"It's a Major Award!"

This is the current batch of Mt. Dew caps scattered on Will's desk:


He's been collecting them for months and then going online and logging in "codes" in an effort to win stuff. I actually think he got a check for $5 at one point early on. If I had to guess, I would say there have been well over 100 different caps on his desk during the course of this promotion.

This is a picture of his nephew's stash of caps:


Young nephew has been staying with us for about a month and Will's influence on the 18-year-old is clear in many, many ways. This is just one.

This is a telephone conversation from earlier today between me and Will:

Me: "Hey are you expecting a package?"
Will: "No. Why?"
Me: "Something sort of big came. It's heavy."
Will: "Who's it from?"
Me: "I don't know. (Pause to read.) The return just says Young American Corporation. In Minnesota. Hey wait! Did you win something from those stupid Mt. Dew caps? That 'Young American' - that's where all those promotions and sweepstakes come from!"
Will: "I don't know. They don't tell you if you won. Open it up! Open it up!"

A frenzy of tape ripping ensues, only to reveal once I have opened the box, there is another box, inside the box. I then struggle to get the second box out of the first and rip through another several layers of packing tape. It seems to take an inordinately long time, and I am reminded of the scene from A Christmas Story, when the father's crate arrives and he struggles to get inside, then once inside he has to dig through all that hay-like packing material before unearthing his booty. AND SO... the next line from me, of course, invokes that famous line from the movie:

"It's a Major Award!" (Sadly, I think this is somewhat lost on Will who has more important things to do with his life than memorize movie lines.)

This is what was inside the box the UPS man brought today:

Will's Major Award.