Wanting candy wasn't unreasonable.
What Child's Mom minded was...
That Child had lied afterward.
If Child had apologized as soon as they were caught, saying they shouldn't have secretly taken candy to eat...
Instead of lying and even making up a story...
Child's Mom wouldn't be this angry now.
"I didn't!"
Child's face flushed red. "I didn't eat any candy!"
Child shouted.
Child felt terribly wronged.
They really hadn't eaten any candy.
If they had eaten some and then gotten scolded by their parents, that would have been one thing.
But they hadn't eaten a single piece.
Why were their parents scolding them anyway?
"Then what about these..."
Child's father pointed at the candy wrappers Child's Mom had taken down from the top of the cabinet and that he had just set on the coffee table. "Who ate these?"
He shook his head slightly.
Did Child really have to tell such an easily disproven lie?
"It was Little Fox!"
After shouting several times, Child's voice had grown hoarse.
Child felt terribly wronged.
"Little Fox snuck the candy!"
"Little Fox ate it all!"
Child's eyes were wide open.
Their eyes were rimmed with red.
They looked stubborn and pitiful, full of grievance.
Child's Mom: ...
"But your dad and I both went upstairs to look."
"We didn't see Little Fox."
"Was Little Fox still there when we came in?"
"It was."
Child blurted it out.
Little Fox had been there until Child fell.
Child's Mom looked at Child.
This child really...
Couldn't even lie properly.
If they said Little Fox had been there...
"We didn't see it leave when we came in."
If Little Fox had left the top of the cabinet...
They would've seen it for sure.
Their home was so small.
And