I find myself in the passenger seat of my mom’s car. It’s a minivan, which my mom hates. “Wagons,” she calls them. She likes the added space, but not how it makes her look. We pull through a McDonald’s drive through, but once we get to the speaker the food disappears.

I find myself in the passenger seat of my mom’s car. It’s a minivan, which my mom hates. “Wagons,” she calls it. She likes the added space and the ease of getting in and out, but not how it makes her look. I was nine years old back then, I remember because it was my brother’s thirteenth birthday and he got to pick the restaurant. McDonald’s was the obvious choice. <br><br>My mom pulled the car up to the speaker. “Welcome to McDonald’s. Would you like to try a-”<br><br>“Hi,” my mom cut her off. “Twenty chicken nuggets please. And five large fries. And a large Coke.” <br><br>Then, just like that, the food was gone. <br><br>But before that was the conversation with the employee:<br><br>“Would you like to try a Big Mac with that?” the employee asked, confused.<br><br>My mom read the expression on my face. It was as if to say, did she really just say no? “Is something wrong?” she asked. <br><br>“Uh, yes.” The employee was clearly flustered. “You ordered the wrong food.”<br><br>My mom was confused. “What do you mean?”<br><br>“You ordered food from Wendy’s.”<br><br>“Wendy’s?” my mom’s eyes darted back to me, to see if I knew what was going on. I knew as much as she did. “We didn’t order from Wendy’s. We ordered chicken nuggets, fries, and a Coke.”<br><br>“Okay.” There was a long, awkward pause, and then the employee hung up. The food was still gone. <br><br>My mom pulled her car around the drive through. Once she was at the window, the employee stuck his head outside. “You ordered from Wendy’s,” he said again. <br><br>“But we didn’t,” my mom repeated. <br><br>There was another long pause, and then my mom looked at me. “We’re going to Wendy’s,” she said. <br><br>I had never eaten at a fast food restaurant that wasn’t McDonald’s, but something told me that this wouldn’t be the case today. We pulled into the parking lot of a Wendy’s , and my mom quickly ran inside. <br><br>She came out with a large paper bag filled with chicken nuggets. “We didn’t order chicken nuggets,” she said. <br><br>We didn’t bother to inquire about it, it was clear something was wrong. <br><br>We ate our chicken nuggets in the car. Either way, it was good.