The Game Boy

"Don't you remember at all, Trevor?" asked my mother with her hands on her hips. She was directly standing in front of me and my eyesight of the television.

I have been binge watching Teen Titans (the old and better one) for the past hour or two...couldn't recall, as I sat on the couch playing my Game Boy Advanced. In the handheld, I was currently playing Pokemon Emerald without a care in the world; just minding my own business as I watched the tv from time to time. 

A minute has passed since my mother asked me her question and I haven't reply to it at all. I was going head to head with the former Champion: Steven in the game and it was an intense fight. If you're a Pokemon fan, you'll know exactly how this battle feels especially to a ten year old such as myself. 

My mother continue standing there in front of me awaiting for me to answer or at least pay attention. She even coughed a couple of times but I won't budge. 

I was literally and figuratively on the edge of the couch playing my game; I was about to beat this epic boss battle until a hand suddenly blinded the screen. That same hand quickly took my Game Boy Advanced out of my little hands. My mom is that owner of that hand and she proceeded to take my Game Boy Advanced, muted it and placed in the back pocket of her work jeans. Upset and disgusted, I yelled: "Mom, give it back to me! I'm just about to be done with it!"

"Not until you have cleaned your room as I asked of you to do about two hours ago, mister," my mother replied with some sas. And they wonder where I had got that from. 

"But I don't want to," I cried.

My dear mother responded: "It doesn't matter if you want to or not. We need structure for our daily schedule and that starts with you taking responsibilities. Then once you are done, you can play for one more hour on your Game Boy considering we still do three hours of gametime during the weekends in this household." 

"It's not fair," I poured with my arms crossed. "I can never do whatever I want."

Mother replied: "Now listen here Trevor, I never said you can't do what you want to do. But you need to learn that before you entertain yourself, you must do your chores first and farmost, especially when it comes to your homework. Which by the way, did you have any homework given to you for this weekend?"

"No mom," I replied with a fib.

"Oh," she said with no surprise. She continued: "So if I go to your backpack, I wouldn't be seeing anything that is dued next week?" My mother said all of this as she slowly walks towards my backpack which is on the kitchen table.

"Ah fine," I caved. I even stood up from the couch I was sitting on for the past couple of hours. "I'll clean up my room and finish my homework. Then can I have my Game Boy so I can finish my game?"

"Absolutely, my dear. I promise. Now, off you go!"

I then proceeded to clean up my room as fast I could. There wasn't much of a mess; just a couple of toys on the floor, a few clothes in a corner and an unmade bed. I picked up the toys and placed them in the toybox located across from my bed. Then I grabbed the dirty clothes from the one corner and went outside to the hallway, dropping them into the hamper. I next made my bed all nice and neat with a span of a few minutes. 

Now it was time for the homework. Luckily I was only given two assignments this past weekend. One for math and one for English. The math homework took quite a bit considering it had us dealing with division. Yet with my mom helping me out to solve some of the problems, I was done within 45 minutes.

Next was my English assignment which had me wrote an essay on what I want out of life. The essay required me to make up 200 words. I just simply listed what I wanted to do that weekend which was beating my Pokemon Emerald for the third time, finished the first season of Teen Titans, eat a delicious meal with my parents, sleep a good night's rest, and wake up tomorrow repeating the process. (Yet instead of playing Pokemon Emerald, I wanted to play some Donkey Kong Country; I also wanted to start season 2 of Teen Titans as well.) 

After I had finished the required amount of words I needed to do, there was one more thing I wanted out of life and that was a dog. Not a small or large dog, a regular size one like a retriever or labrador. Maybe even a husky, dalmatian or german sherpard. All I ever wanted was to have a best friend more than anything that life had to offer. I didn't make much friends in school. The only friends I had in Iowa were my parents and Grandma Suzie from Charleston, West Virginia.

I finally had finished my essay within a good hour and once I was done with putting my pencil down, I called for my mother. She counted all of the words to come up with the total. After my mother was done counting, which was about ten minutes, she smiled and says: "Good job Trevor. You may have your Game Boy, but only for a hour. No buts and no coconuts, you hear?"

I excitedly grabbed the handheld and replied: "Yes, ma! Thank you and you got it. One hour will just do."

I then proceeded to sit on the couch and started up the Game Boy Advanced. Luckily I saved before the battle with Steven so all is not lost. I wasn't upset with my mother at this point for turning off my game. She knows that I always save my games anyways.

As I started my second attempt on battling Steven, I could hear my mother whispering: "This kid has a lot to learn." I didn't even bother replying back at all for I was too focus on my game at that moment.