So went my thinking at the beginning of this summer when my 6-year-old started asking questions about the Golden Arches. There’s a much-loved children’s book named If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (and its many sequels and progeny) that details the funny and vicious cycle that begins with the seemingly harmless act of giving a mouse a cookie.

He’ll ask for a glass of milk, then he’ll want a straw, then a napkin, etc. The cookie leads to all sorts of unexpected consequences until finally the mouse gets thirsty again and asks for a glass of milk and then, both completing the old and starting a new cycle, requests a cookie. It never ends. You had no idea what you