Lula's Big Lollipop Lie

One day Lula went grocery shopping with her mother and as they were walking up to the checkout counter, she saw the prettiest lollipop! It looked delicious! It was white with pink swirls and had a strawberries-and-cream flavor with a hole in the middle. She simply had to have it! She took it from the shelf and held it up for her mother to see. “Oh, mommy please, may I have this lollipop?”, she asked with a wide smile. Her mom said, “No Lula, I’m only buying what’s on my list for today. Please put it back on the shelf.” So, Lula put the lollipop back on the shelf and then started to pout. On the way home she thought, “Maybe I have some money in my piggy bank and then I can buy the lollipop myself!” When she got home, she ran to her room and turned her pink piggy bank upside-down and shook it really hard. She was dissapointed when she only saw four pennies, a sticky nickle, and an old game token from an arcade. “Hmm…,” she wondered to herself. “What happened to the money in my piggy bank?” She thought about it for a second and then remembered she had used her money to buy ice cream for her sister and herself from the ice cream truck. “Now what am I gonna do,” she said. “I’ll never get that pink and white swirled strawberries-and-cream flavored lollipop with a hole in the middle.” A couple of days later, Lula was at school and her friend was having a birthday celebration. Everyone in her class sang happy birthday and each student made a birthday card for their friend. When class was over the teacher gave her friend the birthday cards, all wrapped up in a shiny pink ribbon. And resting on top of the stack of birthday cards was a pink and white swirled, strawberries-and-cream flavored lollipop with a hole in the middle! Lula couldn’t believe her eyes. “Wow she’s so lucky,” thought Lula. “I wish it was my birthday.” Lula started thinking to herself. “My birthday is not until next month. That’s a long time to wait for a lollipop.” A week went by, and Lula was walking to school one morning when she came up with an idea. “This just might work!” she said.