Blood, Sweat, and Cheese

I was so tired of working. I worked past 5PM to satisfy the fact that I came in for work late. I didn't want to be there. So when Roxann showed up, I was more than ready to go. I walked out to the van. We played our usual, "I'm driving, no... I'M driving" game and I won. I climbed into the driver's seat and we headed home. I didn't make it half a mile.
"Call Pizza Hut." I said bluntly.
"What?" asked Roxann.
"Call Pizza Hut." as I repeated, I reached down between the seats and produced a handful of coupons. "Any coupons in here for Pizza Hut?"
"No." she replied. Then I saw it. It was a strip of 4 Chuck E Cheese coupons. I got a little excited, not because I like going in there, but because the kids would be really happy.
"Why don't we go there?" I asked pointing out the coupon.
"The kids would love it, let's do it." Roxy sounded more excited than me, but she usually does about thing like that. I decided to make it a surprise.
We pulled into the mall parking lot. The kids began shouting excitedly for Chuck E. Cheese.
"No," I said "We are just going to the mall." I stifled a smile and exchanged a wily glance with Roxann. We knew we had them. The CEC has 2 entrances, one is located on the outside of the mall and the other inside. We walked past the outdoor entrance and into the mall. I had them.
"You know, when I brought my returns to Sears this morning, the kids were really good." Roxann noted suspiciously.
"Fine," I said "Let's go to Chuck E. Cheese."
The children almost wet themselves. Excited, they rushed in the door and stopped midway down the carpet to the entrance, they all turned and rushed back to me. I was a king. They praised me. I was their favorite dad and they loved me. Score.
We stopped at the velvet ropes and as is customary for safety, we were branded with our numbers and herded into line.
After we ordered our pizza, we headed over to find a table and divided up the tokens into cups for the kids. Roxy and I each chose a buddy. I got Matt, and Roxy got Cait and Ben went off and did his own thing. I followed Matt from game to game. He was still too small for most of them, but that didn't stop him. He played everything he could get his hands on.
After a while, I noticed that the pizza had arrived at the table. I gathered us all up and we headed over for the table. Once seated, Ben, wanting to get back to his game began to devour his food.
"Calm down," I chided "you are going to have to sit here until we are all done anyway." he slowed and we enjoyed our pizza together.
Ben leaves, Roxann and Caitlyn leave to play more. I have Matthew at bay because I am finishing my salad. He fidgets and pleads with me to hurry. I relent.
I follow him to his first game, then to the second and so on. The night wore on and we were almost out of tokens. Matthew ran toward the Skee-Ball tables where Ben was bowling a pretty high score. Matt cut left; I followed.
"Look at me, Dad! Look at me!" Ben yelled.
I glanced over my shoulder and replied, "Good job."
Matthew reached the end of the row and cut left again. I was trying to keep up.
"Look!!", Ben shouted pointing to his 190,000 score.
"Yeah! Wow! Good Job." I turned back to catch Matthew.
White lightning flashed in my eyes, the pain shot through my skull with a horrifyingly audible slap! I listed to the right, unable to see. Vision returned almost instantly and I corrected my stagger. The pain was intense above my left eye. Immediately, I brought the back of my right hand to the source of the pain. A little dizzy, but good to go. I glared angrily at the video game apparatus that I had run into. I scanned for Matthew. There he is. I made my way to him, still a little dizzy, but still good to go. I found him playing a game. He hollered at me to watch him. I did. The drums in my head were beating thunderously. I was mad. How could I let myself get a shiner at Chuck E. Cheese? I watched on. I could feel the bruise washing over my eye. I reached up to feel it. It wasn't a bruise. Blood. I wiped it away. No use. The blood dripped freely. Where's the bathroom? There. I made my way over to it and reached the sink. I grabbed the faucet and threw the handle to the right for cold water. It was backward. I moved it back to the left. There was blood everywhere. I washed my eye and grabbed for a paper towel. Out. Crap. There was toilet paper in the stalls. Blood dripping, I moved to the stall and grabbed gobs of toilet paper. I pressed it to my forehead and cleaned the gash. I inspected it. It was definitely going to need stitched.
I staggered back out to Matthew who was obliviously playing and signaled over to Roxann. We made a report to the manager, let her know about all the blood in the Men's Room and left.
We got to the Clinic with 5 minutes to spare before they closed. Almost an hour later, the laceration above my eye was glued shut and I went home.
My head still hurts. I don't want to go back to Chuck E. Cheese. Ever.