let's make a deal

In our desperate search for Ella's other black ballet flat, I offered a reward. "Whoever looks very hard for the shoe gets some Swedish fish. And whoever finds it gets a dollar!"

Ella was distraught. "What if Lauren finds my shoe!" she cried. "I won't get the dollar!" 

"Just do your best," I said, "Maybe you'll get it." She sulked to the basement where I heard her say,

"Lauren, if you give me the dollar, I'll give you 25 cents." 

Update: The shoe was located two days later, inside a giraffe boot. Ella found it and very happily claimed her prize.