"No!" Effie stamped her foot. "I don't wanna go home. I want ice cream!"
Olive narrowed her eyes at her daughter. "Effie, we're going home. Now, either you come with me, or you get left behind."
"I don't wanna go home!" she shrieked in response. In true four-year-old fashion, she threw herself to the ground screaming, beating her hands against the tiles of the mall. Bystanders pretended not to look at the tantrum.
"Effie Gabriella Marlow, you will pick yourself up and walk to the car, or I am leaving without you." She held up a hand. "One... Two..."
Effie didn't stop, and screeched even louder.
"Three." Effie stopped and looked at her mother, sniffling. Olive glared back. Neither of them had ever gotten this far, but Olive wouldn't back down from her threats. She needed to teach Effie a lesson, and if that meant walking away, so be it. "Fine. Have it your way."
She strutted off, her heels clicking loudly as she stormed out of the hallway and around the corner, leaving the child abandoned in the middle of the shopping center.
Had Effie been listening carefully, she would have heard her mother's footsteps halt as she rounded the corner, just close enough that she could still keep watch over her daughter, but not too close as to reveal her presence. But Effie was young and small, and all she could think about was the fact her mom had abandoned her. She began to cry, in earnest now.
She tossed her little body around on the floor, face ugly and red and puffy. "Mom!" she wailed between sobs. "Come back mom, don't leave me!" Tears streamed down her face. Then, a shadow fell across her. She looked up to find an old woman in a strange cloak sitting next to her.
"Oh goodness, deary, what's wrong?" she said. Her round face beamed down, so welcoming to young Effie.
The four-year-old blinked and wiped the snot from her nose. "My mommy left me."
"Oh dear, that's no good. Were you being a naughty girl?" Effie shook her head. "Well, that's good, because I have a gift for you that only good girls get."
She held up a small, golden object that shone in the sunlight that streamed from above. It was a small coin, just the size of Effie's thumb. The kindly old woman pressed it into her hands. "If you wish upon this coin, it will come true!" Effie wiped her eyes, now looking down at the coin in interest. "Go on, try it."
"I wish my mom was here."
And just like that, Olive appeared in front of her as if nothing had ever happened. "I think it's time to go home, Effie," she said, without a hint of anger or memory of the previous tantrum. Effie nodded silently. "And since you've been such a good girl today, how about we get some ice cream on our way home?"
Effie stared down at the coin in wonder. It really did work! But what would she wish for next?