I guess, I was hungry, because not only did I eat that entire Chilidog, I also ate every last fry and all of the pickle wedges. I even licked the plate clean! I don’t think I have ever in my life had a Chilidog as good as that one. The cheese, the chili, the dog, they were all so… well, so good!
It wasn’t until I was guzzling down the last of the chocolate milk, that it dawned on me, that Micah had just seen me wearing nothing more than a GoodNite. I didn’t have on a shirt, socks or pants! That little revelation only added to the humiliation that was already coursing through my veins and pounding against the inside of my skull.
Sleep quickly overtook me there on the floor. The following morning I was awakened by Micah, coming in to get the tray.
“Al-ben! Al-ben!” she said, gently shaking my shoulder.
Groggy and yawning I opened one eye and asked, “Is it morning already?”
“Al-ben catch death chill sleepin’ on floor all necked.” She said, but I guess I was still too sleepy; either that or I thought I was dreaming, because I had re-closed my eye and gone back to sleep.
I only awoke again When Mom was pulling my covers off my head and telling me that it was time to get up for school. I was back in my own bed and I could only assume that Micah had put me there.
What was even odder, even after drinking that big glass of the chocolate milk, I hadn’t wet my GoodNite.
“Mom!” I gasped with excitement while leaning against the edge of the bed. “I didn’t wet the sheet last night!”
“Oh Alvin, that is wonderful!” she said and then gave me a congratulatory peck on the cheek.
“Mom?” I said, as the previous day’s events flooded back into my conscious mind.
“Yes sweetheart?” she said while making up my bed.
“I don’t ever want to go back to that school again.” I griped.
“Alvin, I have never known you to run away from a challenge. What sort of mom would I be, if I let you run away from this one?” she said.
“Mom this isn’t a challenge! Surfing is a challenge! Not wetting my sheets is a huge challenge! But going to school today isn’t a challenge; it is going to be everyone in my school laughing at me and making fun of me.” I whined.
“Alvin, even if one or two of the kids find out, in a few days, no one is going to even remember.” She said.
I crowed out with, “Moooom! Something like this will never go away!”
But no matter how much I whined or pleaded, I couldn’t change her mind and I had to go to school. What was worse was that she somehow talked me into wearing a GoodNite to school under my clothes.
