Chapter 2 McDonalds

      Harveyville was just as hot and muggy as the rest of Greenfield was this day.  Now in this certain older neighborhood of Greenfield around a busy business strip district, along drove an aging and rusty white 1985 Honda Civic with Harrington state license plates for Greenfield's locale of Alamy County.  Inside were the Johnson family; the father Dean who was driving, his wife Naomi sitting beside him, and their two sons in the back seat- Justin age fourteen, and Curtis- age seven.  Also in the back was the boys' Grandmother, Naomi's mother, who was living with the family for health but mostly financial reasons. Dean was the pastor at a small Messianic Authoritarian church in that general part of the city, and by the age of their junky car and the clothes they wore- it showed.  Dean wore a white short sleeved dress shirt with a tan-orange pattern necktie with a brown dress belt and tan dress slacks.  His old brown dress shoes of course covered up the threadbare bottoms of his brown dress socks.  Dean had medium light skin,  neatly combed reddish brown hair, green hazel eyes, was clean shaven, and he was of skinny build except for some noticeable belly pudge.  

     His wife Naomi wore a white floral pattern short sleeve dress that came down to right below her knees, white high heeled dress slippers, a beaded necklace, and on the top of her head, she wore a small white bonnet cap required of all Messianic Authoritarian women and teen girls.  Her dark brown hair was cut short, also as required by the Messianic Authoritarian Church of all Women and older teen girls.  Naomi wore her makeup today, something that the church mandated that could only be worn for church or a few other occasions. Naomi was of rather chubby build with a fat belly, had very fat and roundish facial features, brown eyes, and was not exactly very attractive.  In all honesty, she was pretty darn ugly- her chubby and sagging clammy white skin with occasional moles did not help matters any for summer looks.  She also had a large mole right beside the bottom of her nose on her fat pudgy face.

    Fourteen year old Justin sat in the back seat on the left side of the car beside his younger brother Curtis.  Very skinny and pale skinned with darkish brown hair and greenish-blue eyes, Justin wore an oversized hand me down long sleeved white dress shirt with an ancient necktie too big for him as well.  This ludicrously too-large dress shirt was sloppily tucked into a pair of very tight and undersized dark brown dress shorts that Justin had long, long outgrown.  They were practically female daisy dukes on him and these tight little things embarrassingly pulled up all the way to the top of his thighs when he sat down.  On these shorts which were currently the only dress trousers he owned, he had an old black dress belt that could probably crack and break any day now.  His black dress shoes were too small on him and it made his feet hurt and his black dress socks had a hole in the left toe. 

   

   Seven year old Curtis sat in the middle back seat and had slightly more tanned skin than Justin, but not by much.  His short red hair was curly and he had big bright green eyes.  Like his dad, he wore a white short-sleeved dress shirt, but one he painfully complained was two small and tight on him, the opposite of Justin's problem.  His necktie was an old green-striped clip-on for kids.  Like Justin, Curtis wore a pair of boys' dark brown short dress shorts with a belt, though these were not quite as badly undersized as Justin's were.  Curtis also wore a dress belt, dress socks, and hand-me-down dress shoes, though in Curtis' case the shoes were a bit large for him.  The boys'  grandmother, 77 year old Gladys Rutwell sat in the back seat on the right side with her two grandsons.  She was thin and frail, and twice as ugly as her middle aged daughter.  She wore ugly thick framed glasses whose frames looked right out of the 1960s. Her short gray hair was cut the same as Naomi's and she also wore a little white bonnet cap on the skull of her head as required by their church of all women.  Both women's small white bonnet caps were pinned to the top of their short hair.  Grandma wore a long sleeved, long ankle length green dress with a light floral pattern on it that had gone out of style many, many moons ago.  Her rather ugly olive green dress shoes completed her outfit along with her worn and antique purse. 

    The rickety 1985 Honda Civic continued roving down the road as Dean continued calmly driving the old family vehicle.  Both parents remained calm, despite the hot muggy day with no working air conditioner in this vehicle for over a year now.  Grandma sat in her usual back seat to keep Curtis behaved, and there were mixed emotions from the boys as regard to their afternoon destination.  Curtis was excited yet Justin was depressed and mellow.

"McDonald's!" gasped Curtis with fidgety excitement.  "I can have hamburger, French fries, and real pop!"

    "Real pop" was of course referring to name brand soda like Coca-Cola and Sprite and not the cheap store brand Naomi very reluctantly bought from the local Giant Beacon grocery store chain.  The boys only got maybe one can of "Beacon Hills" Lemon Lime soda every two weeks or so, but name brand pop was a royal treat for this family.  Curtis could hardly contain himself with the excitement! 

Justin was not so whoopee.   "Why did we have to get all dressed up, just to go to McDonald's?" he grouched.  He didn't have to mention that the car was absolutely roasting on this hot nasty day. 

"Just to go to McDonald's!?" nagged Grandma bitterly at Justin as though it was an unreasonable thing to ask.

"But Justin!," moaned his mother in shock from the front seat in her low pitched voice.  "This is a real, real treat! It is very, very special for us to go out and eat like this.  After all, we haven't been out to eat in at least three years!"

   

Justin thought about all of this sadly as he sat there in his oversized dress shirt, ugly blue and tan striped necktie,  and badly undersized shorts that were very uncomfortable on him.  The last time they had eaten out as a family was indeed when he was eleven, with a bunch of relatives and cousins at a summer trip to Greenfield's zoo.  The meals and food were split and the ruling adults mandated that all the "children" only get Hi-C orange drink- no soda pop.  Curtis was trying to longingly remember this as if it was a celestial event in a former good life- he would have been four years old at the time.  Justin had once eaten at McDonald's as part of a school trip the year before; the teacher had reluctantly paid for the broke Justin's food- but Justin never told his family about this- he knew  the church had all sorts of rules about "worldliness"  and how so much of it revolved around miscellaneous food restrictions. 

  In fact, Justin had the feeling that this trip today was somehow probably in violation of the church rules somehow, but indeed his mother had taken his hint about the special meal deals on at McDonald's around Greenfield this month.    Indeed his mother had said this trip to McDonald's would be a way for the family to finish off summer vacation on this Saturday before school started on Monday at the local public schools for both boys.  Justin was going to be a freshman in high school and Curtis was going into second grade. 

    "I can have hamburger!," Curtis longingly continued to moan with unbearable excitement, as the car continued moving down these old and somewhat congested suburban business district streets that Justin was somewhat familiar with.  Traffic was somewhat brisk this hot summer day, and pedestrians of all ages were everywhere in this urban area of old strip malls, random shops, and restaurants of various vintages.   Justin nosily peered out the window down the city streets to see if there were any attractive scantily dressed teenage girls walking on the sidewalk this humid bright summer day.  Curtis' mind however was just on their fast food destination   "I can have big hamburger!"  bloated the seven year old redheaded boy excitedly. 

"Hey!," announced Dean firmly to everyone but especially the boys in the back.  "The only reason we are going to McDonald's today is because of the 99 cent small hamburger meals on sale there.  That is what we will all be getting."

"But I was hoping for a Happy Meal!" groaned Curtis unhappily.  "That's what all the other kids talk about!"

"But Curtis!," objected Dean.  "You're not those other kids!"

"What's this 'Happy Meal' thing that Curtis mentioned?" asked Naomi, who was rather clueless about such things.  "Is it special food or something that McDonald's uses to cheer up crying children with?"

"Mom," explained Justin with a blush of embarrassment.  "That's the kids meal that comes just like the 99 cent meals we're getting, only it comes with this kids toy in the bag or box."

"Oh!! Oh!! Oh!!" gasped Naomi with a loud moan as she suddenly remembered what her sister was nagging about that one time.  "Your Aunt Martha said those Happy Meals were, very ,very expensive- and very worldly!"

Curtis became on the brink of unhappily crying as he whined "But I want a Happy Meal!"

"Curtis!" scolded Dean sternly.  "Are we going to have to turn this car around and just go back home!?"

Curtis quickly whimpered into submission as they continued Driving down the busy four lane business district road. "You can have what we said you could have!," reminded Dean sternly. 

"You have plenty of toys at home, boy!" nagged Grandma angrily at Curtis. 

    "I don't like how McDonald's does their Happy Meals or whatever like this," moaned Naomi sadly.  'It's wrong for restaurants to prey on children using toys for food they have to pay for like that- That was one of the things Aunt Martha was talking about."

Justin stayed silent, as Curtis quietly calmed down as well.

    Within a couple of minutes, they saw the big golden arches and the rather ugly and rusted out white 1985 Honda Civic had pulled up to the McDonald's  drive way and slowly drove in.  Curtis' body could hardly contain his excitement with his fidgeting, and Justin began looking around to see how crowded it was.  The drive-thru had a long line of cars, but the inside didn't look so bad from what Justin could tell.   This particular McDonald's seemed to be moderately old, though not run down or anything.  Out in front was a fenced in Playland that was currently swarming with small children and watching parents- and something that all too predictably caught Curtis' eye.   Dean parked the car in one of the parking spots and shut the car off.

The five of them stepped out of the car.  It was a very hot, bright and sunny day out, though the modest breeze was a relief compared to the furnace of the old car with no fan or air conditioner.  As  they began walking into the parking lot, Curtis immediately began running towards the building- seeing the Playland obviously. 

"Curtis!" called out Dean firmly.  Curtis reluctantly stopped and jolted back around.  "We need to wait for everyone to go in together as a family!"

"But I'm so excited; it's McDonald's!" complained Curtis urgently, standing in the middle of the parking lot.

Curtis impatiently waited as the rest of them caught up and the five of them began walking up towards the sidewalk which led up to the front entrance.  Justin and Curtis began walking faster than the other three of them, as Grandma was the slowest of all. 

"Boys!" scolded  Naomi firmly.  "We need to wait up for grandma."  Justin and Curtis reluctantly did so, as soon all five of them were up on the sidewalk and out of the parking lot.  Along the sidewalk, the landscapers had planted some flowers at this particular franchise.

"Oh my goodness!" happily gasped Grandma at the flowers. "Yes, oh yes!" she continued joyfully. 

'Oh yes mother!," happily agreed Naomi to her mom about the flowers along the entryway sidewalk.

  

 Naomi and Grandma immediately stopped dead in their tracks to look at the flowers.  Justin and Curtis had almost gotten to the front door, when they looked behind them and were dumbfounded at what they saw.  Naomi and their Grandma were standing still, bent over, admiring the flowers as if they were strolling the downtown park gardens.  Dean was simply standing there by the two women, as mother and grandmother showed no signs of wanting to move on.  Meanwhile, Justin and Curtis saw a family of six walk by them and enter the front door.  Concerned about being beat by the crowds, Justin walked over to his mom. 

"Mom, come on!" pouted Justin.  "We didn't come here to look at the flowers!"

Naomi immediately cut off her soothing botanical conversation with grandma, and glared at her older son. 

"Justin!" nagged Naomi bitterly.  "I told grandma that I saw all these flowers out here while driving out here last week going to the other grocery store.  It is very, very important and very, very special for grandma to see these flowers, just like it's very important for you and Curtis to get to eat here!"

Justin moaned to himself bitterly as he quickly saw more and more people walk past them on the front entry sidewalk.  Curtis groaned with impatience as he stood by the front door, waiting on his mom and grandma. 

"But Mom!," complained Justin as he fidgeted on the sidewalk.  "I think it's going to get crowded in there if we wait much longer!"

"Justin!" scolded Naomi again.  "For pity's sake, give grandma a few more moments out here with the flowers!  Just five or ten more minutes- they're so special for her to get to see!"

"Well, certainly not ten more minutes!" groaned Justin angrily.  

"Justin, please!" wailed Naomi bitterly, "Don't rush the flowers, they're so beautiful!"

"Mom!" begged Curtis as he still stood pounding his feet in impatience by the McDonald's entrance. 

"You two can just wait!" nagged Dean angrily.  Justin sadly walked back up towards the McDonald's entrance to join his brother in impatiently waiting by the door.

Curtis had to try hard and not cry with frustration as he still stood by the door.

Naomi and grandma continued to look at the flowers as still more people flocked inside the restaurant, Justin and Curtis both getting antsy about how crowded it might be whenever they got inside. 

"Justin and Curtis!," called out Naomi.  "Grandma wants to make sure you boys see the flowers too!"

Both boys groaned with bitterness as they walked down the entry sidewalk and joined the other three adults in looking at the flowers. 

Grandma pointed to one particular flower planted along the sidewalk, making sure the boys saw what she was pointing at.

"You see, Justin and Curtis," recalled Grandma.  "That kind of flower we had out on the old farm, by the front porch before the church said we all had to move into the city."

    Indeed, several years before Justin was born, the Messianic Authoritarian church leaders had mandated that the church members, who had been previously exclusively farm or small town dwellers, all move into the big cities of Greenfield or Columbia so supposedly they could "witness" to more people and to discourage "survivalist" living.  Justin began ignoring grandma's unfolding flower story as he stood there impatiently pondering the urban mandate of the church before he was born.  This was quite the ordeal- standing around a restaurant entrance on a hot and muggy day looking at flowers while you're impatient to go in, and all the other people are indeed going in wondering what on earth is your family doing out there. 

    Justin felt like the court jester  in his ridiculously large long sleeve dress shirt with a tie tucked into his very tight undersized dress short shorts.  After all, was he supposed to be a girl in daisy dukes wearing a baggy turtleneck sweater on top- Justin didn't think so!  These old dress clothes he wore to church week after week now wasn't as bad when it was just the same few older people seeing him every Sunday, but for potential peers to see him in this would be an outrage!   Not to mention that it was way too hot and muggy for his big dress shirt and necktie around his neck!  Curtis was also getting hot out there and just longed to go inside.  Finally, Grandma and Naomi reluctantly decided it was time to move on. 

"Well, I suppose we can let the boys have their turn now," commented grandma as all five of them- finally-  walked inside the restaurant.  "I wish they had had a few more flowers out here so we could spend more time looking at them- but then again that must be awfully expensive for them to water them."

Justin sighed in disgust to himself when he heard his grandma's last comment. 

Now, Justin's fear had come true- while they were glad to be inside with air conditioning on this hot summer day, the crowds had all crept in while Grandma stopped to look at the flowers and now the lines by all three cash registers were a mile long. 

The McDonald's front counter area was jammed packed with people of all ages, most of them had come in while they had been stuck outside waiting on Grandma to look at the flowers.  Dean made sure all five of them stood together as they began waiting in the long lines for the front counter. 

"Mom!," grouched Justin.  "This is what I was warning about!  Now thanks to your decision to spend so much time looking at the flowers, we have very long lines here!"

"Justin!," nagged Naomi bitterly.  "That was very, very important to Grandma to see the flowers; now stop your bellyaching about the lines!"

Justin unhappily quieted himself, amidst all the noise of the other people crammed rather close to the Johnson family this day.  Curtis began frantically pointing at the Playland outside, seeing the door that led out there from the front counter area where they were. 


"Can I go play while we wait in line?" begged Curtis, still let down about not being able to get a Happy Meal?

"Curtis!," nagged his mother.  "I can't let you get your Sunday church clothes dirty with church tomorrow!  These are the only dress clothes you have!"

"But Mom!," whined Curtis, trying hard to not start to cry.

"But no!," affirmed Naomi. 

Curtis posture sank bitterly.  Dean leaned down, and grabbed his sons head with his hands.

"No more whining, or we will get back in the car and go back home!" threatened Dean impatiently. 

Curtis quickly whimpered into submission-again.

   

The line seemed to drag on slowly as the family continued to wait.  Justin began looking at the various menu options on the board, lettered out in glowing white lettering with accompanying photos of juicy food items he wanted so bad, but knew he couldn't have today.  There was the "Number 1" meal; the Big Mac, The "Number 2" two cheeseburgers meal, the various chicken sandwiches, and the Filet-O-Fish sandwich and their respective value meals.  But he knew he was just getting a 99 cent small hamburger meal that was the hot deal of the month- a small hamburger, a small fry and a small drink- all for 99 cents.  What use was it to lust after the other menu options on the board!?  Curtis was getting antsy.  Justin had unhappily learned to just try be patient  with such things over the years, and hoped that Curtis would soon follow suit- lest he bring judgment on him as well.

Curtis then also glanced up at the menu board as best he could over the crowds.  "Super size!" he laughed as he saw various options for the big meals up on the board.  Dean angrily looked at Curtis as Curtis frightfully looked back at him.

"Curtis!" grouched Dean- again.  "Those super size meals are worldly and are nothing to laugh at.  We must resist the temptation of such evil!"

Curtis slouched his posture in disappointment of even being able to talk about the super size meals.

After a couple more minutes went buy; things seemed to be taking forever up there at the counter with whatever was going on.  Suddenly an older middle aged lady with brown hair and a brown business suit who was standing in line behind them cut in front of the entire Johnson family and got behind the people in front of them!  Boldly and arrogantly!

"Mom!" burst out Justin anxiously.  "That lady just cut in front of us!"

"Justin, no!" replied Naomi wanting him to brush it off. 

"Hey ma'am!" called out some other people to the brown suited lady.  "You just cut in front of that whole family!"

"No I did not!" lied the woman to the other onlookers.

"But we just saw you!" objected a few of the other people.

"It's okay," reiterated Dean to these other people.  "The lady can go ahead of us.  That is no big deal," he stated calmly. 

The lady in the brown suit grimaced at these other people when she heard this.  "I told you so!" she blurted rudely as she assumed her stolen place in line.

"Dad!" pouted Justin furiously.  "Are you going to let these other people walk all over us!?"

Dean instantly grabbed his son by the collar.  "We are to turn the other cheek when others mistreat us!" he whispered furiously in Justin's face.  "Those are the rules!  The Holy Bible says we are not to resist an evil person!"

Justin sunk his face as this Saturday family outing was turning into more and more of an embarrassing fiasco!  The line seemed to drag on longer and longer.

After another five long minutes of waiting, and Curtis five long minutes of being antsy, Dean finally approached the front counter to order.  The other four of them stepped up with him to watch, or comment!

A rather pretty young blonde haired teenage cashier stood ready to take Dean's order. 

"Can you put extra onion on mine?" blurted out Justin, having eaten there the year before, and knowing they wouldn't charge for that.

"But grandma can't have onion," objected Dean to Justin.  "It doesn't set well with her stomach."

"But I wasn't going to get onion on all the hamburgers, just mine!" protested Justin in frustration.

Dean looked at Justin grumpily.  "We are getting four meals, there are five of us!  We are all going to have to share!" announced Dean coldly.

Justin looked at his dad in humiliated horror!  "What!?" gasped Curtis unhappily.

"Whaaat!" crudely mocked Dean to Curtis. 

"Can we put cheese on one of the hamburgers?!" pleaded Curtis desperately, already upset by the news of the shared small meals.

"Curtis that costs fifteen cents extra!" gasped Naomi furiously.

"Fifteen cents is an awful lot just for a slice of cheese!" grouched Grandma bitterly.

    Justin simply gave up of getting anything his way and sadly tried to smile at the blonde cashier girl, who looked not much older than himself.  The cashier shyly tried to smile back at Justin, probably sensing that this was simply not his day. 

"Please!" begged Curtis, coming closer and closer to the point of breaking out in a big sob.

"No!" snarled Dean at Curtis bitterly.

Naomi stepped in to try and sooth Curtis, who was now on the brink of crying, and totally embarrassing his older brother. 

"Curtis!" moaned Naomi in her "soothing" voice.  "If you could get cheese on your hamburger, then we would have to get everyone's extras like dad to have a larger drink and for me to have lettuce and tomato on mine.  If we were to do all that, we might not be able to pay the rent or something like that."

Curtis now gave up trying to get anything his way as well, and began bitterly hoping the rest of the outing would go better- once he got his food.

"Um...are you guys ready to order?" asked the cashier girl rather nervously- having seen the family squabbles.

"Yes," replied Dean, addressing the girl coldly, and refusing to look at her directly.  "We will have four of your 99 cent small hamburger meals, all of them plain; two with coke and two with sprite."

"Will that be all?" asked the cashier.

"Don't forget to ask for a free water for Grandma," blurted out Justin desperately. 

"No, no, no," objected Grandma to Justin firmly.  "I'll share a little of everyone's pop.  There's no need to waste another brightly colored paper cup just on account of me."

Justin's heart sank as now he even had to share his small pop with grandma! But then again, McDonalds had free refills.  This place had not yet gotten the soda dispensers in the dining area, but still- the cashiers would refill your cup for you.  Justin just hoped to God that he would at least have his own straw- but straws were available in the dining area.

The cashier quickly got the four drinks ready and had indeed gotten a filled water cup for grandma.

'Excuse me!" called out Naomi to the cashier who was about to retrieve their hamburgers.  "We don't need this  water cup!  My mother was going to share some of the boys pop!"

The cashier quickly brought out the food; four small hamburgers with "plain" grill slips and four small fry completed their order.

'Wow!" grasped grandma.  "I don't understand why they need to get everything in such a hurry!"

'Well, that's why they call it 'fast food,' Grandma," explained Justin to his grandmother. 

Grandma shook her head in disbelief.

"Your total is $4.32," said the cashier.

Dean paid for the food using a Reimarian five dollar bill. 

"This is little bit different than father Abraham doing all that work and probably taking forever prepare a meal for the three angels in the book of Genesis," explained Justin to his grandmother, trying to smile.

"But people were holier back then!" nagged Grandma angrily. "Much holier!"

Dean received the change for the food. 

"Hey, excuse me!" called out Naomi rather rudely to the cashier.  'We don't need this cup of free water, I told you!"

"Don't worry about "wasting' a water cup or water, that's what we have them for," said the cashier girl.  'I think your son or whatever wanted one."

Naomi and Dean grumpily glared at Justin. 

"I'll take this out," grumbled Dean firmly as he picked up the tray with all five cups, the fries and the small hamburgers on it.  "Naomi, can you find us a suitable place for us to sit?"

"Thank you and have a nice day," replied the cashier politely.

The rest of his family started walking towards the dining area.  Justin stopped just a second to try and wave goodbye to the one person who had seemed to be reasonable and pleasant the whole day- the young blonde cashier girl.  "Justin!" nagged Dean.  'Now!" ordering him to follow immediately.  Justin hurried up to catch up with his family.  Curtis had hurried over to the condiment counter where he saw the ketchup, napkins and straws.  Dean set the tray down on the condiment counter  as Naomi and Grandma walked by there as well.   Justin quickly joined them, hoping to get some mustard and ketchup. 

At once, Dean furiously grabbed Justin's shoulder.  Justin turned around to see his dad glaring angrily at him...again.  "You do not look at those girls like that!" Dean stammered firmly.  "That is adultery!"

"But I wasn't being..." gasped Justin in shock.  "It doesn't matter!" insisted Dean.  "It is adultery!"

Justin grouched in disappointment as Naomi grabbed some plastic knives and forks from the counter, and Curtis began filling up a couple of little paper cups of ketchup. 

"And besides," continued Dean grumpily.  "We don't need this water cup!"  Dean angrily set the free water cup on the counter, presumably for someone else to grab.

"But why?!" pouted Justin.  "I don't want to share my drink with Grandma or anybody else!"

Dean firmly glared at his son and pointed his finger, the tray of food still sitting on the condiment counter.

"The reason is not that Grandma necessarily needs to drink the pop!" insisted Dean angrily.  "The issue is that you and Curtis need to learn to share your drinks with other people!"

Justin quickly grabbed a mustard pack and filled up a paper cup of ketchup  from the condiment table as the rest of them were wondering where in the dining area to sit.  Despite the large crowds from a few minutes ago, there were surprisingly plenty of places to sit.  Even a few clean places to choose from that would seat all five of them.   A majority must have ordered their food to go. 

However, Dean quickly pointed to the table of his choice; a dirty window booth with crumbs and an empty quarter pounder box laying on the table.  The rest of them headed over there.   Justin reluctantly followed his parents, brother and grandmother over there- carrying his ketchup and mustard.  "Why on earth would they go out of their way to find a dirty table when multiple clean ones were available!" thought Justin in disgust.

Naomi started to step into the booth, as Dean set down the family's tray on this unclean table.

"Dad!" whined Justin grumpily.  "Why did we have to pick a dirty table?  There are plenty of other clean tables available!"

Dean angrily grabbed the collar of Justin's shirt and pulled his face to his, Justin feeling his Dad's grouchy breath.

"Justin!" he whispered furiously.  "We are to be humble, we are to be pious- We can save the clean seats for other people!"

"But there aren't any other people!" objected Justin nervously.  "We were the last ones to order. That's the whole point!"

"But it's the thought that counts!" explained Dean bitterly.  "My point is that we can still be humble even if no one else is around."  Justin slumped his head down in bitter defeat.

"Justin!" nagged Naomi butting into the conversation as she assumed a seat in the booth.  "There might be more people coming in at any moment!"

The five of them sat down in this dirty booth by the window.  Naomi sat down first, nearest the window.  Grandma and Curtis sat down beside Naomi on that side of the table, Grandma on the other end, so Curtis was sandwiched in between the two ladies so he would hopefully behave.  Justin and Dean sat down on the other side, Dean by the window and Justin closer to the aisle.  Naomi scooted the empty quarter pounder box over towards the edge of the table so it would be out of the way.   Dean coldly began handing everyone except grandma one of the plain small hamburgers, and did the same with the small fries.  Justin and Curtis each got one of the small sprites and Dean and Naomi each got a small Coke.  Justin was relieved to see his younger brother had been smart enough to pick up a spare straw for grandma, which he then handed to her.

"Curtis?!" exclaimed Dean in shock.  'What do we need a fifth straw for!?"

"This was for grandma so we don't at least have to use the same straws!" whined Curtis in desperation.

"No!" objected Dean.  "Put that back, now!" angrily pointing to the straw in Curtis' hand.

Curtis pouted as he crawled over his Grandma in the booth to put the straw back over on the condiment table.

"Why is that such a big deal?" gasped Justin in disbelief to his dad.

"Because that's part of you boys sharing your drinks with your grandmother," Dean explained bitterly.

Justin sighed in Disappointment, hoping no more would go wrong on this trip.  After all, they were going to swing by his Dad's church and see his two great aunts after McDonalds- not what Justin was looking forward to!

Curtis started to come trotting back from the condiment counter.  Justin began glancing around to see if anyone he knew from school was there in the restaurant with them.  To his dread, he spotted two tables of teens that he recognized from last school year- all of them had large drinks and big sandwiches or nuggets.  To his relief, they had not noticed him yet to his knowledge and dearly hoped they wouldn't see him in his badly fitting dress clothes and itty bitty dress shorts!  Curtis sat back down in his place between his mother and grandmother. 

Finally?!  After the long flower routine, the long lines, and one little fiasco after another, now only the prayer stood between them and getting McDonalds food!

"Are we going to pray now?" asked Curtis, trying to sound pious but really just wanting to eat as soon as possible. 

"Yes, we are going to pray," answered Dean in a voice plenty loud enough for them to hear.  "In fact since this is such a special meal, I think we can make it a special prayer too."

"Oh no!" thought  Justin to himself.

"I think we can pray going around in a circle and each of us say something!" insisted Dean.

Curtis moaned unhappily to himself, as Justin also grouched to himself as well.

"Everybody close your eyes and bow your heads!" loudly directed Naomi to everyone, but especially the two boys.   They all did so, everyone stayed silent as if waiting on Dean to start- their food and drink still sitting untouched.

"OH LORD OUR GOD!!!" called out Dean in a voice loud enough for the entire restaurant to hear, even the employees in the back kitchen prepping orders.  Everyone in the dining and front counter area ceased all their conversation and stared in bewilderment at this very strange family.  Justin just wanted to die of embarrassment!

"WE THANK THEE FOR THIS BOUNTIFUL FEAST BEFORE US!," Dean continued loudly.  Justin could hear the commotion and taunting snickers coming from the rest of the restaurant as he kept his eyes closed. 

"BLESS IT FOR THE NOURISHMENT OF THESE THINE RIGHTEOUS SERVANTS, AND PROTECT US OH LORD FROM THESE GREEDY DESIRES OF THE FLESH SUCH AS THESE SUPER SIZED MEALS WE SAW OVER THERE," Dean continued.

Justin began to wonder and hope this was all just a terrible strange dream, as he heard nearly the whole restaurant snicker when his dad mentioned "super size meals."

"BE WITH US THIS DAY AS WE WITNESS TO THE HEATHEN AROUND US FOR THE SAKE OF THY KINGDOM," Dean said.

Dean fell silent as Justin dearly hoped this embarrassment was over!

"Oh Dear Jesus!" wailed Naomi in a loud passion, almost as loud as Dean.  "Thank thee for this nice beautiful day, and thank thee for a nice holy Saturday, and thank thee for the flowers outside that we were able to enjoy! Thank thee that we had the time for us to enjoy the beautiful flowers and thank thee that the flowers were healthy and stayed watered!  Thank thee that the flowers reminded Grandma of the good times on the farm and thank thee that the boys could see the flowers as well!"

Justin grumbled to himself, thinking the flowers were a curse as was his mom's prayer!

"Also dear Jesus," continued Naomi with her fanatic wail, "Protect mine boys from selfishness and evil such as those larger drinks and worldly meals the evil one was ensnaring them with!  Teach them that the church stands for righteousness with regards to food worldliness, and teach them that an outing such as this is to be a real, real treat!"

Naomi fell silent.  Justin bitterly kept his eyes closed as he could still feel everyone in the dining area still starring at them.  Justin then heard his brother began to speak.

"Thank you God for this McDonalds food you let us have," said Curtis.

Justin then heard one of the women slap Curtis.  "No Curtis!" objected Naomi.  "You speak to God in holy language!  You know to use your 'thees', your 'thines' and 'thou arts' when talking to God!"

"You speak to God in the language of our Holy King James Bible!" insisted Grandma furiously.  "You do not talk to God in everyday language, boy!"

"Thank thee God for this McDonalds food that thy let us have," restated Curtis.

'Thank You Curtis," grouched Naomi.  'That was much better this time."

Justin kept his eyes closed, as he grumbled to himself as he impatiently waited for his bitterly small sized McDonalds meal- the one he would have to share part of!  Now he would inevitably have to hear his Grandmother pray, and then it would be his turn. 

"Oh Lord God of the heavens!" moaned Grandma loudly, though thankfully not as loud as his mother or dad.  "We thank thee for thine mercy and forgiveness and we thank thee for the flowers of such wonderful colors outside.  We thank thee for this rare fancy food at this fancy, fancy restaurant!  We pray for protection over the souls of our boys as they are tempted with worldliness over all that expensive food, and sugary sweet drink and remind them that thine way is the way of piety and modesty in all things!"

Grandma fell silent, and Justin then spoke up.

"Thank thee God for this food," muttered Justin as quietly as he could, but loud enough so the rest of his family could still clearly hear him.  Justin hoped his short line was met with approval by his parents. 

"Louder so the heathen can hear!" cursed Naomi at Justin.

"Thank thee God for this food!" called out  Justin reluctantly.

Justin once again could hear the loud snickering and sneers of everyone else scattered about the McDonalds dining area, even though his eyes were still closed.

Justin hoped this royal embarrassment was now over, but then heard his Dad yell again as loudly as before;

"AS WE CLOSE OUR PRAYERS TO THEE OUR GOD, WE ARE REMINDED OF THE WAY WE ARE TO LIVE WITH PIETY, WITH POVERTY, AND WITH MODESTY IN THE MIDST OF WORLDLINESS BY THE HEATHEN IN THY WORLD. HEAR OUR PRAYER, AND IN JESUS NAME, AMEN!"

Justin at once opened his eyes, and saw the whole place either snickering or groaning rudely at their family.  To his horror, his peers from last years at school not only saw him but were laughing hysterically at him! Curtis greedily reached for his still wrapped hamburger.  "No, not yet Curtis," Naomi scolded as she put her hand up to block his fingers.

Curtis groaned in disappointment as his mother opened up the plastic knife she picked up.  "Remember, Grandma needs a share of part of everybody's sandwich,"  reminded Naomi to him.  Naomi unwrapped everyone's hamburgers so they were all sitting unwrapped with the wrapper spread underneath them.   Naomi  took Curtis' sandwich first began cutting about a quarter of his precious hamburger off as Curtis began whimpering with fear as to how much his mother was going to take.

"Render unto grandma!" Justin unhappily thought as his Mom finished cutting off a slither of one quarter of Curtis' hamburger and gave it to Grandma, placing it on a laid out napkin. 

"Justin," egged Naomi.  "I need to cut off a part of your hamburger to give some to grandma."  Justin reluctantly handed his unwrapped hamburger to his mother who quickly took it.  Justin watched sadly as Naomi cut off nearly a quarter of it with the plastic knife, gave the quarter to grandma and gave the rest back to Justin.   As Naomi did the same to the other two burgers, Justin and Curtis began putting some ketchup on their hamburgers, or the three quarters of them that still remained. 

Grandma watched in displeasure as she saw what her grandsons were doing.

"Oh I hate to see them douse ketchup all over a fancy meal such as this!" gasped Grandma sadly.  Justin added mustard to his burger as well.

"Oh ketchup wetchup!" mocked Dean to his boys.

Naomi took some of the fries in Curtis' small fry bag and handed them to grandma who of course had none of her own.  Curtis winched in pain as his mother took another small fistful of his fries and gave them to grandma, about a quarter of them altogether.  Curtis then bitterly wrapped his hands around his bag of small fries, grimly determined that no more shall be stolen!  Like a miner with a bag of pure gold, "my precious!" he thought!

Justin took a bite out of his hamburger.  At long last!  More than a year since eating any pre-prepared food from any kind of a restaurant joint! 

As everyone began eating, Curtis picked up his hamburger only his elbow hit his small sprite, knocking it on the floor underneath the table.   "My Pop!" Curtis cried loudly.

Curtis screamed so loud in horror that the whole restaurant probably heard him, though most everyone by now had probably chosen to politely tune out the weirdness family.  Naomi and Grandma instantly saw why Curtis was crying in agony.  Naomi picked up the spilled cup- nothing was left except a cup with a loose lid and straw and the ice.  Curtis' precious pop was all on the floor.  Curtis continued sobbing loudly.

"Mom, Curtis!" gasped Justin in desperation.  "They have free refills up front- they can just refill the cup with sprite at no charge!" 

Curtis immediately stopped crying in sudden relief. 

"No!" declared Dean.  "It was God's will for the pop to spill!"

Curtis of course,  then resumed his loud crying.

"But it was an accident!" argued Justin.  "That wasn't supposed to happen!"

"I think it was too supposed to happen!" disagreed Dean.  "I think God did that to warn you about you boys' selfishness!"

"Mom, Dad-Please!" begged Justin as Curtis continued crying.  "Just for once will you listen to something I say!"

"Not this Justin!" angrily nagged Naomi.  "You will not rob God of his discipline upon you- give me your pop Justin so we can share it with Curtis.  No free refills for anyone today."

Curtis stopped crying as Naomi took Justin's cup full of Sprite, took off the lid and poured half of it into Curtis' empty cup.  Justin sighed in disappointment as Curtis sighed in partial relief.  Curtis took his half-full cup of pop and began grimly cuddling it as he was his fries.

Justin began eating his food, lest anything else more go wrong today!  As everyone continued eating, Grandma tapped Curtis on the shoulder. 

"Can I have some of your pop?" she asked.  Curtis wailed bitterly as he jerked his cup away from her. 

"Curtis!?" scolded Naomi.  "Let grandma have some sips of your precious pop!"

Curtis unhappily relinquished his cup to his grandmother while Justin continued eating.  Curtis watched sadly as grandma put her lips' to the straw and took a drink.  Then another sip.  Curtis wailed silently as if it was a vampire sucking the life out of him!  Justin took a sip of his sprite as well. 

"Justin," nagged Naomi.  "Grandma needs to have some of your pop as well."

Justin sighed disappointingly as he handed his cup over to Grandma.  As Curtis got his cup back, he examined it, fretting over how much grandma might have drunken.   This was exactly why Justin had gotten the free water for grandma, which was still sitting unused and unclaimed on the condiment counter!

Grandma drank a couple of sips from Justin's cup.  "Thank you!" remarked grandma to Justin as she handed him back his small sprite. "I needed that to moisten my lips a bit after that salty meal." 

Grandma, Dean, and Naomi ate their fries with the forks, while Justin and Curtis ate theirs with their fingers, dipping them in ketchup. 

"You're not using a fork?!" gasped Grandma in shock to her grandsons. 

"No, grandma," objected Justin.  "This is finger food, you know like an apple or banana."

"What?!" stammered Grandma in almost horror. 

"Look around at the rest of the restaurant eating their fries," said Justin.  Grandma looked around in disgust as she saw no one eating French fries with a fork in the while restaurant except herself, Naomi and Dean. 

Grandma sighed in bitter disappointment as she had to let Justin be right about this.  Maybe, Justin thought, he and Curtis would be now allowed to eat the homemade French fries they sometimes got at home with their fingers. 

   

As the family continued to eat their meager fast food meals, Justin noticed through the corner of his eye that three teenage girls a couple years older than him walked in and up the front counter.  One was a brunette, one was a dark blonde, and one a bleach blonde. All three wore crudely cut-off tight t-shirts made into bare midriffs, their bare stomachs, belly buttons and bare lower backs on full display this hot summer day.  The three girls were light skinned but slightly sunburned, two girls wore tiny daisy duke jean cutoffs and flip flops while the bleach blonde wore long jeans with a belt and sneakers.  Justin began longingly looking at the bleach blonde in a  sneaky manner that he hoped his dad would not catch him peeking.  However grandma saw the girls and gasped in horror.  Curtis saw the three girls ordering food and began snickering to himself.  "Their  shirts are too small!" he laughed. 

              

"Curtis, Justin!" gasped Dean angrily.  'Look the other way- you don't need to see those girls!"

"Cover thine eyes!" screeched Grandma.  "Cover thine eyes!"

"But I think those shirts are funny!" objected Curtis. 

"Not when the one is wearing those pants!" remarked grandma angrily.  "Those jeans!  Girls and women aren't supposed to wear jeans like that!"  After all, the women and older girls of the messianic authoritarian church were not allowed to ever wear pants of any kind.  

The girls had ordered ice cream, Justin continuing to look in the girls' direction.  Justin was somewhat surprised, he would have thought that their principle objection would be to the midriff cut-off shirts- after all, even his school banned those.  But no, Grandma was talking about the pants!  The girls walked out into the dining area with their Ice cream sundaes.  They walked right past the Johnson family and into a nearby booth, Justin wanting to see how short the bleach blonde girl's shirt really was.  Curtis simply saw the ice cream sundaes they had. 

"Can we get Ice cream after we finish with our other food!" begged Curtis in desperation on this hot, hot day.

"Curtis!" scolded both Dean and Naomi angrily to him.

"After all that pop!?" scorned Grandma furiously.

"Please!" whined Curtis.

'No!" nagged Dean and Naomi grumpily at him.

Curtis took a sip of his precious pop to make himself feel better as he was once again on the brink of breaking out into another loud teary whine. 

"I also don't like the shorts that those two other girls have on," commented Naomi unhappily. 

'It's boys shorts that need to be short, to allow them to move and be active," agreed Grandma.  'It's girls shorts that need to be long and I hope Justin and Curtis never, ever wear those big baggy shorts that those gang members wear."

"We won't let them own or wear those kind of shorts, mother," assured Naomi soothingly to Grandma.

"Boys shorts need to be short, real short to allow them to move- that's what boys shorts are for," continued Grandma.  'Girls shorts need to be really long so they can cover up from lustful men's' eyes.  This is something that our society has got backwards and needs to repent of- on its knees!"

"But  these shorts are way to small!" complained Justin, feeling his tight little pant legs bare his upper thighs as he sat down.

"You've said that for months now, Justin," nagged Naomi grumpily, "and I'm tired of hearing it!"

"Boys didn't wear those big obscene knee length shorts back in my day!" insisted Grandma arrogantly.

"I don't care about what people wore in the 1920s?" insisted Justin.  "Fashion from 70 years ago doesn't matter today!"

Dean immediately yanked his son by the collar- again! 

"It does too matter-Justin!" insisted Dean angrily.  "That is where our standards come from!"

   

Justin just shut up as he sadly finished his small split hamburger that still left him hungry.  he just had to get these disgusting embarrassing short dress shorts out of circulation in his wardrobe somehow- even if they were the only dress clothes he owned since his black dress pants from middle school finally wouldn't fasten one warm September  morning.    His de-facto daisy dukes had to go!  But his mother had insisted that he wear them to everything that he had to "dress up" for- including Church and a few church gatherings and one funeral so far.

Justin had soon finished his fries, and quietly drank the rest of his Sprite- to avoid sharing any more with his grandmother, who had tried and not liked his parents' coke.  There was just a little bit of sprite left in Curtis' cup and Curtis quickly and greedily drank it to grandma's dismay. 

"That wasn't very nice Curtis!" nagged Naomi angrily, seeing him drink the last of his Sprite.  Only a few of Curtis' fries were left and Dean, Naomi and Grandma had eaten everything else.   Curtis indeed had a fortress built around his remaining three or four French fries with his hands and fingers. 

"Are you going to eat the rest of your fries?" asked Justin as everyone else starred at the seven year old redhead. 

"I want to take some home to save for later- they're so special!" moaned Curtis in almost tearful desperation. 

"They will not be good left over, Curtis!" argued Justin.  "They will just get cold and rock stale."

Curtis started groaning in disappointment when he heard this. 

"All McDonalds food and drink is to be eaten and drunk here," declared Dean unapologetically.  Curtis reluctantly, and slowly started finishing the last of his fries.  As Curtis finished the very last liquid left in his cup besides the unmelted ice, Grandma spoke up.

"I wished you had saved more of your drink for me," commented Grandma.  "I'm kind of thirsty now."

Naomi glared at Curtis grumpily.  Justin glanced over at the condiment counter again.  "There's still that free filled water cup over there," he declared.  "That will solve Grandma's problem."

"Justin, No!" nagged Naomi with bitter fury.

"We could save these nice cups," commented Grandma over their four empty small drink cups.  'That is, if the restaurant doesn't want them back."

"The restaurant does not want them back!" remarked Justin, thinking Grandma was stupid.  "Trust me on that!"

"Then they will make nice cups we could use around the house for years to come!" declared Grandma with bold naivety.

"I think I want to save them too," spoke up Curtis who for once agreed with something that his Grandmother had said.

"Mother," said Naomi.  "I am a bit worried that the boys might get too emotionally attached to these cups if we save them.  We shouldn't allow our boys to stumble into sin by fantasizing about going to McDonalds all the time when we're home."  Curtis sunk his head in disappointment.

"I guess that's a good point," agreed Grandma.  "But maybe they could be saved for special occasions, after we rinse them out."

"Paper cups were meant to be used at one meal and then thrown away," pointed out Justin clearly.  "They will be ruined if you try and wash them in the sink."

Curtis started pouting to himself. 

Grandma gasped.  "I just don't believe how they make anything to be used just once and thrown away!"

Dean then spoke up.  'I think they should be thrown away then," he declared.  Curtis started whimpering.

"Can I at least save my French fry bag?" begged Curtis, having already finished the last of his fries and wanting something to save as a memento from this rare outing.

"No!" scolded Dean firmly.  Curtis started whimpering as he longingly looked with love upon the empty grease-stained  small fry bag.

Justin began looking back at the front counter from where he was seated, seeing the cashier girl take an older couple's order.

'Justin!" nagged Dean annoyingly.  "What are you looking at over there now?"

"I should get a job here," announced Justin with a grumble. 

Dean once again grabbed Justin by the collar angrily.  "Those jobs are for people with families to support!" he nagged furiously.

"Not the girl who took our order," argued Justin.  "She's not much older than me."

"But her reason for getting a job here is obviously  just so she can have play money for herself!" scolded Dean.

"Justin!" nagged Grandma.  "You don't just get a job so you can go to the movies-no!  I don't want to see you in a job until you are married and have kids of your own!"

"Justin!" objectionably soothed Naomi at him;  "If you had a job, you wouldn't have as much play time with your brother, and when would you do your schoolwork?  Also, you would have to pay your own taxes too."

"And I heard somewhere that taxes just went up again," grouched Justin.

"But that's good!" argued grandma with passion.  "And I hope they raise them again."

Justin gave his grandmother a puzzled look.

"You see," continued Grandma.  'That's more government programs for the poor."

Justin just sighed to himself, not wanting this conversation to continue. 

"You just don't want me having any money!?" sighed Justin bitterly.

"That's because money is the root of all evil!" answered Dean angrily.

"Justin!" scolded Naomi furiously.  "Ever since we came here to McDonalds, you and Curtis have been incredibly greedy and terribly selfish with gluttony and not getting your ways!  Come on, I think we're done here now!"

"No!" wailed Curtis desperately.

"No refills, no ice cream and no saving anything as mementos!" declared Naomi sternly.  "Let's everyone get up and throw our trash away!"

Curtis began crying loudly.

"Can't we at least save the silverware?" pleaded Grandma.

"Yes mother," assured Naomi.  'That we can do, but nothing else!"

The four of them began getting up and piling everything onto the tray for Naomi to throw away except for the plastic silverware she put in her purse.  However, Curtis and Justin still clenched to their drink cups which still had ice in them.

"Justin, Curtis!" nagged Naomi impatiently, pointing to their cups. 

"But here's still Ice in here!" begged Curtis through his tears.

"No!" insisted Dean.  "Put the cups on the tray...NOW!"

Curtis began crying harder as he bitterly obeyed, as Justin put his cup on the tray as well.  

"I know your sin!" nagged Grandma at Curtis. "You just are hoping for the last drop of that sweet pop!"

The whole restaurant awkwardly looked at the Johnson family as Curtis cried up another storm and Naomi piled all the empty trash onto the tray.  As the family was about to exit the booth, two older ladies walked in front of them and threw their clear plastic "McSalad Shaker" salad containers and plastic forks in the trash receptacle near the condiment counter . 

Grandma gasped in horror at what she just saw.

"Those ladies shouldn't waste silverware like that!" she remarked angrily at Naomi.

"You're right!" agreed Naomi quickly.

"Excuse me ladies!"called out Naomi.

The two older ladies reluctantly turned around to see what on earth Naomi was griping about.

"Those forks you threw away in the trash can still be used!  If you will not save them, my mother and I will take them!" called out Naomi.

"But that's not sanitary!" gasped one of the ladies in shock. 

"Please!" begged Naomi loudly.  "That is so wasteful!"

"No!" griped the two ladies in frustration as they walked off and out of the dining area, presumably back out to their vehicles. 

"Quick!" gasped Naomi in desperation to grandma.  "Pull the trash can out and dig through the trash and let's see if we can find them!"  Curtis just continued crying loudly, just standing there over his now ruined trip.

They did so, and once again most of the dining room, or who was still left, began starring in bewilderment at these two Messianic Authoritarian women.  As Naomi's arms began wildly thrashing through the trash, she called out "Justin, please- help us!"

'Mother- I'm not helping with that!" declared Justin.  Curtis, still crying,  assumed a stance that agreed with his older brother.   Then Dean angrily grabbed both  boys' ears hardly with his fingers.

"You will both help your mother and grandmother out here!" he coldly declared to his sons as they winched in pain from their earlobes. 

However Justin was saved by the bell, or by the manager we should say.  The shift manager came out to the two strange ladies digging in the trash in a manner that seemed disgusting to the rest of the restaurant. 

"Hey ladies?" the female manager tried asking calmly.  "Did you lose something in there?"

"Those two ladies wastefully threw out two forks in the garbage!" whined Naomi loudly.

Justin just felt very embarrassed now.

The manager sighed with disapproval.  "Look, if you lost a wallet or jewelry or something, that's one thing- but you are not digging through our trash trying to find another customer's discarded disposable items!"

"What!?" gasped Grandma in horror, her hands still buried in the rather full trash receptacle.

"If you need a couple plastic forks for something, I can get you some plastic forks," reminded the manager, "but you are not digging through the trash looking for other people's trash!"

"I'm not letting people be so wasteful!" cried Naomi defiantly to the manager.  "Mother, keep digging!" Grandma mumbled to herself as she continued digging through the very full trash, spilling a few wet items on the floor.  The manager crossed her arms with disgust as the whole dining room looked on this confrontation with mockery and outrage.  Justin, as with the prayer earlier, just wanted to die of embarrassment. 

"Hey!" yelled the manager angrily.  "Ladies- I want to be helpful but if you do not cease and desist digging through our trash trying to find dirty plastic silverware, I will ask you to leave our premises!"

"Please!" scolded grandma to the manager as she spilled more wet trash on the floor, 'I think I almost found one of them!"

"No!" called out the manager angrily.  "Cease and desist you two ladies, or I will ask you to leave our premises!"

Naomi looked at the manager with shock and dismay.

"I really don't want to have to do that," explained the manager loudly "but you have to stop digging up through our trash looking for trash!"

Naomi reluctantly looked back at her mother digging through the trash receptacle as Dean, Justin, and Curtis watched on.

"Mother!" called out Naomi sadly.  "It's useless now, they win!"

"Oh no!" cursed grandma in devastation as she quickly gave up the chase for the discarded and ranch dressing stained plastic forks tossed out  by the other two ladies. 

"Come on!" nagged Dean angrily to his two boys, "let's go!"

Curtis let out a loud sob as Dean escorted him and Justin out of the booth. 

"I'm still very thirsty!" cried Curtis.  "I didn't get enough to drink!"

"Curtis how dare you say such things after that expensive pop!" scolded Naomi furiously. 


The family of five walked out through the dining area.  The manager quickly took the  free water cup from earlier and offered it to Curtis, but just before Curtis was about to desperately take it- Naomi slapped his hand away to the manager's shock.

"We are not taking anything more from you!" decreed Dean coldly to the manager.  Curtis continued crying even harder as everyone in the restaurant starred at them as the manager sighed and went back to her back kitchen.  Justin's old peers were still laughing hysterically at him as the Johnson family and grandma walked back through the front counter area.

However, just before they neared the front door to exit the building, a five year old girl quickly approached Curtis carrying a new vanilla ice cream cone.  Curtis through his red tears saw the cute smiling girl with her dark blonde pigtails, orange shorts and green t-shirt about to offer him the ice cream cone.  Curtis instantly became elated with joy, but just when Curtis was a few inches away from his dream come true- he heard the furious scream of his mother.

"No!" screamed Naomi with rage at the little girl.  'Curtis does not get that!  Bad girl!"

The startled girl took a couple steps back as her Dad walked up to the confrontation.

"Hi," greeted the man.  "I'm Dave and I'm the pastor at Green Hill Community Church and my daughter and I want your younger son to have an ice cream cone- we over heard everything from your booth."

"No!" wept Naomi with rage.  "You will not rob my son of the Lord's discipline upon his disobedience you heathen false teacher!"  Curtis, of course, started frantically sobbing aloud when his dream once again got robbed from him. 

Dave looked at Naomi with bewilderment as the rest of the restaurant could hardly believe what had come out of Naomi's mouth. 

Dean looked sternly at pastor Dave and pointed his finger bitterly.  "Get behind me Satan- you have not in mind the things of God, but the things of men!"  Pastor Dave slouched over speechless over what his Messianic Authoritarian counterpart had ranted at him.  

Justin was bitter as he saw the little girl and her father turn back away with the ice cream cone they had tried to offer Curtis.

"So I'm Satan now apparently?" Pastor Dave thought to himself in shock.

"What's with you people!" gasped one of the patrons at the Johnson family as everyone else starred on in apparent agreement. 

"Lets' leave-now!" Dean ordered to the family.  Curtis began loudly screaming as Dean dragged him out the door, Justin bitterly following them and Naomi and grandma exiting last to make sure the boys had left the restaurant. 

Once the Johnson family were outside on the sidewalk, the restaurant customers as well as the employee crew looked at each other with a sigh of relief.

"Well, good riddance; at least they're gone!" remarked one customer.  Nearly the whole restaurant , young and old customer and employee snickered in agreement.  However the young five year old girl was quietly sobbing, still holding the ice cream cone.  Her dad whispered in her ear as he embraced her, "maybe we can find another kid who you would like to give it to."

Back outside in the parking lot walked the Johnson family.  Curtis was still crying up a furious storm as Dean angrily dragged him towards the old family car.  Naomi was crying like a child as well, almost as loud and pouty as Curtis.  Grandma was speechless as she walked bitterly, as was Justin. 

"And the mean manager said to me 'stop looking for it or I'll kick you out of my restaurant!" ranted Naomi through her tears to Dean, who was only halfway listening. 

"I am very, very disappointed at both you boys for your very, very bad behavior in McDonalds!" wept Naomi angrily.  "I intended this to be a real, real treat for all of us but you practically ruined it with all of your selfish bellyaching! It's going to be a very, very long time before we even think of ever eating out again!"

Curtis was still sobbing at the top of his lungs as Dean furiously forced him into the back seat of the car.  It was quite the ordeal for both Justin's 44 year old mother and 7 year old brother to be crying like fussy toddlers at the same time, and for the opposite reasons.  At least they were now outside the restaurant as opposed to having everyone stare on at them.  Grandma and Justin stepped back into the old dirty hot car, as did Dean and the crying Naomi. 

After everyone got buckled up, Dean turned the key and started up the car.  Justin tuned his head back to longingly look at the Golden arches once again as they pulled out of their parking spot.  Curtis' loud crying still filled the entire car, challenged only by the moaning sobs still coming from Naomi.  Justin could unhappily smell the sweat of everyone in this hot car with no air conditioning and all the windows rolled up.  The old Honda Civic pulled out of the McDonalds parking lot and back out on the busy business street to go back the way it came. 

"Onto the church," Justin unhappily thought.  Curtis sobbing started to calm down slightly as Justin continued to peer out the back windshield as the McDonalds sign kept getting smaller and smaller as the car continued back down the road.  Naomi angrily turned her head to the back seat to sternly glare at both her boys.

"No treats tonight for either of you!" ranted Naomi furiously, referring to something such as cake, ice cream, or candy shortly before bedtime.  Curtis of course let his crying go back to full bore upon hearing this.   Justin pouted to himself as he felt like a prisoner in the back of his parent's car.  No freedom, no friends, and right now not even a drink of water to sooth him from the furnace of an old car on a hot summer day.

The car continued down the road towards where they needed to turn off to get to their church.