“What do you have?” my two-year-old asked.
Halfway between the hallway and the kitchen with the final bite of a cinnamon roll safely concealed behind my back, I paused.
He’s a smart kid. Reading letters, observing people, and reciting Brown Bear, Brown Bear are his favorite pastimes.
But I’d never heard him string that combination of words together.
He knew what it meant.
He knew what I’d done.
I’d taken every precaution. While he was opening and closing cabinet doors ad nauseam, I’d snuck the tiny roll from the fridge and escaped to the back hallway to satisfy my mid-morning munchies.
Maybe I was feeling cocky, because in returning before I was done, I’d forgotten the cardinal rule of toddlerdom:
Never show them anything more valuable than what they already have.
So I did what any self-respecting parent would do.
I distracted him with blueberries and apple slices so I could polish off my pastry in peace.
Perhaps I should have taken a page from Marrow and Soul, where the main character, Safran, steals pastries from a palace and shares them with her little brother.
Then again, Safran and her brother are street urchins who have to scrounge for every meal…
With brutal White Cap enforcers breathing down their necks…
Along with the mysterious Wyvern, who has something bigger than baked goods for Safran to steal…
Happy snacking,
Addison
P.S.: there’s a “K-Pop Demon Hunters meets X-Men” fantasy novel on Kickstarter.
NC readers—my signing at Folk & Fable is being rescheduled because of a strange white powder falling from the sky. I’ll post updates here and on Instagram when we make that happen.
