An Investigation

The Crime: My high school friend, Julie, and I had plans to go to the movies together on Tuesday afternoon. So, I put together a Ziploc bag of treats, included amongst which was a Tootsie Pop. We ended up going to the mall instead of the movies, so the treat bag remained intact. That is, until last night, when the treat bag was discovered torn and the sucker was MISSING!!

The Witnesses: After I got home from our outing, I took out the treat bag to show Jason the abundance of goodies we have in our house. He agreed that it certainly didn't appear like we were on a diet. The bag must have inadvertently been left on the couch. Yesterday afternoon, I saw my sweet baby Brooklyn playing with the bag. When she saw the sucker inside, her eyes lit up and she started turning the bag around and around. "How cute," I thought, and let her be. I now realize that she must have been plotting her theft. About half an hour later, Jason came home. He went to greet Brooklyn and saw that the stick of the sucker was now poking through the bag and Brooklyn looked quite pleased with herself. We had another chuckle at her innocence. I scooped up the baby and the two of us went grocery shopping together.

The Evidence: About 10 minutes after being home from the grocery store, Jason and I heard a strange slurping sound. We looked over and saw Brooklyn, sitting on the floor and sucking on a sucker. The evidence was behind her:

A sucker wrapper and a suckerless treat bag.

The gaping hole where the pilfered snack was removed.

The Culprit: Miss Brooklyn Rose Maner, sucker connoisseur

The evidence suggests that we are dealing with a seasoned criminal. First, she had to locate the sucker amongst all of the inferior treats. Second, she had to work the stick of the sucker, bit by bit, out through the plastic of the bag without being detected. Third, she did not let an entire grocery shopping trip distract her from her goal. Fourth, the head of the sucker must have presented quite a challenge when being tugged through the small opening in the plastic bag. Fifth, after the sucker was removed from the bag, it had to be freed from that pesky paper wrapper before it was of any use. All of this was done in record time for an infant of 11 mere months.

The Sentence: The convicted thief was confined to a high chair, with a bib, for the duration of the sucker session. Her enjoyment was cut short with the arrival of bed time when the remaining sucker (albeit tiny) was pried from her sticky, guilty fingers and thrown in the trash. As a result of her crime, she also had to endure a bath for the second night in a row.