Short sentences

“No,” she said. “I don’t like that.”

It was a lie. She very much liked chocolate. She liked all kinds of chocolate. She even liked chocolate with coconut. That was not the point.

The point was that she could not be distracted. She could not be bought. She would not fall for the chocolate.

Her mother sighed. She knew what was coming.

“I like to paint.”

Painting was messy. Painting meant changing rooms and changing clothes. Painting was creative. Like all forms of creativity, it was inconvenient.

Good mothers do not say no to creativity. They get the clothes and the water. They get large sheets of paper. They get the paint.

Her mother got the paint.

She smiled.

“I think I will paint a chocolate cake.”