a story about a snake

within the bustle of returning items after christmas jill spotted a toy snake.

there were plenty of other toys in sight, we were in-fact, in the

toy aisle at walmart, but she honed in on a snake.

she carried that snake throughout the rest of our shopping trip.

she would cuddle it, make it slither, kiss it, make it lick camille.

she quickly loved that snake.

any other day i may have just bought that snake for her.

after all, it was just one dollar in price.

however, christmas was just a week ago and she had plenty of new toys.

there was no room for a snake among all the new

princesses, horses, and books.

so i thought.

at check-out the tears began to come and the negotiation began.

she held the tears back like a big girl and promised to clean her room

without mom's help (and keep it clean). this would earn her one

dollar bill and thus the snake (if she even remembered about it the next day).

the next day came.

i was awakened by jills sweet voice,

"mom, i'm gonna clean my room and get a snake today. you fremember?' (jill-bonicks)

sure enough, she earned that snake and even paid for it herself in the self-checkout.

i think i'd better lower the allowance price to 10 cents a day.