His Dream Birthday
It was early May and Justin Eubanks had been having a busy and stressful week. There seemed to be no end to the things he had to get done and the work he had to do. He really needed something to help him relax. Thank goodness for the Wii™! Justin powered up the Wii™, ejected the Wii™ Sports Resort game and inserted Animal Crossing™. Why did he choose Animal Crossing™? He wouldn’t be able to tell you now if he had to, but for whatever reason, that is the game he decided to play. The first thing he did, after loading his file, was check his mail. He sorted through he letters one by one—HRA—a letter from Mom—the next letter, however, particularly piqued his interest. It was a letter from Nintendo®. He opened the letter and this is what he read:
Dear Justin,
We of Nintendo® have selected you as a possible candidate for one of the greatest prizes that Nintendo® has ever awarded to one of its loyal fans. Make sure that your Wii™ is properly registered at https://club.nintendo.com then access your account to see if you are indeed the grand prize winner.
Your friend, Nintendo®
Justin, of course, was very attracted to the prospect of receiving free Nintendo® merchandise, and he went to his computer right away. He loaded his account and immediately this message was displayed across his screen:
Congratulations! You’ve been randomly selected as the winner of the Ultimate Nintendo® Pre-production System Test and Getaway! You will fly in a private jet to Kyoto, Japan where you will stay one (1) night at the luxurious Hyatt Regency Kyoto Hotel. Then you will spend an entire day at the official Nintendo® Headquarters in Japan. After that, you will be flown to a beautiful and luxurious Island resort in Oki-shotō, Japan where the new home consol system will be set up and waiting for you. The system will be connected to a VIZIO® 55” LED Television with the Bose® CineMate® Home Theater Speaker System. You will spend three (3) nights here then return to the Nintendo® Headquarters to answer a survey and give your opinions on the system. You will spend one (1) last night at the Hyatt Regency Kyoto Hotel before returning home. The entire trip, including flights, is expected to last exactly one (1) week, or seven (7) days. To accept this invitation, please reply by June 15.
Justin was ecstatic! He jumped up and shouted, “Wohoo! Shweet! Ha, ha! I don’t believe it! Chanda! Chanda you gotta come here quick! Chanda get in here!”
Chanda, his wife, entered the room, trying to figure out what the commotion was about. Sir Lancelot ran in with her barking as she said, “What? What is it? What happened?”
“You are never gonna believe what I just won from Club Nintendo™.”
“Well, what is it already?” insisted Chanda.
“I just won a full week at the Nintendo® Headquarters in Japan where I get to be the first to test out the new system! Yayah!”
“That’s great, Honey! When is it? How many people can you bring?” exclaimed Chanda.
“I think it leaves June fifteenth and, um,” He looks at the screen, “it doesn’t say how many people can go. It just says ‘you.’”
“Hey, wait. Did you say June fifteenth?” inquired Chanda.
“Uh,” he takes a quick, fleeting glance at the screen then answers, “yes, I think that’s what it says--”
“You do realize that’s two days before our anniversary, don’t you?” demanded Chanda.
“Yes, I knew that, but—”
“Then you had better make sure that there are two tickets. I don’t know how I’d feel about you leaving on some retreat without me on our anniversary.” Chanda moves so that she can read the message for herself and realizes Justin’s mistake. “Justin,” she says with a smile, “This says to reply by June fifteenth. It doesn’t actually say when you would leave.”
Justin proceeded to reply, asking Nintendo® for more information and inquiring about the possibility of bringing his wife. Later Nintendo® replied informing him that only he could go, but that the date had to be pushed back due to a major glitch in the system. They would contact him again when the new date was determined. Meanwhile, Justin waited in anticipation. He told nearly everyone about the exciting news and he became excited anytime he even thought about it. Finally, near the end of August, he received a new message. It said,
Dear Justin, we are delighted to inform you that the new Nintendo® Home Consol System is ready to be play-tested. We would be honored to have you board our private jet on November 6, leaving at the William P. Hobby Airport at 5:30 and arriving in a private landing strip in Kyoto @ 19:00. A limousine will be waiting for you to take you to your hotel. Please reply to confirm that you accept this reward for your devout loyalty to Nintendo®.
And so it was, that Justin boarded a luxury jet plane and departed for the Land of the Setting Sun—just in time for his birthday! During the plane ride he was able to play an assortment of games he hadn’t played yet for the Wii™ and for the DS™. When he checked in to his suite at the hotel, he was pleased to see that they had thought to connect a Wii™ to the plasma HD TV that sat in front of the bed. Upon opening the cabinet under it he discovered that it was full of Wii™ games—including a couple games that hadn’t yet been released in America. Although, after calling Chanda, he realized that he was starting to get a little tired. He put in one of the new games and started playing the first level. Halfway through the second level he decided to turn it off and go to bed.
Justin woke up slightly confused. This confusion, however, only lasted for a second as he remembered where he was and—more importantly—why he was there. He immediately looked at his clock and realized that it was eight twenty-five. He had requested to be woken at eight thirty so that he could be ready to go to Nintendo® at nine o’clock. He flipped on the TV then flipped it back off when he realized that he couldn’t understand anything. One of the hotel employees knocked on the door, requesting that he wake up as he had requested them to request him to do. At least the people seemed to speak English well. He showered and dressed, then went down to meet the limo. They had told him that a special breakfast had been prepared for him to eat on the ride to the headquarters. The meal proved to be quite satisfying; also satisfying were the Nintendo® themed hedge bushes that lined the driveway to their destination.
The President of Nintendo® of Japan and the President of Nintendo® of America were both there to greet him. The President of Nintendo® of Japan (whose name is just as impossible to spell as it is to pronounce) lead him on a tour of the place where Nintendo® products are born. Justin was elated, excited and ecstatic, all wrapped up into one. Every other minute he was shouting something like, “Shweet!”, “Hahá!” or “This is soo awesome!” Some employees began to wish that they had picked a slightly less loyal fan to bring to the establishment—or at least a quieter one. Others soaked it all up, savoring the praise they were receiving for their hard work. Justin was taking the whole thing in stride and enjoying every minute of it. Eventually, however, the day did as all other days had before it, and came to a close. Just before he left, the President of Nintendo® of Japan offered Justin a golden key. As to what it opened, he refused to say. The employees stood outside and waved goodbye to the one who would test and critique their latest masterpiece.
The smile on Justin’s face didn’t fade during the entire trip down to the island where he would test this mysterious system, about which Justin was unable to gleam any information from those present during his tour. They had insisted that the whole thing remain a secret until the last minute. He spent the whole trip talking to people on the phone, telling Chanda and a few close friends about everything that had happened. When they had landed it was only a short trip to the magnificent and awe-inspiring resort where he would spend the next three days. Standing at the door was the staff that would be waiting on him during his stay. Each spoke English very well, except for the chef, but he was such a great cook that it didn’t really matter anyway. After showing him his room and allowing him to get himself settled in, they led him to the double door entrance that stood between him and the new system. The doors were locked with a padlock that the staff claimed they didn’t have the key for. It was then that Justin realized that he really would be the first person, outside of Nintendo® employees, to see this revolutionary gaming consol. He removed the golden key from his pocket and, with shaking hands, unlocked the door. The sight that awaited him was, in some ways, nothing like what he expected. The room was empty except for a large Lazyboy, that looked very comfortable, a giant black bean bag that sat in front of it, a large TV, as described earlier with a complete surround sound set, and, last but definitely not least—in fact, it’s the most important part—the new Nintendo® Consol. At least, that’s what he first thought he saw, but upon perusal he realized that he didn’t see the new system anywhere.
One of the staff members handed him a controller for the TV and told him to hit play. Another staff member informed him that he could have the chair changed out for a couch, an ottoman—anything he wanted. He hit the play button and walked over to the chair to sit in it. The chair was as comfortable as it looked. The Nintendo® logo appeared on the screen and after a couple seconds a video began to play. It showed screenshots and scenes of actual game play for the system. The graphics were unbelievable! They made the PS3’s images look rough. One particular clip caught his eye; it was a cut scene from a new Legend of Zelda® game! He could see every single detail in the shot. The individual hairs in Link™’s head blew in the wind. His muscles flexed appropriately with each swing of his sword. The backgrounds and landscape were breathtaking. The sound was so clear that Justin actually turned his head when he heard He wished it just stay on one game for a while but the scenes kept changing faster than he could keep up. Throughout the whole video it never once stated the name of the system. Finally the screen displayed a message as it was read aloud, “Open the cabinet below the screen.” Justin suddenly realized why he hadn’t seen the new system anywhere. It was hidden underneath the TV. He opened the doors to the cabinet, and as he did so, the screen gave him his next command. “Pull out the retractable shelf.” He looked at the screen and saw a graphic displaying how the shelf on which the system lay could be pulled out on hinges so that he could see it. As he extended the shelf he got his first look at the object he had travelled so far to see. It was a jet black color and yet, because of the way light reflected off of it, it almost seemed to be a screen itself. It was in the form of a perfectly smooth sphere. A pair of gloves were sitting beside it. One glove had an “R” on it and the other glove proudly displayed an “L”. Sure enough the video explained for him to put on the gloves. Each fit, well, like a glove—figure that. He sat down on the bean bag, ready to begin. The screen then told him to put on the goggles. At first he was confused, but then he saw them. A pair of goggles sat on the other side of the sphere. He didn’t have to leave his seat to pick up the goggles. He put the goggles on and was shocked to see that he could see the video through them in the exact same detail that he had seen on the TV screen. The video then told him to place his hands on the sphere and as soon as he did so—
He just stood there—blinking, with his jaw dropped. The tall, golden grass was waving all around him. He saw birds flying off in the distance. Mountains lined the horizon on his right. The grassy plain continued on in front of him as far as his eyes could see. As he turned around he was greeted with a forest off in the distance. He looked up. The sky! He was amazed by the vivid colors he could see there. He saw the contrast between the light blue of the sky and the white clouds that speckled it on one side. The sun was too bright to look at directly but it wasn’t too hot that he was uncomfortable. He could hear the breeze! He could actually hear the breeze blowing waves through the grass. Suddenly he heard hoof beats toward his right. He looked and was astounded by the sight that met his eyes. A lone rider was galloping towards him. The rider was wearing green and had a sword and shield strapped to his back. The horse, the horse was a magnificent creature—so powerful with muscles bulging and flexing with each step, and yet as graceful as the wind itself. Then he spotted a second rider in pursuit of the first. This rider was mounted on a large black horse covered in frightening black armor. The man riding it was a large and fierce man, bearing equally frightening and equally black armor. A sneer wrapped across the knight’s face so boldly that Justin could see it from where he stood. It was only at that moment that his mind finished piecing things together. That was Ganadorph™! Which meant that the first rider had to be—yes it was—Link™! Suddenly Link™ pulled a bow from, who knows where, and notched an arrow from a quiver that Justin must have overlooked earlier. Justin held his breathe as Link™ notched the arrow, drew back, and let fly. The arrow soared toward Ganon™. The sorcerer must have seen it coming. He lifted his arm with his hand toward the arrow. What looked like purple fire suddenly shot from his hand. The ball of fire met the arrow in the air and completely incinerated the whole thing as it passed. Then, as Ganon™ passed Justin, he held out his hand toward Justin and launched a second volley of the mystical flame. Justin didn’t have time to react as the fire hit him dead on and—Nothing. No light. No sound. No feeling. Just nothing.
Juuuuuuustiiiiin,
Juuuuuuuuuustiiiiiiiiiiiiin,
Wake up Justiiin.
“Justin wake up! We’re going to be late.” Justin slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times as light flooded into them. He saw Chanda standing at the foot of the bed. “Come on, Justin. We need to be going soon.”
It was a dream. It was a birthday dream. Perhaps it was even one of the best dreams he had ever had. Yet, still, it was only a dream. The END???
Here’s to you and thirty years of life on this earth. Maybe one day there will be a system like the Nintendo® Dim3nsion. Until then, sweet dreams and dream big!