Member-only story
The Cotton Candy Question: The Art of Wanting More
Why Bigger Desires Lead to Better Stories
About half a lifetime ago, I was at a zoo out of town with a small group of friends and one of them had brought their two kids for a day of fun and adventure.
We had been moving around a lot that afternoon and the Texas heat was starting to pick up so the parents let each of the kids pick out a mid-day treat, somewhere between the pond where they kept the alligators and where the African Plains animals were housed. (Am I the only one who thinks having those two exhibits close to each other is a bad idea in the case of a Jurassic Park type of scenario?)
The little boy picked out his choice of soft drink and the girl opted for a serving of cotton candy which I’m pretty sure had the same body mass as her. Not five minutes into strolling along the young boy started to wail loudly, much to the annoyance of his parents. Apparently he had managed to spill his drink all over himself a few gulps in and was now throwing a tantrum so he’d receive a refill.
I still feel that kid’s pain to this day.
But this story isn’t about the boy — it’s about his sister. As this drama-laden event unfolded in front of her, she was finishing the last bits of her sugar intake for the next six months. Mom and Dad…
