Wish I’d Been Wrong

On the way home from his martial arts class the boy asked me if I’d want to play Lego Star Wars on the Wii with him. He’d received a gift card a while back (to GameStop) and hadn’t spent it all in one place. He really wanted to buy another Wii or DS game so the Wife and I relented on the ground that, it’s his money anyway and we couldn’t really tell him ‘No.’ At least, not defensibly in our view.

Anyway, I answered by way of informing him that one of his friends would probably be coming over this weekend so I wasn’t sure. The information had the desired effect and he said “Well maybe he and I can play, right?”

I then went into my boilerplate response: “Well, if it’s rainy outside this weekend then maybe, but if it’s nice out then you guys are going to go play outside, not sit in the basement playing video games.”

And then, in a moment of jesting I ribbed him a little: “Besides, maybe he’ll do something and won’t be allowed to play video games. Or maybe you’ll do something and we’ll take video games away from you for the weekend. There’s a lot of time between now and Saturday.” I said it all with a smile so he knew I was joking and that I didn’t actually expect him to blow it. He replied he could do stuff to earn more Wii time and I told him that was a good attitude to have.

And then we got home.

Five minutes later, I’m preparing turkey burgers and I hear a commotion outside. The lass then comes running in as the Wife is heading out to investigate.

The lass says her brother hit her. I squeezed the wad of ground turkey, swore, scraped it off and started again with that patty.

So the Wife is calling him back in the house and asking if he hit her. He owns up to it but add “But only because she hit me.” The Wife then turns on the lass, who gets the words “I didn’t do it hard…” out of her mouth before the Wife acts with the swift, brutal sword of exasperation. I mangled another turkey patty.

Even before she passed judgment, I’m thinking it in my head. Then she pulls me into it: “You know what I’m thinking Dad? ” she yells over to me. I’m shaking my head as my earlier conversation with the boy is replaying in my head “I’m guessing it was something to do with the Wii and DS,” I answer. And then she makes it official, “I’m tired of this stuff from you two this week, every day after school you’re fighting with one another. Now, no video games this weekend, the Wii, DS or MobiGo.”

A short while later, the boy comes walking through the kitchen. I shake my head and ask him what he was thinking. He blurts out “I know. You were right. I’m so stupid!”

It was almost a classic “I told you so” moment. The only catch was I’d truly been kidding in the car. Or more accurately, I wasn’t wishing for him to screw up. Regardless, it was an unusual moment where I wish I’d been wrong.