screeched at the very top of his little yet surprisingly powerful lungs.
“No, you’re not getting any candy any more you hear me?” He forced out of her mouth trying to say this loudly so everyone could hear lest she be labeled a push over.
As Timmy began to scream and wouldn’t let go of the skittles, a man ran to help her. He managed to get the skittles but that didn’t stop Timmy from screaming.
“That is it!” Tabitha yelled, blood reaching its boiling point, “No more candy, no more TV, and no more videogames for a month!”
“WHAT? No please! No! I’ll be good! Please! No, Please I’ll…uh…I’ll, I’ll be good. I’m calm…” Timmy began to grovel.
His mother just looked him face unchanged and, holding his wrist, walked him back to the check out isle and bought her food sans candy.