Dead Batteries

The gray screen blinks out but you know it might only be temporary. Your silver plastic GameBoy Pocket is the right size in your small hands. [[turn the GameBoy over]] [[flick the on/off switch]]

There's a plastic cartridge in the GameBoy. On the back is an inscription in purple paint pen. "Property of [deadname]!" There's a latch to a small battery chamber. [[take the cartridge out]] [[flick the on/off switch]] [[turn the GameBoy back over->Classroom]] [[take the batteries out]]

Success! Wario is sailing around in a little boat back and forth. You press Start. The pipe that says "39" is yours. Don't delete it! Down down down! You might not have much time. Wario is in a canyon filled with lava standing on a small circle. Everything is shades of gray. Start start! Wario is on a minecart. You have to jump fast before it crashes into the lava but you do this all the time. [[wait! no!->Classroom]]

Sometimes if you blow on a game cartridge it will work again. [[blow on it gently]] [[blow on it hard]]

You blow hesitantly. That's not gonna work, DUH! You smack your hand on your head dramatically. You shake your head to yourself and your braid swings back and forth. [[blow on it hard]]

You take a big breath and blow into the plastic rectangle. You blow again! One more time! You're out of breath. [[put the cartridge back in]]

You don't have much of a fingernail, but you jam the tip of your finger into the little latch. It pops open to reveal 2 AAA batteries. You take them out. [[put them back in]] [[have a battery funeral]]

Ok fingers crossed. [[flick the on/off switch]] [[turn the GameBoy over]]

You blow on them just to be safe. You switch them around and put the bottom one in the top slot and vice versa. You close the latch. [[flick the on/off switch]] [[turn the GameBoy over]] [[take the cartridge out]]

You reverently take the two tiny batteries out and hold them in your hand. There's a tissue in the classroom in case someone has a cold. A shroud. "My batteries are dead," you announce. A boy with two-toned shorts that look blue in some lights and purple in others chuckles. "I am going to bury them." A girl, known now as another boy in cargo shorts and a large T shirt, nods. Another girl is laughing. It's the kind of idea she might have come up with herself. [[time to say goodbye]]

Your playground is just a patch of dirt. The perfect place to dig a hole to put dead batteries in. You and your friends climb the hill. Do they have any words of rememberance for your GameBoy batteries? The boy had grabbed the whole thing from you to beat a level you couldn't finish fast enough for his taste, so he must have something to say. The girl had been playing with some tokens on the ground so she is just along for the ride. The other girl doesn't bring her GameBoy to class but you know she prefers Zelda. [[jk you can't litter like this]]

Burying the batteries in the ground would be bad for the environment, probably. Plus maybe you can get them to work. [[try again->Classroom]]