Robby was bored. Not the simple boredom that stems from the anticipation of the ending of class, and all the glories that follow, but the boredom of an endless summer break at his parent’s summer home. As an only child Robby spent the majority of his time seeking new ways to pass time until the next meal. Robby especially enjoyed meals with his parents, because it was the only time where he could guarantee them as a captive audience. It was during these meals that Robby petitioned for the simple things that every kid his age had such as, a PS3, high-speed internet, and a cell phone that could play games. Robby’s pleas were mostly met with rolled eyes and a story that started with, “When I was a boy…” That was as far as Robby ever listened. His father had an amazing computer with more games than one sane person could ever enjoy, but he never ever played them! He was an editor for a video game review magazine and they were all “work related.” Robby didn’t believe that, he knew that when father was working late, he was secretly playing all of those games and having an incredible time.
Robby had decided that lunch today was going to be different. He was going to confront his father and demand some time on the computer. There was no way his father would say no once he told him about his knowledge of how he really spent his late nights in the study. Until then, he was determined to look as miserable as possible. He accomplished this by sitting in the dirt just outside of the kitchen window, so that his mother could see how horrible life was without real entertainment. To further the point, Robby equipped himself with a small stick and drew a PS3 in the dry earth. The controller was giving him a really hard time, sketching the letters on the buttons was not easy and he had to kick the dust several times and begin anew. By the time his mother called him in for lunch, he was working on the headset that he would definitely need to talk to all of the friends he would immediately make once they saw the screen name he had already decided on. Who wouldn’t want “TheUltimateAsassin” on their friends list?
As Robby sat down to yet another vomit colored bean dish crafted by his loving mother, he wondered where all of these crazy ideas for her meals came from.
“Mom, where do you come up with this stuff?” He asked while carving an angry face in the glop on his plate.
“I have a subscription to a daily recipe list,” his mother responded shortly, “it is a diet designed to extend our life span by 10 years. I think that is a little bit more important than how it looks.”
Furrowing his brow Robby replied, “I would rather eat cheeseburgers and live for 50 years than eat this and live for 90.”
At this Robby’s father stifled a chuckle poorly, earning him a glare from Robby’s mother, whose face was already flushed at the comment. This small exchange was not lost on the ambitious Robby who saw this as his opportunity to present his well thought out case.
“Dad I have been thinking,” Robby began.
“No wonder you look so tired!” Mother exclaimed with mock surprise.
“every other kid my age has something to play games with.” Robby continued, ignoring his mother.
“Mother even has a laptop that she uses to torture us with these painful meals.” Robby said through a smug grin, having noticed that his father had done little more than shove his meal around on his plate.
“Now you look here young man…” His mother hissed as she started to rise from her chair.
Robby’s father who had remained silent until now, raised his hands to both in a submissive pose. “Please Helen, don’t let him get a rise out of you. Robby you are exactly right, on both counts.” As he finished the last sentence winked at his wife.
“Maybe It is time I got you something to occupy your time, so that you don’t have so much of it to spend thinking of ways to insult your mother’s cooking. It may not be a bad idea to have a take-out meal every once in a while as well.”
At that, Robby’s mother stood suddenly, gathering up all of their plates in one frenzied sweep.
“Well then I will just take my rejuvenation goulash and feed it to the dog!” She shouted as she stomped off to the kitchen.
Robby, who had stopped hearing things after his father had said that he was right, began gibbering like the 10 year old that he was. “So what am I going to get? Is it a PS3 or and Xbox? You know Alienware is having a laptop sale this week! I am going to need a headset as well, unless you want me to be some kind of freak online.”
Robby’s father just sat back and smiled through the entire rant, eventually Robby noticed that his father had the type of smile that no one in the house ever liked to see. It meant that he was about to do or say something that Robby was more than likely not going to enjoy. It was the same Cheshire grin that he had worn when Robby was told that they were going to the E3 video game convention. Only when they arrived, it turned out that only Robby’s father had a pass, and he was stuck swimming in the hotel pool with his mother.
“Are you finished?” Robby’s father asked through that horrifying grin.
Robby merely nodded and swallowed hard, desperately trying to remember the plan he had formulated for this turn of events.
“Alright then, I am going to drive into town while you go and wash the dishes with your mother. Let her know that I will be back with dinner.” Robby’s father said as he rose, retrieving his car keys from his pocket and heading towards the door.
“Dad,” Robby cried out, “what are you getting me?”
“Something entertaining.” Came echoing out from the foyer just as the door slammed.
Robby hung his head and headed into the kitchen, from where his mother’s dish slamming could be clearly heard.
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