In any case, today as I was checking out I was so happy that I could pay in cash. This was a tight day in the bank account and I like to leave it alone when things get tight - I counted out my pennies and smiled at the cashier.
Then in walks Ben.
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| Ben's birthday comment to Kyle in April 2013 |
He had already left the store to play outside while I was checking out and considering it was nearing the end of the day, outside is better than inside for this unpredictable bear of a kid -- he's never broken anything in a store but...
... he picks up a bag of fortune cookies and smiles at me. I say, 'Ben, put those down.' He proceeds to toss them high into the air, then whacks them on their way down with an exploding sound effect which then sends the cookies crashing to the floor and collapsing into a bag of tiny broken cookie pieces and paper strips.
I was less than pleased... and stood there staring, grocery bag in arm.
He stood there motionless staring back at me - this time he wasn't amazed by himself. He was embarrassed - he got so red in the face. It was as though God had seen my need for intervention and I needn't lift a finger -- this kid felt dumb for his misbehavior and all I had to do was pick up the pieces, literally.
I had half a mind to put them right back on the pile of bulk fortune cookie bags but the cashier was watching -- unimpressed, obviously, by my child's upbringing -- and so I, hopefully, asked 'should I buy these?' to which she answered, 'sure' and reached for the bag to ring me up. I wanted to glare as I pulled out my debit card.
'96 cents', she said.
I, without a smile, ran my card through and entered my pin. Ben stood there mumbling about how he usually always catches food when he throws it.
I paid 96 cents on my debit card today and it is driving me bonkers.
