Place: living room
Time: boys’ nap
Game: Candy Land
Game No.: three, I think (we play it over and over and over and over …)
Situation: I took a break to go to the bathroom. When I came back, it was Sophie’s turn.
Sophie: “Hmmm, what’s this card under here? I think I’ll pick it. Oh! It’s double yellow! Just what I needed!” (Her honest-to-God exact words.)
Sophie’s Candy Land game piece: hopping along the board, taking the shortcut Sophie so coveted
Me: “Sophie. Did you hide that card under the game instructions while I was in the bathroom so you could take the shortcut?”
Sophie: “No. I mean yes.”
Talk: about cheating and lying and truth-telling
Game No.: four, after I told her game No. 3 had to be abandoned because of cheating
Cheating Since Then: zero, unless she’s simply gotten better at it
“A lie has speed, but truth has endurance.” —Edgar J. Mohn
