Two Days Too Much

Kiki can honestly say hindsight is 20/20. While it seemed like a good idea to have a full weekend with Hal's BFF, in hindsight, it was two days too much. There was plenty of rough housing and got you last, you flinched punching and hitting and good natured bickering, but in the end, too much. Hal is not as energetic as his friend, and he has a low threshold for social overload. His friend is much more energetic, on the move, wanting to go exploring down the street, ride the scooter, climb rocks in the yard, etc. Hal is content to sit in front of the tele and play xbox or watch cartoons, with only intermittent breaks for a jaunt outside. This created fiction. Kiki tried to run interference, but left to their own means, Hal became more and more stressed out/overloaded socially and his fuse became shorter and shorter. The friend is a spunky sort who also likes to tease and needle, which he continued to do the more Hal became reluctant to do things. This was like a powder keg and lit match scenario. By Sunday morning, Hal was clearly fried. The testosterone charged preteen slap and shove fests and turned to punching and anger. It ended with Hal shouting he hated his friend, they were no longer friends, and he was glad the friend was going home. The friend didn't know when enough was enough "even though I told you you were pushing me over the edge!" It ended with Hal shouting, then crying, and then shutting down off like a wind up machine that had wound down. He closed his eyes and went into a deep sleep. Kiki had scene Hal do this in other stressful situations when like a pinball machine that has hit tilt, everything just closes down. It made Kiki feel pretty sad. But, for future reference, two days is too much.