Trixie watched the tear travel slowly down her young daughter’s cheek. The little girl stood at the doorway of the kitchen, staring out into the backyard where her two older brothers were strolling across the sunny lawn and into the neighboring field, their baseball bats slung over their shoulders. Trixie went and stood behind her daughter and smoothed the head full of curls. She bent down and kissed both her ears, making the little girl giggle. The girl turned around and faced her young mother. Her eyes clouded up as she implored her mother to understand.

"I am not a tag-along," she said fiercely as she stomped her foot for emphasis. "They always think I am too little to do anything with them. When I try to join them, they call me a copycat or a tag-along." The child’s lower lip trembled as another tear rolled down her cheek.

Trixie picked up the little girl and carried her to a chair. She sat down and cuddled the child close to her.

"When I was your age, my brothers did the exact same thing. And I did the exact same thing you are doing," Trixie told her daughter.

The little girl sniffed. She looked up at her Mom. "What did you do so that they’d let you play with them?’ she asked.

"Nothing. I finally ended up finding my own things to do and they eventually started tagging along after me."

"Why did they end up following you, Mommy?"

"Because I did things that were much more interesting than they did."

The little girl’s eyes grew big. "Like what?"

"Well, I found lost people, diamonds, necklaces. I also helped people who were in trouble. I called my activities mysteries," Trixie said as kissed the tip of her daughter’s nose.

"Ooh, can we go find a mystery?"

"Sure we can," Trixie said. She laughed as she saw the excitement showing in her daughter’s face. The little girl jumped off her lap and grabbed her hand.

"Come on, let’s go, Mommy."

The back door slammed behind the two as they dashed into the bright sunshine.