“It’s a doll!” I say, convinced by the Barbie-sized shape hiding inside the grab bag I’ve bought at my favorite vacation stop. My mother’s gaze darts into the rearview mirror; I’m notoriously unlucky, but always optimistic. Opening the bag, I pull out a shallow dish molded like a corncob with red-and-yellow kernels and green husks. Tears sting, but Mom exclaims, “That’s perfect for pickles!” All vacation, my aunt uses it, and my cousins make “the corn dish" a running joke. By summer’s end, I treasure it. Eventually I got a doll, but it’s long gone. The corn dish lives on.
Kathy Lynn Carroll is a writer and library assistant with work appearing in Five Minutes, 50-Word Stories, and Blink-Ink.