When Simon returned home, he was a little apprehensive, because he already expected his sister to either spam call his phone or to be there directly, after causing such a large commotion during the day and spending so much money recklessly.
Just as he expected, the lights of the apartment were turned on when he returned home. When his bodyguard stepped outside of the apartment, after making sure everything inside was safe, he thought to see an ounce of pity in his eyes. A little confused, Simon made his way inside the apartment, after seeing off his guards.
When he laid eyes on the woman waiting for him, he finally understood why Dennis Miller was looking at him this way. An elegant woman was sitting in his living room, slowly swirling a glass of his most loved wine in her hands. The young man would never not recognize who she was, because her name is Lisa Smith, his dear mother. When the woman noticed her younger son slowly coming into the room, she put her glass on the glass table, producing a piercing noise.
"Look who's there. Mister Simon Smith himself. Did you have fun today?" asked Lisa, looking directly into her son's eyes.
After pulling of his jacket, he casually placed himself right next to his mom, leaning his head on her shoulder and hugging her from the side. Like they did a thousand times before, out of habit Lisa reached out her right hand and slowly stroke Simon's hair back. The atmosphere was very calm and peaceful for a second. After a minute spent in silence between the elegant lawyer and her most troublesome child, the quietness was broken by Simon first.
"Are you angry with me? Because I caused such a large commotion, or because of the ten million I blew today?"
Lisa didn't expect her son to react to her ironic question, because every time he did a mistake in the past, he would always just try and snuggle his way through. From past experiences she mostly gave up trying to educate her youngest child, because he was headstrong and wouldn't even give in an inch, if he truly made up his mind. Fortunately, most of the time his seemingly stupid decisions turned out just well in the end. Even her own father himself, his grandfather, just let Simon be.
"As long as he doesn't make a major mistake, just leave him alone until he fails once. If you try to correct him all the time, he will slowly feel disgusted with your influence in his life", her father once said to her.
Somehow Simon never really failed, yet. This feeling of never being able to educate her youngest son left Lisa a little unsatisfied as a mother. She never experienced this with her two older children. They were both exceptional, but still found themselves at loss during their early teenage years.
Instead of trying to correct Simon's life choices, she would rather ask him for his thought process.
"Why did you want to impress Sarah this way? You've known each other for a year and are in a stable relationship. I just don't get why you are behaving like this in front of her today."
This time Simon couldn't help but chuckle. When he noticed his mom trying to pinch his ear he moved his head away quickly, trying to explain himself.
"Mom, as a lawyer one of your finest crafts is to inspect and observe the situation. Impressing Sarah and giving her a beautiful day was just a side effect of what I really wanted to achieve. Try to leave Sarah out of the equation. What goal did I really have?".
Now it was Lisa's turn to be stunned. Her son was right to some extent. When it was a matter concerning her children, she lost her skills as a lawyer for a second. Simon didn't do any pointless things before. If he didn't do it for Sarah, there were only two additional people present today. The server of the clothing boutique and a young man she didn't know before. Certainly, her son wouldn't want to impress a random girl in front of his girlfriend, by spending a huge amount of money for his girlfriend. The only option left was the unknown boy. But Lisa had no information about him at all.
Seeing the confused look on his mother's face, Simon decided to tell her what happened today. After listening to her son's explanation, she understood the cause and effect, but the confusion did not disappear.
"What's going on with this Howard Schultz? A random guy on a basketball court prompted you to spend ten million $ on luxury items? You can't be serious Simon?" Lisa asked worriedly. The behavior of her youngest son seemed unusually impulsive.
"Well, I do value him a lot, indeed. But I was also very grateful for him, because he gave me inspiration for a future project for Atari, that will be worth a lot more than the ten million I used today to give him a lesson and leave a lasting impression." Simon explained, grateful for his decision to observe Howard at the basketball court. His play awakened the memory of one of his favorite arcade games of his previous life, NBA Jam.
NBA Jam was one of the first real playable basketball arcade games and was the first game to be officially licensed by the NBA. Furthermore, it was also one of the first sports games to feature real teams, real players, and their real digitized likenesses. However, the unrealism of the game was the major drawing point, as the high-flying dunks, often featuring players jumping twice their own height in the air while making highly acrobatic slams, were the games' signature.
Of course, seeing NBA superstars like Hakeem Olajuwon, Karl Malone, David Robinson, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O'Neal flying through the air with the greatest of ease brought just as many fans back. In time, players discovered another major feature of the game, as it was filled with easter eggs, special features and players activated by initials or button/joystick combinations.