Pokemon Wars

I wake up in the morning, shower, eat breakfast and brush my teeth. After a sufficient amount of time spent putting off the inevitable, my feet send me out the door and I'm on my way to a typical day. My classes pass quickly enough, and then I'm off to the IT labs either teaching classes or preparing lessons. Usually Daniel threatens to kill me at least once, James Speirs sings me a song or two and makes odd remarks, while Adriane comments on the side effects of pregnancy and rotates through various shades of green. If Dave Crest talks about anything, it's usually in reference to the Dollar Club, and Annie and Meagan laughing from the other side of the office is all I can make of their conversations. I teach my last class or finish up another lesson plan, and leave the office at exactly 4:30pm. Sounds relatively normal, doesn't it? Just wait...

The moment I walk in my apartment door a frenzy of activity breaks forth. In an instant work clothes have been replaced with baggy jeans and t-shirt. An apple for dinner, the door slams shut, car engine roars and the adventure begins!

On the road, my apple hangs from my mouth like a stuffed pig, and I wonder what other drivers must think as I battle my way through the afternoon traffic.

I pull in front of the Stewart household at 5:15pm, bag the cornstarch and food coloring I brought along for emergencies and leap from my car. Wait! I run back to the car to dig "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" out from under the passenger's seat. READY.

The door opens and my hands fly forward for protection against 80 lbs of airborne hair and saliva. When Cocoa (a half husky, half german shepard mutt) decides he has sufficiently slimed me, I battle my way alongside him into the house. Mica is crouched in attack position on the back of an armchair. He cocks his head at me, wrinkles his forehead, and sticks out his lower lip. "SQUAWK!" He leaps head first onto the ground and hurls himself down the hallway on all fours. Perhaps this is a dragon, or maybe a dinosaur? Whatever he is, he doesn't speak English (unless of course it is "Language 2" which consists of English words interspersed with various bodily noises).

Once her brother has vanished, Sedona approaches. She reaches for my hand and pulls me into a kneeling position. "Can I show you something, please?" She whispers in my ear. "Okay" I whisper back and she guides me through the kitchen, down the stairs, into her bedroom. "Look at my new pony!" and she proudly holds up her prize. It's more special than all the others because it's fuzzy and pink- just like the rest of her bedroom.

Back upstairs we go. The dinosaur/dragon (otherwise known as Mica) has now remembered his native "Language 1" (English without the bodily noises) and has converted back into a little boy. He wants to play Pokemon. I need to make their dinner and Sedona has to do homework. Mica goes into the living room and chooses the cards for his deck.

As we eat our dinner, Sedona has a fit of giggles. I don't know what she is giggling about, but my goodness she's cute. Mica insists that we hurry and eat faster so we can play Pokemon. Sedona has seconds, and I battle with Cocoa to keep his head off the table.

Bath time. Thank goodness they both love baths. Sedona goes first while Mica helps me choose my deck. I've never played Pokemon, but I have a strange feeling that Mica might not be telling the truth when he hands me a card with 30HP and promises that it's the best one in his whole collection. His cards each have 180HPs, but I hide my suspicion.

Sedona comes out of the bath and Mica goes in. After three or four different attempts to brush her hair, Sedona finally holds still and lets me do it for her. My attempt at a french braid goes terribly wrong and I give up and make a quick little braid at the nape of her neck. It'll do.

The Pokemon wars begin after Mica has his pajamas on and both have taken their medicine. As my instructor in Pokemon, Mica explains the rules to me as we play. I soon realize that all 300 plus rules being explained to me may be condensed into two. They are as follows:

Rule #1- Mica will win.
Rule #2- All rules may be sacrificed to Rule #1.

Bedtime saves me and my Pokemon cards from immanent destruction. I love bedtime! Piggy-backs down the stairs for Sedona, and Mica turns back into the dragon which greeted me when I arrived. Fortunately, even dragons like stories. When teeth are brushed, I pick up my book and we huddle together on Mica's bed. The dragon has turned back into a boy; Sedona is a snuggler and wants to be held while I turn pages and read aloud from "The Mouse and the Motorcycle".

Then Sedona goes to her room, Mica stays in his. "Will I see you tomorrow?" "Yes, I'll see you tomorrow." I go upstairs and wait for Mom to come home.

When I finally return to my own apartment, it is nearly 11:00pm. I hang my keys on the wall, and my coat goes in the closet. My alarm is reset for 6:00am, and as I put my head on the pillow, I go to sleep with a steady stream of thought running through my mind: "If I'm ready for the day tomorrow by 7am, I'll have two hours before my first class. If I study Shakespeare 1/2 hour, I can study poetry for 45 minutes, then I can go to class and after my class I'll have an hour to prepare before I teach excel and then I can.........."

The alarm goes off, I'm out of bed, and the cycle continues.