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Left Alone: A Parental Decision
Seven dollars. It’s what I had in my wallet, which my son Thomas, six, hurriedly snatched from my dresser drawer. “Papa, Papa, can I go get an ice cream? Please!”
“I’m too sick to go with you. I don’t want you going outside alone,” I said from my bed, where I lay unwell.
“It’s no problem. There are adults outside!”
“Uh … okay, fine,” I said. “Fine. I’ll watch you from the window. How much money are you taking?”
“I dunno! Who cares?” he said, throwing the wallet aside and running out of my room.
He’d been sitting on my cream and brown colored glider with his feet up on my bed playing Mario Kart when he heard the ice cream truck outside.
I don’t normally watch him alone, for reasons too unimportant to mention, but this time, it would be OK.
My wife was going by herself to pick up his brother, Charlie, at daycare.
From the window, I could see his skinny little body scurrying down the driveway, the money held high in his hand. He wore only socks, no shoes.
I picked the wallet up from the floor. It was empty inside.
As he stood in front of the ice cream truck behind the other kids, I took the opportunity to look away briefly so I could prepare my powdered supplement…
