Jack was a truck driver who made a solid living, so when the babies were born, it was easy for Rachel to quit her job to care for their children. But something did, and Rachel was at a loss.
One day, Jack left for work early in the morning and never returned. Later that evening, Rachel got a call from the cops informing her that he had passed away in a truck collision. Jack was gone, and she’d have to embrace the role of the man of the house.
She proceeded to the next aisle just as one of her sons, Max, started insisting on buying him some candies. “Mommy! Can you please get me candies? Please?”
“Candies are not good for you. Doctors say that candies make your teeth bad. They’re also a little expensive, and mommy needs to bake a cake for your birthday, so she’ll have to buy the ingredients for them.”
But the four-year-old boy wouldn’t understand that. He began crying loudly, which attracted some of the shoppers’ attention. “No, mommy! I want it! I WANT CANDY!”
“Yes, mommy! We want candies too! PLEASE!!!” cried the other four boys in unison.
“How hard is it to check the prices before buying something?” the cashier, Lincy, grumbled.
“You’re $10 short, so I’ll have to take some things out of here.”
She picked up the chocolate cookies, candy bars, and a few other items and began preparing the bill, but Rachel stopped her.
Oh, please don’t remove those items. Umm… let’s do one thing. I’ll remove the bread and….” Rachel began picking and choosing the items to remove.
“Hi there, young man! I’m Mrs. Simpson. What’s your name? And what are you doing here alone?” she asked gently, smiling at him.
“Hello, Mrs. Simpson. I’m Max, and I’m four years old. How old are you?”
The older woman blushed. “I’m just a little older than you, Max. Let’s say 70? Where is your mother?”
“Mommy is fighting with someone. She says mommy doesn’t have enough money, and we need to leave some things here.”
