The E (Ellie) True Hollywood Story

She was industrious. She was self-sacrificing. She was creative. And after selling her animals, working tirelessly doing chores around the house for fifty cents or a dollar, and emptying her piggie bank, Ellie had upwards of $30 of spending money.

That was two weeks ago.

Today, if you open up her green M&M purse and pull out her pink M&M wallet, you'll find exactly seventy eight cents.

It all started with the two beanie baby animals she had to have at Borders.

Then there was the ice cream for her and all her newfound friends at the park. The friends who mysteriously disappeared once the rainbow sno-cones ran dry.

There was fifty cents here and fifty cents there at every gumball machine she saw, and the special trip to Best Buy, where she quickly turned her quarters into a ring, a splat ball and a tiny plastic puppy.

A trip to Toys R Us for a pair of Barbie dolls yielded some good buys and mommy did split the cost, but sale or no sale, it was no use. The end was in sight.

It was Michael's that did her in. A penultimate trip for glitter glue (it was only a dollar!) and a final trip, the last six dollars traded for a sweater and cheerleader's skirt she just had to have for some undetermined bear.

It was a fun two weeks, filled with heady possibility and even joy. But perhaps it was inevitable that Ellie would fall into the decadent underworld that so many find themselves in when they have $30 to spend on whatever they want and are only five years old.