Exorcisms Not Included, Part 2

(We have candy canes left over from a holiday event sitting on a shelf above my register. A woman has just left her seven or eight-year-old daughter guarding a second load of purchases while she puts the rest in the car. The daughter is clutching a care-worn doll.)

Girl: *very politely* “Excuse me, I noticed you seem to have a bowl of candy canes up there. May I have one?”

Me: “Sure, as long as your mother says it’s alright.”

Girl: “Well then, I guess you will have to ask her, or I will have to ask, or…” *lowers her voice* “…the doll’s soul will have to ask.”

Me: “You know what? I can ask her. Yeah. I can totally ask her.”