My face instantly went hot with shame at my own dark thoughts.

“Let’s find out, sweetheart,” I said, taking her hand tightly in mine.

We started walking toward the customer service desk at the front of the store.

A bitter voice inside my head whispered that I was being a fool because nobody ever handed me anything in this life.

But then my mother’s voice rang clearer in my memory, reminding me that we don’t take what isn’t ours.

I asked myself if I was really going to start stealing at seventy years old with my granddaughter watching me.