Last night around 11:00PM, my mother and I were just coming back from a night on the town to pick up a few supplies at the local WalMart. It just so happened that Madden 12 was launching when we hit the store, which honestly caught me unawares since I don’t follow the franchise that closely. It was an amusing night all around, mostly due to my wonderfully strange Asian mother.
Once we were in the store, I headed toward the supplies I needed to pick up for my flight home. My mother decided to bolt in the other direction and take off without letting me know where she might be. Eventually we found each other and started to wander the store, which is extremely strange for her due to her hatred of shopping. She mumbled something about a line and honestly at the time I wasn’t paying attention because I wanted to head back to the electronics section and check out what was there.
When we got back there, there was a small crowd of about ten people gathered around in one area. I asked what was going on and one person let me know that it was a tournament for Madden 12. They also let me know it launched at midnight. So I dragged my mom to look at the game case to see what’s new and cool. She stopped and looked at the prices and was shocked. All this time she just assumed games were $20. Only if they’re on clearance, Mom!
While we were looking at the games, we talked to an employee and someone else who didn’t work for the store, who were stocking Madden 12 behind the glass. They both informed us that there was cake available for consumption. When the word “cake” was spoken aloud, I swear there was a mom shaped outline and blur where my mother once was standing.
I wandered over to where she was, behind where the crowd stood. She was asking if the cake was self-serve and one young man commented that it was. My mother proceeded to saw a modest piece for herself the size of her head. She looked so happy once she was done with the carving. The great thing was, she had no intention of finishing it because she doesn’t care for sweets. There were also free samples of men’s deodorant and shower gel lying around, a not so subtle hint to a few gamers, I thought. Mom asked if those were free too, and of course the response was yes. So we walked away from the electronics section with a giant slab of cake and boxes of men’s bathroom fresheners.
Once we were finished with the shopping and done with check out, she filled me in on the line I had missed which was fifty people deep according to her. Due to her curiosity, she asked what the line was for, and they replied “football”. She responded with her one word for disgust, “puke!” I still love my mother, even if she doesn’t care for football or apparently Madden games.
