Damien, Part II...August 7, 1999

Damien, Part II...August 7, 1999

I had another session with Damien this afternoon. It was the first time I had seen him since the great mall escapade last week. I was in full battle gear. Helmet, knee and shoulder pads, cup, rosary beads, crucifix...

I fear he learned little from the experience, for the first thing he asked me was,

"Can you take me to McDonald's so I can play Nintendo64?"

"Sorry, Damien, you are consequenced to no video games with me for two weeks."

"That's not fair! My mother said that McDonald's was not the same as the arcade!"

Then your mother can damn well take you herself"Well, Damien, it is an issue of how you conduct yourself around others when playing video games in public; you butt into their games, and distract them. It would be the same where ever the games were, so, no, we are not going to McDonald's."

I proceeded to drive across town to Quincy's to drop the dogs off in her care whilst I perform another exorcism. Once back into the car, I was greeted with,

"Can we go to McDonald's to play Nintendo64?"

Okay, slow the boat here, just what medications are you on today Damien? "Uh, no, Damien, I already explained that we would not be going to McDonald's or anywhere else, today or next week, that had video games."

"My mother said I could go to McDonald's...that it isn't the same!"

Parents have no right dictating how I follow through with consequences... "Um, Damien, if your mother chooses to take you, then that is her choice. Mine is that it is the same as going to the arcade, and we will not be going. How about helping me wash the car. There is a place across town that has a big spray gun, I am sure you'd love it."

"That's boooorrrring. Can we go to McDonald's?"

secretly checking Damien's ears for wax build-up..."No, today I planned for us to go to the car wash. You cannot say it is boring until you have actually tried it. There is much more to life than video games, Damien."

Sulk...

Five minutes later, ...sulk, then,

"But WHY can't we go to McDonald's?"

"If you ask me one more time, it will be longer than after next weekend that we go to any arcades."

Major sulk.

Arriving at the car wash, I get out, roll up the windows, and wait. Damien remains sitting in the passenger seat, maintaining his video arcade vigil. I proceed to start up the pressurized water gun, and Damien was out of the car faster than I could have said ‘Hail Mary". Grabbing the gun, he started spraying everything but the car. He just did not have the physical constitution to keep it steady. Luckily, I had the mind to give him a wide berth. Anyone on either end of our bay was not as lucky. He ended up loving the car wash.

Driving out of the bay, with a sparkling clean car, and freshly vacuumed interior, I hear,

"So, Can we go to McDonald's to play Nintendo64 now?"

NO!"NO!"

"Well, then what are we going to do???"

"How about some ice cream, you did a great job helping with the car."

"Only if we can go where we went the last time for ice cream", he said adamantly.

Control freak "Of course we can, Damien."

So, we went for ice cream, which happened to be beside a video store, He wanted to go into said video store. Why? Well, to look at video games, of course. I am adding obsessive/compulsive disorder to the list of possible diagnoses.

Such was my day with Damien. It was not as exciting as the last time, but, well, sequels are rarely as good as the original.

....Blessed Be