Bottom Feeders

Mitchell and his friend recently discovered a new way to make a quick and easy buck: become bottom feeders.  This, by definition, is one that feeds low on the food chain; a scavenger.  And that, by no coincidence, would be the exact methodology for Mitchell's newest enterprise.

Due to my advanced motherly-radar-system [MRS], Mitchell's exploitations were uncovered before the whole ordeal could be officially classified as a major scam.  Thankfully this mommy gig
has helped me develop a keen sense of awareness-what I call "parental paranoia".  This basically means I can spot a little white lie as soon as it's uttered by any of my offspring, I know when unbrushed teeth are being falsely passed off as brushed from a mile away, and I've developed a keen eye which enables me to discern when a flagrant case of boxer fraud has been committed-which is when a child claims to have changed their underwear after being sent up for a shower when indeed the boy is clean and the underthings are not.  But most important of all, I can hear the sound of a scam a mile away.  Which is exactly the sound I heard over the weekend.

And what exactly does a scam sound like you ask?  Well, in this particular case it's the sound of a ten-year old boy rummaging repeatedly in his penny bank.  The third time I heard Connor run upstairs followed by the rattle of change, I officially raised our personal homeland security threat level to orange and launched a full-blown investigation.

After a quick minute of motherly detective work this is what I uncovered:

Connor has a Wii but spends most of his life dreaming of the day his brother Mitchell will let him get on his X-box.

On this particular day, the day of the incident,  when Connor had his friend Severin over, they spent a good part of the morning begging and pleading with Mitchell to let them play a game on his x-box.  And of course Mitchell spent a good part of the day repeatedly telling them NO.

Then MItchell was suddenly seized with the thought that here was an opportunity to make a few bucks.  So Mitch and his friend came up with the big idea to start charging the boys by the hour for the privilege of playing the x-box, which the two naive 10-year olds were more than happy to pay. 

 

Every hour on the hour you'd hear them bound up the stairs and raid Connors penny bank..

 

At first I thought it was so nice of the older boys to finally let the younger ones have a crack at the x-box.  Until I soon realized that the older boys were in another room unusually content with video games made "for babies".  The kind of video games that collect dust and are only played by young girls and small uncoordinated children, games like "Mario Party" and "Disney Princess; Enchanted Forest".  Meanwhile the younger boys were playing war on the x-box.   Hmmmmm...something wasn't adding up.

 

Then at the sound of change rattling from upstairs, it suddenly clicked...I was hearing...A SCAM.

In all, Mitch had made about 10 bucks before I figured it all out.
TEN BUCKS! A small price to pay for being a gullible little brother.

And now...as for Mitch...next time he wants to eat I think I'll charge him ten bucks for a fork and perhaps another ten for the plate.  We'll see who's the bottom feeder now!