A Curse Upon Sugarloaf

Now, you've got to understand the mind of Caleb. Here we have an extraordinarily confident boy. The sort of boy who JUST KNOWS things. Like how to tame a scorpion. How to hypnotise robbers. How to fix broken and castoff neighborhood toys. At one time, he was convinced he was a long lost member of the Incredibles Family. He hasn't convinced me with a lot of this stuff, but he firmly and truely believes it himself. He went through a phase a few years ago where he just knew he could win a toy out of those 50 cent machines where the clasping arms come down to firmly snag a priceless item and ferry it to the deliver-to-winner chute. Think "The Claw" from Toy Story. I tried in vain for weeks to convince him those are sneaky no-win wastes of money before I finally got smart and let him waste his own precious coins, then braced for the devastation when it actually turned out that I was right. Oh the weeping and wailing! He would still occasionally try it when he had shiny quarters burning holes in his pockets, lose again, and remember the hard lesson that those machines were dirty lousy cheats bent on prying hard-earned savings from unsuspecting and innocent youngsters. I honestly thought this kid had figured it out. But no.

A few days ago I hazarded a trip to Walmart with all four kids. It was just a quick trip (HA!), lasting less than an hour, and Caleb asked for permission to wander over to the little arcade just 20 feet or so away from the checkout.

I didn't realize he had money with him.

The next thing I know (and this happened in less than 2 minutes), Caleb came walking up triumphantly with a huge yellow teddy bear and an ecstatic grin. He actually managed to grab something with The Claw! He gave it to Esther right away, after all, the real prize was not the stuffed animal. It was Proving. Mothers. Are. Wrong. I couldn't believe it. I mean, this has set back Caleb's training by TWO YEARS! I will never forgive this company. My child is destined to become a gambler, I just know it. Now every time I see this tacky yellow teddy bear with the "Sugarloaf" brand on its ear, I want to curse them all to heck. Except when Esther is delightedly hugging the stuffing out of it.

Then it is kinda cute.