I was listening to a podcast the other day and one of the things they were talking about sparked a stream of thoughts in my head that I'd forgotten all about until that moment. You see, it was about something really near and dear to me in my childhood.
Let's rewind all the way back to December 1994: my Godmother asked me what I would like for Christmas that year --at a department store called 'La Universal' in Costa Rica nonetheless. It was like totally meant to be. Little did I know that 1) she'd get it for me and 2) she'd do it in that very moment. To be honest, I thought it was one of those "what would you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?" sort of deals where they just ask you and never really do anything about it and Christmas day arrives and you go through all of your presents just to find out that Santa didn't really bring you that game of Operation you wanted so badly. You LIED to me Jodie Calhoun, you should be ashamed of yourself!
At that point in my life, I had always wanted a remote controlled racecar. Especially considering that one of my cousins had one and we always loved playing with it when I went over to his house. I was dying to get one. You see, I was a shy little dude. I didn't really want to bother anyone and really ask for that sort of thing. Those little cars were expensive back then. But she asked me right in front of it! It was as if she knew this little kid would do anything to get one. This was my chance! So I asked for it.
When I got home I was bursting with joy and excitement to try this bad boy out. I go over and open the box to start assembling whatever needed to be put together. Then I saw it. Batteries were NOT included with this one! They weren't AA batteries or the 9V rectangular ones, they wanted you to get the ones that are like four times the size of AAs. You don't get those batteries just anywhere... So little Khalu had to wait a little bit to start playing with his new toy.
By the time that I got the batteries --and by that I mean my parents, because a little seven year-old wouldn't be able to buy anything, let alone those batteries... Maybe Kevin McCallister would, you never know. So I got the batteries and tested the car out. But the car wouldn't start... There must be something wrong... Why isn't it starting? I reversed the batteries, i cleaned the metal contacts. WHY WASN'T IT WORKING!? By that time, my Godmother had left for her yearly trip to visit her family outside the country and I didn't have a receipt. All hope was lost, because I was to leave to visit my dad's side of the family soon, too.
One day, my lovely sister had a friend over who saw the car and got excited because he too wanted to play with it --my sister who's nine years older than I am, mind you. This guy was a teenager and he knew exactly what he was doing. The guy's name was... Ofir or Jafir? No, no. Jafar? I really don't remember --but Jafar sounds fitting. Hey, the guy was evil! You'll see when I tell you what he did. So he asks me what's wrong with the car and I told him I didn't know. Because why would a seven year old know anything about electronics?
Then, the words that I most wanted to hear in that moment were spoken: "You know, maybe I could take a look at it and fix it for you." I was so desperate for this darn toy to work that anything sounded really awesome to me. So I told him: "HELLZ TO THE YEAHZ." Little did I know that these words were in fact PURE EVIL. Because the dude took my car and I never saw it again!
The guy would come over to my place from time to time and I'd ask him where it was and he'd act all aloof about it. As if I would forget that I gave him my super awesome remote controlled racecar? Who do you think I am? I still remember JAFAR! Gimme back my remote controlled car!
Why wouldn't he give it back to me?
And this you guys, is how NOT to forgive someone. But it is a lesson on stealing. Don't steal you guys! It's bad, mmkay?