Lyssa got
called in to go to work in a few hours and her husband was already at work so
she called up her sister to see if she would take her two sons for the
afternoon and evening. Her sister, Sherrie, said she would be happy to so they
arranged to meet at IHOP to have breakfast and hand off the children. Cisco was
seven and Zachery was four and Sherrie liked spending time with the children
and kept them often.
When Lyssa
pulled up in the parking lot Sherrie was already there waiting for her. She met
her at the entrance to the restaurant.
“Hi. How
are you boys this morning?” Sherrie inquired.
“Good,
are we going to get to ride in your new car?” Cisco asked.
“Yes you
are. I thought maybe we would go to the park and play on the swings. Does that
sound like fun?”
“I want
to go to the place that has the goats and the rabbits.” Cisco replied.
“Me too.”
Zachery added.
“We can
probably do that, let’s go inside and have some breakfast.”
Lyssa
and Sherrie briefly talked about the new job Lyssa was starting while they
waited for a table. The waitress brought them water, coffee and menus.
“What
looks good to you Cisco?” Lyssa asked her oldest son.
“I want
lots of bacon and an egg. And chocolate milk.”
“I don’t
know if they have chocolate milk but if they do you can have some. What do you
want Zach?”
Sherrie
was sitting next to Zachery and she was going over the children’s menu with
him. “Which breakfast looks good to you?” She was pointing to the pictures on
the menu.
“I want
these pancakes.” He pointed to a picture of chocolate chip pancakes.
“Are you
sure? Have you ever had chocolate chip pancakes before?”
“Yes.” He
wanted what he wanted.
“I am not
sure you will like them but you can have them.” Lyssa said to him.
The
waitress took their orders and the boys colored on their placemats while they
were waiting and the sisters visited. Their orders came and they all started
eating, at least everyone except Zachery. Zachery stared at his pancakes. The
girls tried to ignore him at first thinking he would eventually eat.
“What’s
the matter?”
“ I don’t
want these.”
“But they
are what you said you wanted.”
“This
isn’t what I wanted.”
“Why
don’t you try them?”
“ I don’t
want to. They look funny.”
“They
look like chocolate chip pancakes. Do you want some of my omelet?”
“No.”
“Ok
that’s fine, you don’t have to eat but the rest of us are going to eat our
food.”
Everyone ate their breakfast and Zachery just sat
there with a pouty look on his face. The waitress came by and asked if they
were done and they said yes. She cleared all the plates away.
The girls
left a tip and got up from the table. Zachery stayed there.
“Come on
Zach we are going to leave now.” Sherrie pleaded with him.
“I want
my pancakes.”
“ The
waitress took them and threw them away because you said you didn’t want
them.” Lyssa added.
“ I do too
want them.” He started to cry.
“ Well,
it’s too late.” Lyssa told him and went to the front counter to pay the bill.
He
started crying loudly. Lyssa was at the counter paying the bill while Zachery wailed
away.
Sherrie
walked Zachery up to where Lyssa was standing. He grabbed her around the legs.
“I want
my pancakes.”
“Your
pancakes are gone because you said you didn’t want them.”
Everyone
in the restaurant was now staring at the scene playing out at the cash
register. The girls started to feel like child abusers even though they hadn’t
done anything wrong. They figured that was what everyone was thinking when a
kid threw a fit of this caliber.
A
waitress walked up with a cheesy toy and Zachery responded by slapping it out
of her hand. The girls thanked her and proceeded to drag him out of the
restaurant kicking and screaming. Cisco thought it was hilarious and was
laughing at the fit his little brother was throwing.
Zachery was uncooperative the whole way and by
the time he was half dragged and half carried out to the car they were thoroughly
embarrassed and ready to kill him at the same time. As soon as they got out to
the car he stopped crying.
“I want
to sit in the front seat.” He said and he and Cisco started fighting over who
got to sit in the front seat. Breakfast was now forgotten and Sherrie and Lyssa
were thinking it was going to be a long time before they took the kids out for
breakfast again.
