Princess of the Duelist Kingdom
By
Rebecca Anna Coleman

-3-
Dairy Queen and Chicken Strips

Mom and I had this little tradition going on. Every Saturday afternoon after mom picked me up from whatever location across town that was hosting a Yu-Gi-Oh tournament that given Saturday, yes after the tournament was over she and I would normally hit up Dairy Queen for lunch before either hitting up the mall for an hour or three or returning home. Mom looked tired this afternoon, so I guess after lunch we'll be heading home so she could rest. I know she tried to hide it, but I could tell working all those extra Saturdays were really starting to wear her down.

“Mom, are you okay?” I said as we pulled into the parking lot.

“I'm fine sweetie, Just a little tired.” She said giving me a small, sad smile, the twinkle in her eye had started to slowly vanish one season melted into another. “I've been working a lot of over-time lately, as you can tell. As you can tell, the good news is, I've managed to save a lot of money.” She paused. “And I’m getting a lot of Extra PTO to boot!” 

I nodded my head.

“But how were you.. Yu-Gi-Oh tournament? Did you meet any cute boys? Get any numbers? Give your number out to any of them?” Mom giggled a girlish giggle.

I felt my mouth drop open.

“Oh sweetie.” Mom said leaning over the steering wheel. “Did you think I wouldn't notice the fact that you were wearing lipgloss this morning? I will say this though, I'm glad you kept everything tasteful.” She placed her head down upon the plastic steering wheel and sighed.

“Mom?” I said my eyes went wide as saucers.

“Yes, I knew, plus no boy in his right mind would be wearing shorts that short or a rainbow faded shirt that long. I mean it kind of looks like a dress on you. Plus I'm sure if I had some wedge sandals in my closet you would have tried those on too.” She said, yawning a little. Then as if this was a totally normal conversation to have she tossed out the following remark.

“I think after we eat, we'll just go home. I could use a bath and a nap. Tonight we can do something, like go to Blockbuster's and rent a movie or something. Unless you're going to stay up all night again and watch anime on Adult Swim. If that the case I'll turn in early”

I just sat there in stunned silence.

“Mom.. how?”

“Honey, you're my child, I'm your mother, I'm expected to know these things.” Mom paused. “Plus, you forgot to delete your browsing history from AOL.” Mom said, giving me a sleepy eyed look. “Gotta remember to always delete your browsing history, daughter. Otherwise your mom might stumble upon something you don't want her to know.”

I swallowed hard.

“I found out you've been researching words like 'Crossplay' and 'Cosplay' and so I did a little digging myself and I found out that 'Cosplaying' is when somebody dresses up like a character, be it from an anime, movie, or a television show. And I dug a little deeper and found out that 'Crossplay' is when a guy or a gal cosplay as a character that is of a different gender than them. Say if a girl wanted to cosplay as a Ash from.. Pokemon that would be a girl crossplaying. Same side of the coin, if a guy wanted to cosplay as Misty from Pokemon that would be a guy crossplaying as Misty.” Mom muttered half asleep.

I felt like somebody had taken a frying pan and smashed it right into my face. I just sat their in stunned silence as I peered toward mom. Wait, did she just call me 'Daughter'?!

“Wow mom, you really did your homework!” I said blushing a little.

“Pastel colors would have gone really good with that outfit too, maybe a nice pastel blue to go with your brunette hair. Now If you got your fathers blonde hair, I would have gone with pink, There is a kind of an unspoken rule in the female community well there really dozens of them. But one of them, like one that is right up there with the 'Ten Commandments' is that only blondes can wear pink..”

“What?” I said, tilting my head to the side.

“I was telling you what kind of nail polish would have gone well with your outfit. The color you paint your nails depends on the outfit you're wearing, There is a whole system to it. I don't know half of it. But I'm sure your aunt can give you lessons.” Mom said, smiling.

“So, are we going to go in or are we going to just sit here and jabber. Because if I'm honest, that one donut and one small coffee from McDonalds has left me.” Mom added quickly.

Sure. I said blushing a little as I stepped out of the car, mom followed. And like always I held the door open for her, she smiled and gave me a nod of approval. When we entered the lobby there was a huge line, and the two girls taking orders seemed swamped and the poor manager on duty seemed to be at the end of his rope. He was running around like a chicken in a barnyard, who just a few seconds ago had it's head removed by the business end of the farmer's axe.

But finally we got to the front.

“Hi,” The tired cashier said, her eyes seemed dead and void of all life and her greeting sounded like a pre-recorded greeting you often hear when you call one of those one eight hundred numbers.

“Hi.” I said blushing a little. “I would like to order one, six piece  chicken tender basket with large fries and a large drink please ma'am.” The cashier nodded her head and pressed some numbers. I then stepped aside to let my order. Mom ordered the same. Both of us seemed famished.

The cashier gave mom the total and she paid using her bank card. Once that was done the cashier handed us two plastic drink cups.

“What would you like to drink mom?” I said, making my way toward the fountain drink machine.

“Diet Cola for me sweetie.” Mom called out.

I filled mom's glass with ice, the ice was clear, cubed and looked freshly made. Not like the ice at the local McDonalds whose ice seemed cloudy and misshapen. Once her glass was halfway filled with ice I filled it with diet cola, that brown sugar colored soda seemed to sparkle with a thousand tiny little bubbles. I then fixed my own, for me. Well I had to have my all time favorite, Barq's Root Beer, which according to the green, and white “Mississippi Historical Marker” that I'd seen in Biloxi this summer, the famous rootbeer was bottled here. You know when mom and I made our annual retreat down toward the Gulf Coast for a long weekend of soaking up Southern Sunshine, feasting on boiled shrimp, fried shrimp, boiled crab, and visiting all manner of old fords that had been built back when the Spanish and French controlled the coast. All rumored to be haunted by ghosts of course. I mean what old fort was not supposed to be haunted by a ghost? Like I think if you're in an old fort, you're supposed to have at least a dozen or so ghost knocking around inside you.

“Sunny.” Mom called out. “Come eat!”

I turned my head and noticed mom had already selected our table. Not only that but she was holding two plastic baskets that seemed to be almost overflowing with chicken tenders and thick cut, crinkle style french fries. Both the chicken and the fries had been fried a golden brown and I noticed on the french fries there were large flakes of salt, that what made our Local Dairy Queen stand out above the rest of the fast food places was the way they seasoned their french fries.

I mean any time you could see flakes of salt on your fries, you knew you were in for a treat. McDonalds they just sprinkled a little salt on and called it good. Burger King, I don't think they even knew what salt was, and didn't get me started on Wendy's. The only good thing Wendy’s had going for it were those square little hamburger patties. 

“Coming mom!”

To be Continued.