The Girl: A Good Sunday

June, 1996
Boynton Beach, Florida

I’m tired of the Aladdin demo I’m playing. It always cuts off in the middle of a swing, just when I get Aladdin to the end of the level. Still, it’s all I’ve got. Mom won’t let me and Owen have a Sega, or a Super NES. She says they’re too expensive, and we shouldn’t focus on garbage like that anyways. I don’t think video games are garbage. I think they’re fun.
Eventually, I get sick of Aladdin enough to walk away and take the escalator downstairs. I always try to remember the name escalator every time I use it. Because I forgot the name escalator, I was only skipped to third grade, and not to fourth when Mom let me start going to school. I try not to forget important things.

I walk out of Sears, and walk in KB Toys. I try not to look in there too much anymore. Mom won’t buy me anything I want, so I stop asking. All I get for Christmas is clothes, and I don’t get anything for my birthday because it’s so close to Christmas. Not even a cake. I walk through the aisles of KB Toys a little, but everything here is kid stuff. I don’t want a hula hoop, or a troll doll. I want a Super Nintendo so I can play Mario Cart and Star Fox and Killer Instinct.
Killer Instinct makes me smile. I can play as a girl in Killer Instinct, and she looks almost real. Not like Chun Li in Street Fighter. She’s a little scary too. I can’t really see her face, but that makes her really cool. B. Orchid is a spy anyway, and you’re not supposed to see spies.

I decide to go the arcade and play Killer Instinct. Mom gave me a lot of money today. Four whole quarters! I know the money won’t last long. I’m not very good, and everyone I play against is always a boy, and always older than me. But this time I can put more quarters into the machine if I die once.

I walk down the middle of the Boynton Beach Mall, and no one notices me. When Mom started leaving me on my own, she used to be worried about me, but now she’s gone for hours, and I’m always okay. She’s probably in JC Penney, but she never buys anything. I can find her by listening to her keys jangling from her lanyard if I need to find her.

I never need to find her. Nobody messes with me, and she never gives me more money for Killer Instinct anyway. There was one time I couldn’t find her for five hours, but that was a long time ago. I’m ten now. I’m big enough not to get lost anymore. Mom knows I’ll either be in Sears playing demos, or in the arcade. Every place else is boring.

When I get to the arcade, I notice a new machine. It’s Killer Instinct 2, and it has better graphics and everything! I’m so excited, I put in my first two quarters without looking at the opening video. The announcer’s voice is really loud when I choose Maya. Maya has really big boobs, and she has yellow hair and a yellow bikini. She seems to be almost real. When the fight starts, I have to fight Orchid immediately. Orchid looks realer than she was in Killer Instinct. Her hair is longer, and she looks really pretty. I guess since her cover’s blown, she can show her face. I punch the buttons furiously with my fingers, and I beat her!

I feel happy. I’m usually never this good. My next fight is with Tusk. He looks like Maya’s twin brother. He has yellow hair, but he has a dragon tattoo on his back, and a long heavy sword. I beat him too.Next up is Glacius. He’s a scary alien made of glowing ice. I fight hard, but he isn’t easy like the others. I lose. I don’t feel bad about losing. Since the video game is brand new, I’m already in the top five scorers, one of the best of all time. I think it’s cool, and I stand there and watch the opening movie replay my score again and again until my eyes get tired.

This was a good Sunday, and I don’t beg Mom to stay longer when she finds me in the arcade and tells me it’s time to go. Any day I can be good at something is a good day.