Ty walked by an old 50s-style drive-in burger joint and noticed a family sitting at a picnic table finishing up some hamburgers. Ty smiled. He had found some new targets to play with.
The mother and father appeared to be in their early forties. They were a bit overweight and wore common suburban vacation clothes, T-shirts and jeans. The mother even wore a fanny pack. From the looks of it, they had four kids and a dog accompanying them.
"Can we go now?" asked their eldest, a very cute, blonde girl who looked to be about 17. She wore a halter top that showed off just enough cleavage to impress boys without being vetoed by her mother.
"Just a minute, Susie," said her father as he played around with his iPhone. "I'm looking for a better route to Aunt Kathy's house."
Susie slumped and sighed loudly. It was clear that she had many other places she would rather be than right there at that moment.
"Oh, hush, honey," said her mother. "We're having a good time. Aren't we?"
The two youngest children, a girl of 8 and a boy of 6, cheered. "I love burgers!" cheered the boy. He sported a Hot Wheels T-shirt, and jean shorts.
"Yeah," said his 8-year-old sister, dressed in pink overalls with blonde pigtails. "This food's great. And, we get to see the tigers tomorrow."
Susie sighed again. "Do we have to go to the dumb zoo?"
"Yes," Mom said. "That's one of our biggest stops with Aunt Kathy, and Katie and Billy can't wait to see it."
"Yay, zoo!" cheered Billy, proving her point. He picked up his hamburger and roared as he pretended to attack Katie with it, chomping the buns like a tiger mouth.
"Stop!" said Katie, who immediately started to giggle.
Susie put on her sunglasses and stood up. "Fine," she said. "I'm going back to the car to sleep through this dumb vacation." She walked off to a nearby van as her mother glared at her disapprovingly.
"Can I eat now?" asked the last of the siblings, a nerdy-looking 14-year-old boy wearing glasses, who had been patiently waiting while holding the leash of a sizable Great Dane. "I'm starving."
"Oh, sorry," said the mother. "Frank, put down your phone and let Alex eat."
"Hmm?" said the father, still fully absorbed in his phone.
"Honey, take Buster so that your son can eat."
"Yes, Dear," said the father as he traded places with Alex, but still kept thumbing at his iPhone while holding the leash.
Alex dug into a burger and fries as his little siblings happily sipped their sodas, cracked jokes, and finished their meals.
It was a pleasant family scene. Ty couldn't wait to wreck it.
"We should get a picture," said the mother, having come to a decision that it was time for more family bonding. "How often do you see a quaint little place like this? It even has waitresses on roller skates. Let's get a picture with all of the kids."
The father replied without looking up, "Yes, dear. Line up, kids!" His wife and 3 of his kids all lined up in front of the burger joint. He held up his phone and called, "Susie, get out here for a picture!"
"Leave me alone," she moaned from the van.
"Come on, Susie," said the mother. "Don't be a grump."
"Fine!" she yelled and stepped out of the van. She slammed the sliding door shut and stomped over to her family as her father tried to balance his phone on the table so that he might set the timer on it to get in the picture himself.
"Shoot," he said as it fell over for the third time.
Ty saw his opening.
"I could take your picture," he said as he innocently approached the family. The father eyed him suspiciously, apparently worried that Ty might run off with his precious phone.
"Oh, thank you, young man," said the mother. "Frank, show him how the phone works."
"But..." Frank started to protest. "I don't think..."
"Just let him take a picture, Frank," said his wife.
Clearly he wanted to argue and fight for the security of his phone, but he quickly sighed and relented. "Yes, dear." It seemed that years of married life had taken a toll on his willpower when it came to disagreeing with his wife.
The father showed Ty how to take a picture and handed over the camera. He gave a Ty a serious look that said, Don't even think about running off with this, and joined his family wrapping an arm around his wife's thick waist.
"Smile," said Ty.
Susie frowned a little less while the rest of the family smiled.
Ty pressed the shutter button.
Then, their lives changed forever.