Droozy
was crunching a crisp green apple which was too good not to share with someone.
She looked around and remembered her six month old brother in the next room, who
lay cooing and gurgling in his crib. “You poor dear little fellow, wouldn’t
you like a bite of my luscious apple?” asked she as she leaned over the happy
young tike. Droozy stroked Benjamin’s cheek with one hand and then decided to
offer him a bite of her favorite fruit. She put the apple to his mouth but he
only stuck out his tongue, licking the peel. She felt very sorry that he could
not share the delectable flavor. After some thought she had an idea. She would
chew chunks out of the apple and place them into her brother’s mouth. She
carefully took five bites, each time dropping the pieces into her hand. Next,
she opened Benjy’s mouth and stuffed the chunks of apple into it. Seconds
later the little boy was choking and attempting to cough. He turned a bluish
color and Droozy was very, very frightened. She patted her little brother’s
back, all the while talking to him: “But I only wanted you to taste this good,
good apple.” When the infant was struggling too hard for breath, Droozy
quickly ran for her mother to tell her that something was wrong. Her heart was
beating rapidly but she mustered the courage to report that the child could
hardly breathe. “What have you done to him?” was the quick response.
“Nothing, Mama, someone must have fed Benjy something. Perhaps it was my
girlfriend who was with us in the yard not too long ago.” The mother turned
the infant upside down, pounded his back and finally reached into his throat to
recover the apple pieces. “If I catch the person who did this, she’ll regret
it.” Although Droozy had intended to tell, this settled it and she didn’t
dare. Mother suspected her in any event and asked the child to take an oath that
she was not the culprit. “As true as I live, I did not do it,” lied Droozy,
with her fingers crossed and her heart pounding. Little Benjamin was physically fine but it taught Droozy a lesson she never forgot. She realized that infants cannot chew, and also that it was terribly painful to have lied to her monther. For months she felt ashamed when she thought of the apple incident. Six months later Droozy confessed to her mother that she had been the culprit |
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