She thought about it for a long time. Then she said, “Can we throw them away and get ones with dogs?”

So we did.

We went to a discount store near the grocery plaza. Mason pushed the cart. Lily sat in the front even though she was almost too big for it. She chose blue pajamas with little dogs wearing sunglasses.

Mason chose a charger cord for his tablet.

At checkout, Lily reached for my sleeve and whispered, “Are we allowed to get pancakes too?”

That question nearly broke me more than the court hallway had.