After dinner, Sheila scraped the mac & cheese from their plates before loading the dishwasher. Little Ralph was allowed a half hour on his cell phone. It was a school night.
"May I have some cookie dough?" he asked
Who doesn't want cookie dough ice cream?
"How about vanilla?"
He was confused.
"You promised cookie dough."
She looked at her 10-year-old son.
"We've got only vanilla."
"But you promised."
"I know," explained Sheila, taking out the vanilla. "I forgot to get it."
Was little Ralph more upset than confused? He could dimly understand some things about the world. His father, for whom he was named, not there for the past six months, for example. His mother, budgeting so carefully what she spent. But cookie dough? They were talking about ice cream. Even if she had enough for only a quart, who would ever choose vanilla instead?
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David Sydney is a physician. He has had pieces in Little Old Lady Comedy, 101 Words, Microfiction Monday, 50 Give or Take, Friday Flash Fiction, Entropy Squared, Grey Sparrow Journal, Bright Flash Literary Review, Disturb the Universe, Pocket Fiction, R U Joking, and Rue Scribe.