Aunt Steffie Part 2

Few things rivaled the complacency of those moments. Sitting in some comfortable corner of a hole-in-the-wall restaurant filling my belly, eating with my grandmother and Aunt Steffie, two people that loved me more than I could have known at the time, and eagerly awaiting the short trip to Toy Works right afterwards.

3) Once at Toy Works (every so often Toys R Us), I walked excited but casually to the location of the desired item.

I found myself explaining the intricacies of the blue ranger and the back story of all the others, sometimes even going as far as the events going on inside my head and the 'episodes' I had going with my action figures. My explanations made it clear that I needed the blue ranger. I began getting really effective at logical persuasion, my aunt understood this every time.

4) If I ever felt torn between which one to get, or if I felt especially spoiled, I could try and delay for as long as it took to get my aunt to give in, "Okay, get 'em both. Let's go." It usually always worked.

I couldn't have guessed the transparency of my plan at the time, but I could always hear it in my Father's voice when he found out I got something new--again.

"Boy you're lucky," he'd say in an almost disappointing tone, realizing what 'I' put my aunt up to. "Did you say thank you?"

I always had.

My Mom was happy for me when she saw me playing with my new toys. She loved seeing me happy. Sometimes she took an interest in what they bought me, asking me about it and seeing what the new toy did and how it worked.