the tale of one Mack

My nephew, Micah, is quite smitten with the Disney movie, Cars. I’m pretty sure he can name every character, but he especially loves Lightening McQueen (the main car) and Mack (the 18-wheeler who hauls Lightening from race to race). When he comes to visit, Micah gravitates toward specific toys in the closet, basically anything with wheels, but his favorite is a matchbox 18-wheeler, which he immediately recognized as the same type of truck as his favorite Cars character. In fact, the last time he was here, he walked through the front door, gave me a hug and said “Hey Aunt Zacky, where’s Mack?”

So two weeks ago I was in Target (by myself, which is really rare), and I happened to glance over as I passed the toy section and see a shiny red Mack sitting there on the shelf. The real deal this time!

newmack

Of course it was the only one left and I just HAD to have it for Micah. Thoughts of him loving his “Aunt Zacky” forever flitted through my head and before I knew it I was leaving Target with just one Mack. Key here: just. ONE.

When we were in Atlanta last week I took Mack and gave him to Micah, reasoning that it could be like, an early birthday present or something. Except not. Because his birthday is over a month away, and “early birthday present” might as well be Greek to three little boys who want to know why Micah has a Mack and they don’t.

I so did not see that coming… and I don’t know why. Total Aunt Zacky FAIL, you guys.

Two minutes after Mack was successfully removed from the packaging, it was apparent there was going to be a big problem. First Jonah pointed to the Target sack and said “Mack? Mack?” which quite obviously meant “Where’s mine?” Then Jack and Jon crowded around Micah to the point where he couldn’t set Mack down for fear of someone snatching it. And suddenly an adult had to be present at all times to moderate the schedule of the solitary Mack.

I may or may not have beat my head against the table and wondered if my in-laws would ever invite me back. Fortunately they are very forgiving people, but I was still determined to fix the problem. So with Jack and Jon in tow I invaded the closest Target and begged a sales associate to scour the back for another Mack. No dice. But we did leave with two other 18-wheeler trucks of the same size and same packaging. Only one was green and one was yellow… and neither were Mack!

“What is this?” Jack asked me, as he eyed the green truck inching along the conveyor belt.

I took a quick peek at the front of the box and said “That’s Gil.”

“Who’s Gil?” he turned up his nose.

Gil wasn’t looking too good for fixing the problem, so later that night, after calling the other Target and finding no Macks in stock, Sharon and I left on a desperate search. Two Wal-marts and several phone calls (with other Wal-marts) later we returned home at 1:00 AM with no Mack. At that point I was totally suggesting we buy a can of spray paint and make the other trucks red. Eh, chasing toys in the middle of the night makes me insane-er than usual.

Anyway. So the next day we’re in the car on the way home and Jackson notices the Target bag sitting there. He suddenly decides he rather likes Gil and doesn’t want to return him to the store. So I’m like, “You realize if you open this toy you forfeit any right to complain about not having Mack EVER AGAIN.” And he’s all “I agree to your conditions. Fork over the truck and we’ll all be happy.”

And then he opens the box and goes “Mommy, I love Gil!” and I’m rolling my eyes and going “Dude, your timing...”

002 012

ps. Thanks to Amazon.com Jonah now has a Mack just like Micah’s. And Aunt Zacky may be invited back.

Comments

Karolena said…
hah, did you notice that Jack's truck is advertising "adult drip pans"? I guess it doesn't matter to him :)
Anonymous said…
Aunt Zacky!!!

Of course you are welcome here anytime...2 Macks or 1. :-)

Love, Sarah