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Cain Garcia

English 12

Ms. Acosta

28 September 2021

Child’s Play

Children screaming and animatronics singing, Cesar, Johnny, Marvin, and I run off in

search of tickets and fun. We were not able to get any help with the arcade machines and win

more tickets. We entered the Chuck E Cheese hoping we were going to win as many tickets as

we could in order to get a toy that we wanted, but instead we walked out empty handed with

angry parents. In search of something materialistic, I found a valuable lesson that will last longer

than anything coming out of Chuck E Cheese.

At the end of May, I was dragged to the Chuck E Cheese by my siblings in order to

celebrate my little brother's birthday. I wasn’t really excited since I was given a notice the day of

the party. I was already frustrated since I had plans with my friend group, Cesar, Johnny, and

Marvin. We had been best friends since first grade which made me not want to bail on them so

my father let me invite them to go to Chuck E Cheese.

While we played on the machines, we were able to get ten or twenty tickets each game

we would play.

“Take this basketball and go on top of the ledge to keep scoring” Johnny said

¨Alright keep a lookout for any workers¨, Marvin smiling as he runs to the ledge and

climbs on top where he begins putting the ball through the sensor but not letting it go.
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¨Should I go eat while they do this?¨, I thought as I hesitated to look for workers

¨Hey Cain, grab those tickets!¨, Marvin yelled

I began filling up my bag with tickets, people around the Chuck E Cheese looked at

Marvin as he was casually on the ledge scoring every second. The bag was filled with tickets so I

went to grab another bag. I ran to my parents to give them the bag of tickets and quickly ran back

with another bag as I was overfilled with joy. I got to them and began filling up the bag, but

Marvin started to become tired so he switched with Cesar.

We filled up about 4 bags of tickets, one for each of us. I was excited that I finally had

enough tickets to get myself the Nerf Crossbow that hurt whoever would get hit by the plastic

arrowhead. Johnny is planning on getting himself candy since it would ¨last longer¨, I didn't pay

any mind because I believe that I would take care of mine which would make my option last

longer. Cesar is planning on getting himself some candy and a couple of small toys for himself to

enjoy. Marvin decided that he was going to save his tickets and continue to get more so he could

get himself the most expensive item, a super plane launcher and a mini air hockey game, both

4000 tickets. Cesar and Marvin told us to meet them at the same spot where we helped ourselves

to free tickets. Johnny and I decided that we wouldn't help Marvin and Cesar get more tickets

since we were satisfied with our prizes as well as hunger striking down on us.

Johnny and I enjoyed ourselves a pepperoni pizza as we waited for Cesar and Marvin.

About 30 minutes passed by and we saw them with four bags filled with tickets, two for each

other. We didn't pay any attention as they made fun of us for not having as many tickets as them

because we decided not to buy some and help them. Johnny and I felt weird, as if people were

staring at our area where we had our tickets, but we didn't care since we kept a look out and
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made sure there wasn't any trouble that would take out tickets. Marvin and Cesar bought their

prizes with the tickets they got, Marvin got his plane launcher and air hockey game. Cesar got

two blow up hammers, two Smarties Giant Candy Rolls, and some Airheads. We smiled as we

enjoyed our prizes, laughing that we had gotten away with a massive amount of prizes without

getting caught. We then saw a man walking towards our table, he was wearing something

different from the other employees. We ran off into the playhouse where we spent some time

playing where we forgot about the man.

We decided that we were going to go back since we were tired and hungry again. As we

walked back, Marvins mother grabbed him by the arm, where we followed and questioned why

his mother pulled him away from him. As we arrive at the table where all the adults are, we see

the man we had seen walking up to our prize table talking to our parents. The man said that he

had seen us from the beginning, and was waiting for us to buy our prizes before confronting us.

We were mad to give back our prizes, but the lucky part was us not being told to leave. My

parents were furious since I never had done anything like that before, so they decided that we

were going to go home. I noticed that my brother was sad about leaving which made me feel

really bad. I forgot that I had some tickets in my cargo pants pocket, which I then gave to my

brother. My brother bought himself a toy dinosaur. I felt a bit better since he forgave me, but I

still had to deal with my parents. I wasn't allowed to go out for 2 weeks and had to do more

chores than expected, but that didn't hurt more than the workers leaving with the prizes that we

spent most of our day trying to get.

Although I did not win anything, I realized that I would have enjoyed the day better if I

did not do anything and just hung out with my family. I learned that although something that
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seems right at the moment for you, may not actually be the right thing to do and to point out any

flaws instead of exploiting them. I didn’t go home with anything, but with angry parents and our

leftover food that we had to take home because we left early. I went home shocked, but glad I

realized that it is best to do things the right way because the truth always comes out.