“我要叫警察。这也是我应该做的——叫警察。”
她回答说：“是的，我想是的。我不应该说什么，因为他是我的儿子。但有时我想，对一个男孩子来说，在他一生中的某些时刻，给予善意的小忠告是最好的关怀。”在艾尔弗雷德眼里，母亲像换了一个人。她站在那里，带着温和的微笑继续说道：“我想你是不是认为让他跟我回家会更好些。他看起来像一个大小伙子了，是吧？可让我们之中一些人学会懂事还需要很长一段时间。”
卡尔先生原以为艾尔弗雷德的母亲进来时会很紧张，害怕得发抖，会流着泪恳求他宽恕她儿子。但情况不是这样。她非常镇静，面带笑容，反倒让卡尔先生感到愧疚。过了一会儿，卡尔先生摇了摇头，表示赞同她的看法。“当然，”他说，“我不想太残忍。我来告诉你我的打算。告诉你的儿子别再到店里来了，这事就这样了结了。怎么样？”说完他热情地握了握希金斯夫人的手。
“我永远忘不了你的好意。”
“很遗憾我们在这样的情形下相识，我只想把事情处理好，仅此而已。”
“这样认识也总比从不认识好，对吧？”她回答说。突然他们握起手来，好像彼此很喜欢对方，好像老相识一样。
“再见，先生。”
“再见，希金斯夫人。我真的很抱歉。”
Love in Hearts
Cody started life weighing 24ounces.
Due to extreme prematurity，our son had eye surgery to prevent blindness.As a result of the surgery，he lost peripheral vision in his right eye.And his near sightedness would mean glasses and close monitoring by an ophthalmologist for the rest of his life.
Such a small price to pay，in our opinion，compared to the alternative.
Cody wore glasses with great pride，making it abundantly clear to his little brothers that Mommy and Daddy also wore glasses，and wasn’t it a shame that they didn’t have any themselves.This usually prompted a round of begging from his siblings that it was only fair they get glasses，too.
Then kindergarten happened.
One day，a couple of kids at recess derailed Cody’s bright outlook on having glasses in his possession.One boy said，your glasses look stupid，Cody.Another kid yanked them off his face and bent them.
Cody was a timid，small child.Seeing tears well up in his eyes，as he recounted the event，wrung our hearts dry.
Just recently though，something changed his outlook.
It was the morning of Valentine’s Day.I shut off the alarm and groped around in the dark until I found my glasses.I donned them and without turning on the light，blindly made my way to the bathroom.I flipped the bathroom switch，and there I discovered why it was extra dark in my bedroom.
My husband，Stephen，had placed two red heart stickers on my glasses.And plastered all over the mismatched antique mirrors above our bathroom basins were the same stickers.
“VALENTINE，”my husband had scrawled on one mirror，“I LOVE YOU THIS MUCH！”
In one mirror was drawn a stick arm with a hand pointing west.And in the other mirror was the same thing pointing east.I was chuckling under my breath，so as not to wake the rest of the household，while staring at my reflection.
I penned my response in the mirror，“Thanks to you，sweetie，I’ve got hearts in my eyes！”
While dressing Cody for school，he whispered，“Mom？”
“Yes，big boy？”I whispered back.
“You got hearts on your glasses.”
“Yep，I sure do.”
“You’re funny，Mom，”he said，his eyes sparkling.We both climbed into the cab of the pickup truck，where other hearts ambushed us.Stuck to the steering wheel was a heart.Another one was on the rearview mirror，on my truck key，on the stick shift，and on my wallet.All compliments of my hearthappy husband.
I peeled the hearts from my glasses and handed them to Cody.He stuck them carefully on his own glasses and smiled the whole way to school.
I parked in front of his school.
“Get your book bag，sweetie.”I said.
“Mom，can I wear my hearts to class？”
I debated it for a moment.Pulling a “stunt”like this could go either way.But the pleading in his eyes sealed it for me.How could I deny him what may turn out to be a fun opportunity？
“I don’t see why not，big boy.”
I placed two hearts on my own glasses，and together we entered his school，hand in hand，parting the crowd in the hallway on our way to his classroom.
