LIAM ORDERS TOO MANY LOLLIPOPS*
Liam is a nine-year-old boy who lives in a small town in the USA. He loves to ride his scooter and spend time with his friends. Sometimes, his mother gives him her cellphone. Liam enjoys using it. He plays games on it, and he looks at products that are for sale online.(lines 1–5)
Until last spring, Liam never bought anything online. But one morning in May 2025, when he had his mother's cellphone, he did something surprising. He bought 70,000 lollipops.(lines 6–8)
Liam's mother did not know anything about this until a few days later. Then she and Liam opened the door to their house and discovered 22 large boxes of lollipops in front of their home. "My lollipops are here!" Liam shouted. He explained to his mother that he bought them because he wanted to give them to his friends.(lines 9–13)
Liam's mother checked her bank account and saw that her son spent $4,200 on the lollipops. She immediately called the people at the online store. She asked them to take the lollipops back and to return her money. They refused. Liam saw that his mother was very sad. He promised never to use her phone like that again.(lines 14–17)
Then Liam's mother asked her neighbors for help. Some of them bought boxes of lollipops from her. She also called schools and companies in her town and asked them to buy boxes of lollipops. Soon newspapers started writing about Liam and his lollipops. Television programs invited him and his mother to talk about what happened. So millions of people learned about Liam's lollipops.(lines 18–22)
A few days later, the people at the online store gave back the money to Liam's mother. They also told her to keep the lollipops. Then the owner of the lollipop factory* called Liam's mother. He invited her and Liam to visit his factory. Liam and his mother accepted the invitation. They went to the factory and watched the workers make lollipops. They had a wonderful day.(lines 23–26)