Hooked on Cafe World?

Wednesday morning I was sitting in front of our computer on my day off when our son Scott walked in on me and blurted, "Hooked!"

It all started innocently enough. Belinda asked me about a week ago if I would mind getting on her Facebook account and clicking on the application "Cafe World" because she had a couple of dishes that would be done cooking and she didn't want them to spoil while she was gone.

Sure, I said, not realizing what I had actually agreed to. Getting on Facebook and clicking on application were easy enough, but then I was lost. So I clicked on the "Help" and read the instructions.

To remove her dishes from the hot plates to the serving counters was easy enough, but now what to do with those red hot burners that were glowing from the computer screen? I read some more instructions and then clicked on the cookbook. Pretty soon, I was making decisions about how to run a cafe. And, like most men, I quickly ascertained that I had more skill and knowledge about this particular task than our spouses who have actually cooked more meals and spent more time in the kitchen than their husbands.

So, suddenly, I had been empowered. I had 15 or 16 dishes to choose from and they varied in time to cook and how much the customers would pay. I started out with some five minute cheeseburgers.

Yep, in a short five minutes they were ready to serve. That was easy...so I progressed on to more difficult tasks such as increasing the cafe's buzz factor. As the customers left the cafe, they would give me a thumb's up sign and the buzz factor would increase. The higher it went, the more customers I had and the more food I had to prepare. It wasn't long before I reached the maximum buzz factor of 105, which I took to meant that I was giving this game 105 percent...which is better than 100 percent.

Nuts, some of the dishes Belinda had cooking would take way too long to finish and I needed those hot plates NOW. So I deleted her dishes and started making my own.

Well, you get the drift. I have been doing this off and on now for about a week. Belinda would have something cooking, which of course was the wrong meal for the wrong time of the day. I would come to the rescue and save "Belinda's Cafe" from sheer ruin.

Now it was Wednesday, Veteran's Day, and I had the whole day off. Finally, time to really put on thinking cap and once again provide massive profits to the cafe so we could expand and buy the necessary things that would make this little operation even more profitable.

Belinda left for work and it was me and the computer. Until Scott arrived. And then he blurted out something that I didn't want to hear.

"Naw, I'm not hooked," I said with a snarl like a drunk clutching a cheap bottle of Mad Dog 20/20.

So let me explain...if I was hooked, it would be Steve's Cafe. The application would be on my Facebook. Thus, while I stay pretty well informed as to what is going on with Belinda's Cafe, I have not treaded into the "hooked" waters. At least not yet.

I could probably start Steve's Cafe, but why should I when Belinda's has already expanded, purchased more stoves and counter tops and I can hire and fire the waiters on a whim. Plus, I've got too many dishes cooking on the hot plates to start over from scratch.

You make the call? Am I hooked or am I just a good husband helping out?