I was in Circle K. This little girl asked her dad for a Reese cup. Her dad responded, “when I win the lottery you can have all the candy in the world baby.” He then went up to the counter to buy his lottery tickets while his daughter picked out her candy. The dad spent over $50 on lottery tickets, none of them winning. He then pulled out the last $5 out of his wallet to another ticket, for one final chance. The little girl stood next to him and stood on her tippy toes to slide her Reese cup onto the counter. She looked up at her daddy with the kindest eyes. I could tell she thought the world of him.
Before I knew it the dad threw down the quarter he was using to scratch the ticket and a string of cuss words followed. He grabbed the little girl’s wrist and pulled her out the door. He didn’t win the lottery. He spent all the money he had. And this sweet little girl didn’t get her candy.
She followed her daddy and said nothing. She looked at him with wide eyes but she kept up with his pace as he held her wrist and he continued to cuss. She didn’t cry and she said nothing about her candy bar that was left behind.
My heart was broken. If it hadn’t all happened so fast I would have loved to buy that little girl a candy bar.
