Popsicle
by Sean Naberhuis

On hot days like this, nothing cools me down like a nice popsicle. MMMM... Cherry. My favorite. I could live on these things, but Mommy probably wouldn't let me. She thinks I should eat vegetables and fruit and stuff like that. Me, I like my popsicles. These popsicles have jokes on them, too. Fruits don't. The jokes aren't funny, but it gives me something to look forward to. My brother likes the blueberry and strawberry ones, and I get the cherry and grape ones. Everything works out well.

I think I'll sneak another one before dinner. Daddy said we were going out tonight. I hope we get to go for pizza. I really like pizza, but I think Mommy wants to go someplace "nice." I don't like those places. It takes a long time to get your food, and I never know what kind of food is hiding behind those long words. Chuck-e-Cheese, now there is a restaurant. They have pizza, and video games to play while you wait for the food. They have cool things like skee-ball and play balls. It's a lot more fun than just sitting at the table waiting for food. I can even win tickets and get prizes! Mommy doesn't like Chuck-e-Cheese. She says the pizza is too greasy and it's too noisy. Wherever we go, I hope it's good. I'll just take a grape popsicle and eat it quick before dinner.

Oops, I gotta go pee. Mommy doesn't like it when I take food into the potty. She thinks it's dirty in there. I don't know why she thinks that, she cleans there every week. I'll just sneak in and Mom will never know. Ahhhhh... much better. Uh oh. Daddy's knocking on the door. He says it's time to go. But I'm not done with my popsicle. Oh well, I'll just leave it on the counter and finish it when I get home.

We ended up going to one of those "nice" places. I had a cazaloni, or something like that. Daddy said it was like a pizza, only with the stuff on the inside. It was gross. I wonder if Daddy knows what a real pizza is, like the ones at Chuck-e-Cheeses. At least I have a popsicle waiting for me at home. I need to get it right away, so Mommy won't find out I ate it in the bathroom.

Oh boy, am I in for it now. The popsicle melted all over the counter. I had better hide this. How... Where to start... Uh, hi Mom... Uh, what popsicle. Oh, that popsicle? Nope, never saw it. What? Oh yea, I get all the grape ones... Uh, I don't know. So, it's marble. I'll clean it off. No, I don't want to... O.K.

Boy, she looks really mad. I didn't think she would be that mad. I only ate one tiny popsicle. I never touched it with my fingers, so it's O.K. to eat in the bathroom, right? I know it melted, but it's just purple water, right? It should just wipe up, right? Mommy doesn't think so. She says I ruined the counter. She was the one that wanted to go out. If she wasn't in such a hurry to leave, I would have finished my popsicle. I can see her in the bathroom from my room, and she still looks mad.

The stain came out, but Mom needed to use bleach, and she said that was bad. She worked a long time to make the counter white again. I feel kinda bad about it, but it was still her fault. I'll know that popsicles melt next time, and I won't eat popsicles in the bathroom again.