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Little Pitchers, Big Ears

Missy stood quietly behind an arm chair, invisible to the adults in the room. The grown-ups were having a heated conversation. Caught up in their debate, they forgot about the seven year old standing in the corner. Missy knew most of them; they worked with her parents at the lab. Tonight they were talking about the experiment that had gone wrong. As they discussed what was going to happen, Missy listened wide-eyed.

The next morning, Missy woke up excited. She had thought long and hard about what the grown-ups had said and knew exactly what she wanted to do. She dressed herself, took all her birthday money -her last $20- and rode her bike downtown. Destination: candy store. She filled a basket with all of her favorite and previously forbidden treats. Leaving the store, she sat down on the curb and started eating.

A man made a comment as he passed her. “Slow down, save some for tomorrow.”

Missy looked up and gave him a chocolaty smile; she had learned the word apocalypse at Sunday school.

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