The Pinball Champion

CHAPTER 8

It was Saturday and we were planning to hang out and go to the arcade and go head down to a bunch of other places.I woke up at 6:00 am and got dressed and put in a Tart-pop while mom was still sleeping and I had it with orange juice. After I ate I tuned into Local channel 10 new and watched the early morning reports and what was going on in the morning.They talked about what would happen later in the afternoon and the current weather.Around 9:00 am mom woke up and had some coffee and I tuned out of Channel 10 and into Channel 11.On that channel they were showing old syndicated television shows from the 1960's and 1970's. At 10:00 am I told mom I was heading out to meet Joel and Mike.I went out to the garage and took out the bike and then closed it and got on the bike and rode off.
I met up with Mike and Joel at Joel's house and we biked off down the neighborhood and we first biked around the neighborhood for a while talking about stuff and what we should exactly do that day.We got a bit lost in the neighborhood but we made our way out and we resided to head down to the pinball arcade first.We walked into the arcade and looked around at all the pinball machines to try to find one to play first.We  found a few pinball machines to play and we played a couple pinball games for a while and wandered around to play pinball games.After a while we met back up together and talked for a bit and then started playing more pinball machines and we kept walking around and played most of the games.It was around 1 pm and we had gotten bored and wondered if we should get a snack from the snack bar which served hot dogs and pizza.The food they serve isn't the best food but it's better than the food they serve at school.We wanted to play all the pinball machines and the place was pretty big so we kept walking around and playing more and more pinball machines and trying to get high scores.Eventually it was 3 pm we chose to get some hot dogs from the snack bar and I covered by dog in mustard and ketchup.After we ate our food we left the pinball arcade and walked with our bikes down to the video arcade which was around the corner.We entered the arcade and walked around the arcade for a while to find a good game is play.I found a arcade game to play which was Berserk which was that one game that killed a dude.I put a quarter in and started shooting robots and avoiding evil Otto and making by way through mazes.I got pretty far in the game before I got shot and lost my first life.I kept running around and shooting robots and making by way through mazes before I lost another life.With my last life I tried even harder to avoid the robot's shots and I moved around the mazes but was killed by Otto.I put by name in and it was at the very bottom of the chart.I then walked around for a bit more and found the arcade game breakout and I put a quarter in to play.I moved the paddle around and hit the ball over and over and got through a few levels before I lost my first life.Then a bit later I lost my second and around level 21 I lost my final life and moved on to another game. So I moved on to another game as I walked around and looked at classic games like Polybius which I don't really remember. I walked around for a bit more and looked at arcade machines and it was then I saw Mario Bros. I put in a quarter and started playing the game and defeating turtles and kicking them off the play area. I avoided the fire balls, and I jumped over crabs and hit them from down under and kicked them off. I then grabbed all the coins when I got to the special stage, and I kept making my way through the levels. During the ice level I lost my first life but then I beat the level and kept making my way through levels. After a while I got to another special stage and got all the coins and kept going through the levels. Then I lost my second life a few levels down the line, but I kept going through the game and taking down turtles. But I lost my last life a few more levels down and I went to find a new game. It was the Frogger arcade game, and I put in another quarter and started playing the game. I avoided cars and trucks and got on logs and got to the end of the first level. On the second level I avoided more cars and trucks and got on turtles and logs and got to the end. Then I moved to the next level and got to the end again and then once again. I got through a couple more levels before I got run over and lost my first life. I made my way through a couple more levels, but my log went off screen and I lost my second life. So, I kept making by way through more levels but then my turtle went underwater, and I died. I kept walking around and playing more and more arcade games. Eventually we got bored and went outside and talked about what to do now. It was 4:30 and it was starting to get a bit late, so we chose to go back to Mike's house. We arrived at the Trailer Park and went in to find his trailer which was trailer 15 in row 18.  We rode down to his trailer and locked our bikes up to the side of the trailer and went into his trailer. Mike walked over to the fridge and then open it and then closed it. Mike said "Hey, do you guys want a snack? well, we don't have any food so there's nothing to eat!" Mike said with a smile, but we knew he was dead serious about the fact they literally no food.  He walked over to a booklet of food stamps and then threw it away and said "Well, looks like Dad sold them to buy Booze and Cigarette's!" He still looked happy, but we knew he was probably covering up how bad his life was. We left his trailer, and we went to see the trailer park and to check out the basketball court. We went down to the court and saw that it was already taken over by them. Now who am I talking about well I'm talking about the Wild boys. Basically, they're just a bunch of low-level criminals like they break windows and shoplift and spray paint graffiti. There was 5 of them and we were on our way out when they noticed us. They demanded us to give them our bikes or they'll beat us up. We told them we weren't goanna give them our stuff. That's when they started running towards and we started to bike away, and they yelled for us to give them our bikes. We biked out of the trailer park and into the woods. We kept biking and biking as they continued to chase after us and eventually, we though we lost them went we realized. We had ended up at a Wild boy camp which was a bunch of trailers and RV's that were run down and broken and everyone kind of looked like they were from a mad max movie. They looked at us and started walking towards us as they picked up sticks and stones and told us to give them our bikes and our money or else. Then the others found us and soon we were cornered.  That's when I grabbed a rock and threw it at a bush and distracted them and then we biked away into the woods and out into the street. By that point it was getting dark, and we all went home, and we followed Mike home and then I biked with Joel till he got home. I got back to my house at dusk, and I walked inside and turned on the tv to watch whatever was playing on tv at the time.