Just One Morning at McDonald's
Another fun one from the writeathon. Enjoy.
Just One Morning at McDonald’s
The monkey has been begging for hours to make a trip to McDonald’s. Ever since Mel mentioned the place early last night, he’s been begging me to take him. With the help of Tami this morning, he’s gotten his wish. We’re headed to McDonald’s. I suggested to driving to get there quicker, but he insisted on walking. This monkey’s an excercise nut and tries to exercise whenever possible. He doesn’t want to turn out like the monkey in Dae’s picture, so he’s on this exercise kick now.
I reluctantly follow him the long distance to McDonald’s. He’s got the advantage of being much more awake than I am. Apparently, monkeys don’t require as long periods of sleep - or at least he doesn’t. I trudge along slowly behind him keeping an eye on the busy road for cars that might hurt him. I don’t want to lose my monkey on a trip to McDonald’s. He may be annoying at times, but he’s still fun to have around for entertainment.
We arrive at McDonald’s and find that it’s not very crowded. There are people in line buying food but most of them seem to be getting it to go. The new McCafe menu items seem to be going over well as people try to save money by snagging fancy coffee drinks at a cheaper price. I look to the monkey, ready to take his order. The line is going to take a few minutes, but I want us to be decided by the time I get to the register. I don’t want to be a hold-up.
The monkey’s standing quietly beside me. I was expecting him to make a scene in the middle of McDonald’s. I wasn’t expecting him to be the best behaved person there. He’s standing in line looking around at all of the people. Shiny things seem to be catching his attention, but he’s making no move to go after anything. I ask him for his order and he complies easily. He wants coffee from the McCafe menu and an order of fries. He’s disappointed when I tell him that fries aren’t served for breakfast. His lids droop and his face takes on the cutest “sad puppy dog” look. He eventually stops making the face and decides to take hash browns as a back-up.
The line moves slowly but we eventually arrive. The cashier eyes the monkey suspiciously. I challenge her with a stare to make a comment about the monkey being in the middle of McDonald’s. I’m sure it’s against all sorts of health code regulations but this is my world and the monkey’s allowed there if he wants to be. She comments that he’s cute and continues to fill our order. I take everything to a seat by the window. I’m a little worried about giving the monkey caffeine, but that’s what he wanted. He can stay up by himself and bounce off the walls.
The monkey eats his food quickly and then starts in on the coffee. He’s gotten a small so I know he’ll be finished with it in no time as well. His eyes are glued to something just beyond the window. I look outside to see what it is that has caught his attention. Sitting in the morning light is a play place full of balls, tunnels, and a slide. He’s eyeballing the ball pit with a certain curiosity in his eye. I ask him if he wants to play. He says only if I’ll get his friends to come.
I ask him which friends he’s referring to and he tells me the ones from the sleepover. I tell him that it’s early and most of them have gone to bed by now. I promise him that we’ll make a trip to McDonald’s the next time we’re all together and we’ll convince everyone to play with him. It may be tough, but if anyone can convince them, it’ll be the monkey. He begs me to get in the play place with him.
I’m reluctant to climb through tunnels and play in a ball pit that I’m much too big for but the monkey’s face has me again. His cute eyes are begging in ways that only an animal can. I reluctantly agree and we head out to the play place. I take off my socks and shoes while the monkey measures himself by Ronald McDonald. He’s much too short to be playing here and I’m much too tall to be playing here. The beauty of a fictional world is that we can do what we want though, so we jump right into the ball pit.
In no time, the ball pit has become a war zone. The monkey is chucking balls back and forth across the pit. I’m beginning to think that he’s using me as target practice as I dart around the pit trying to avoid the balls. It’s not a very big pit so my attempts at avoiding the hard plastic balls are wasted. They’re going to find me no matter where I move to. The monkey has quite an arm and I’m sure I’m going to have bruises later from the force of his arm.
Lucky for me, monkeys have a short attention span. He’s soon climbing out of the pit and into the various array of tunnels connecting the pit and the slides. We climb around for close to an hour taking turns on the slide. I’m always the first one down so that I can catch the ball of fur at the bottom. The look on his face as he whizzes from the top of the play place to the bottom is priceless.
At around nine o’clock, I inform him that’s it’s time to go. I’ve grown tired and I’m hoping that I can make the walk back to the house without falling asleep. The monkey is bouncing around more this time as we walk down the busy road. The caffeine has finally hit his bloodstream and he is all over the place. I’m still busy eyeing the street, scared that I’m going to lose the monkey to an angry car.
We make it home without any fatalities. The monkey is bouncing from place to place and I can’t keep him still no matter what I try. I finally put him in a room by himself, removing anything breakable. I give him a radio, a twister mat, and some bananas and tell him to have fun. I can hear the radio pumping as I walk towards my room. Within minutes, I’m fast asleep on my bed, arms wrapped around my stuffed bear. Neither the squeaking of the monkey, nor his overly loud monkey can break through my exhaustion to wake me.
Thanks allyear_sprints for an awesome writing sleepover!