MFM Minisode 382

[0] This is exactly right.

[1] And welcome to my favorite murder.

[2] The minisode.

[3] Where we read you your stories about your grandpa.

[4] Do you want to go first, grandpa?

[5] Sure, grandma.

[6] This one's called Another Mom's Brush with Death.

[7] I sent this in a while ago, and now I'm trying again because someone else's similar story got picked recently.

[8] And then it says, I'm not bitter.

[9] It worked.

[10] It was December 1977 in Los Angeles.

[11] and my mom was working for a small company in Echo Park.

[12] She was 20 years old and newly living on her own.

[13] One night when she was leaving work, she saw two young men just standing around across the street.

[14] There was a bar next door, so it wasn't unusual for people to be around, so she ignored them and started walking to her car, which was parked down the street.

[15] At the time, the female employees weren't allowed to park in the company's parking lot.

[16] She felt like something was off, so she looked back over her shoulder, and the two men were now walking in the same direction.

[17] When she sped up, they matched her pace, and then they started crossing the street towards her.

[18] That's when she started running.

[19] She could hear them chasing her, and all she could feel was fear, but she focused on getting to her car.

[20] But in her panic, she struggled with her keys to unlock the door.

[21] The men were so close now that she was sure they were going to get her.

[22] That's when, all of a sudden, a lone car turned the corner onto their empty road.

[23] The driver seeing what was happening and acting quickly, put it in a little.

[24] foot to the floor and barreled towards the men, chasing them away.

[25] Oh, shit.

[26] When they were gone, he went back to check on my mom and made sure she got in her car.

[27] She thanked him and told him what happened, then went home, completely shaken from the event.

[28] The next day, my mom went back to work, because just because you almost got attacked didn't mean you could skip work.

[29] That's right.

[30] And found out the female employees were now allowed to park in the employee parking lot.

[31] Apparently the man who saved her went to her work and told them what happened.

[32] Who was this man?

[33] I don't know.

[34] Listen to this part.

[35] A couple nights after the incident, a body was found in Echo Park.

[36] Not far from my mom's work.

[37] She turned out to be Kimberly Diane Martin, one of the victims of the hillside stranglers.

[38] Yeah.

[39] Wow.

[40] My mom knew about the strangler, but at the time, no one knew there were two killers.

[41] It wasn't until later when their pictures showed up on the news that she made the connection.

[42] They were the same men who had followed her that night.

[43] Jesus Christ.

[44] I know.

[45] I mean, and the fact that a body was found later in Echo Park, which isn't a large area, it just confirms it.

[46] Yes.

[47] It could have been her, if not for, like, basically fate and that man. It blows my mind how close my mom came to being one of their victims.

[48] I can't believe she never told me this story.

[49] And then she told it so casually.

[50] What the heck, mom?

[51] If it hadn't been for that driver, I probably wouldn't be here now.

[52] Unfortunately, she never saw him again, but I wish I could thank him.

[53] Thank you, if you read all the way through this.

[54] I know it's long.

[55] Stay sexy and let women park in the employee parking lot.

[56] Ronnie, she, her.

[57] I mean, amazing story, Ronnie.

[58] But, like, sorry, are you saying that only men could park in the employee parking lot?

[59] I think no one could.

[60] No one could.

[61] There was a known serial killer out and about, and they still wouldn't let the females park in the parking lot.

[62] Fuck it, assholes.

[63] You know what I mean?

[64] Yeah.

[65] I mean, there's no job I've ever had where I've been allowed to park in the parking lot.

[66] like retail and you know true true yeah yeah oh i get it i wasn't i was totally thinking of like an office job where it's an employee parking lot and they because like the employee parking yes yes no i like you know when you work at a clothing store you have to park down the fucking street where there's not too in l -a don't get me started don't even but on melrose are you kidding me it's so strange about that too is after you get off work when i leave a bar and walk to my car i'm very aware what's going on and careful when i leave work i'm like at night where when I used to, I'd be like, do -to -do, I'm leaving work.

[67] This is part of the work day.

[68] Yes.

[69] And I didn't pay as much attention, you know?

[70] Yeah.

[71] I also, what flashed in my head, as we were talking about that, because that was like, Hellside Stranglers was late 70s, early 80s, right?

[72] It was like 79 or 80.

[73] This was from 77, so yeah, yeah.

[74] Oh, 77.

[75] Yeah.

[76] Oh, they got caught maybe in those later years.

[77] But what a total, because you go like, how could they have done that?

[78] How could they have whatever?

[79] think about what things were like in the 60s where it was like astronauts and like the Kennedys and you know basically the American dream shit and then you flip over into the 70s and go into literal hell on earth especially in Los Angeles in Los Angeles in Seattle do you know why why there's a theory on this what was the I listened this podcast recently about lead poisoning and in the 1930s they started using using leaded gasoline.

[80] And there is a direct correlation between, if you look on a, like, a chart, the uptick in lead in the air and the uptick in violent crime matches because it fucks with your prefrontal cortex.

[81] And so the 1970s is when it peaked.

[82] And when all the people who had babies in the 30s, 40s, 50s, those babies started becoming older.

[83] That's when this violence broke the fuck out.

[84] Oh, my God.

[85] that's unbelievable and also so fucking sinister because it's like this is one of yet another example of like capitalism's killing us where you know got to fill those cars with gas yeah you know especially in LA well and also because it was only because there was a pinging noise in the gas tank and they like the lead got rid of it and they knew though that it was like toxic so the podcast is called what a day what a day and the episode's called how we got here how long lead poisoning rewired America.

[86] I mean, holy shit.

[87] I know.

[88] And they think that's why there's so many serial killers in the 70s and stuff.

[89] And it would make sense that there were so many serial killers in Los Angeles because Los Angeles had the most cars, the most polluted air.

[90] There were days my mom wasn't allowed to go to elementary school because the air was so bad.

[91] Oh, shit.

[92] Yeah.

[93] It says it's a show.

[94] What Fox and Friends would sound like if they were hosted by people whose parents read to them as children.

[95] That's the fucking funniest thing I've ever seen.

[96] Oh, my God.

[97] I love it.

[98] I thought I read it wrong.

[99] Oh, my God.

[100] Oh, that's so sad.

[101] I'm given what a day a listen for sure.

[102] Love it.

[103] Okay.

[104] Here's my first one.

[105] The subject line is I survived a natural disaster plus Norwegian grandma.

[106] Hello, podcast royalty.

[107] Oh.

[108] Hi.

[109] Hi.

[110] That's us.

[111] You recently did a story about a Norwegian survivor.

[112] And in my attempt to get you to read my story, I'm resubmitting this because it has a Norwegian tie -in.

[113] Did it work?

[114] I guess we'll find out.

[115] When I was about seven or eight, my sister, hi Kelly, and I were staying at our parents' friends' house for a weekend while they were out of town.

[116] They had two daughters the same age as us, so we were four peas in an early 90s pod.

[117] Hours before my parents were due home, a massive monsoon came rolling through.

[118] The four of us, being the Arizona babies we were, gleefully danced barefoot in the rain until the thunder and lightning got a bit too threatening and we were forced inside.

[119] At some point, my parents showed up.

[120] A babysitter was there, too.

[121] For a reason I can only imagine, means that they were planning on leaving us mere moments after they returned to have some welcome home drinks with their friends.

[122] It's tough.

[123] Soon the storm took a turn.

[124] Summer monsoons in the 90s were absolutely insane.

[125] windows rattling to the point of shattering, rolling power outages, shingles from roofs were even known to slice into block walls from the near hurricane winds.

[126] This was one of those storms.

[127] The four of us sat huddled in the middle of the house, crying, scared shitless from the now biblical level storm, while the parents chatted in the kitchen, completely uninterested in our wailing.

[128] Suddenly and simultaneously, there was a flash of light so bright we were momentarily blinded, and the house shook so violently.

[129] from the thunder that it felt like it was going to implode.

[130] Yep, we were in the house when it got struck by lightning.

[131] We saw, with our very own eyeballs, a ball of light race through the house from the guest bathroom where the lightning initially struck into the kitchen to the landline phone, which was in the hand of the babysitter, who was at that moment reassuring her mom that she was safe from the storm.

[132] Holy shit.

[133] Seeing this as a child.

[134] Lightning.

[135] in your house?

[136] Lightning in the house.

[137] Watching it go around the house.

[138] Everyone froze, what does one do when you're in a house that is struck by lightning and you physically see the bolt shoot through multiple rooms into the unassuming hand of a 15 -year -old girl?

[139] Fuck if I know.

[140] Somehow, she was completely unscathed, but her mom probably felt validated for worrying.

[141] The house didn't fare as well.

[142] There was now a three -foot wide hole in the roof over the guest bathroom directly above the toilet slash shower.

[143] mere feet from where we were the rain kept the house from catching on fire but that also meant that the bathroom was quickly becoming flooded so my dad his friend and a neighbor proceeded to all caps get on the roof to cover the hole in a severe thunderstorm lightning can't strike twice right thankfully the sentiment held true after that it's a bit of a blur but the best part was that our friends then got to stay at our house on a school night best night ever where's the Norwegian Grandma Taya and I promised, you ask.

[144] It may be a bit of a stretch, but here she is.

[145] My dad's mom, my grandma Orla, and then it says in parentheses, amazing name, was struck by lightning not once but twice and lived.

[146] She was also once gored by a bull and served during World War II as an accountant and the only woman in her unit.

[147] She died from her second bout of cancer on my second birthday, but from these and countless other stories, she certainly was one badass Norwegian lady.

[148] much like her countrymen.

[149] But maybe she could have refrained from passing down her lightning raw jeans to my sister and me. Stay sexy and don't take a shower in a thunderstorm, Sarah.

[150] That is, I didn't even think about a lightning bolt hitting a house and what would happen.

[151] I've never thought about that.

[152] My God, I've never thought that was a possibility that it would come into the house.

[153] Yeah, and then bust a hole through too.

[154] That's wild.

[155] And then go to the landline.

[156] Thank God.

[157] don't have landlines anymore.

[158] I mean, it's giving poltergeist.

[159] You know what I mean?

[160] Mm -hmm.

[161] Karen, you know I'm all about vintage shopping.

[162] Absolutely.

[163] And when you say vintage, you mean when you physically drive to a store and actually purchase something with cash.

[164] Exactly.

[165] And if you're a small business owner, you might know Shopify is great for online sales.

[166] But did you know that they also power in -person sales?

[167] That's right.

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[175] Connect with customers inline and online.

[176] Do retail right with Shopify.

[177] Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify .com slash murder.

[178] Important note, that promo code is all lowercase.

[179] Go to Shopify .com slash murder to take your retail business to the next level today.

[180] That's Shopify .com slash murder.

[181] Goodbye.

[182] Okay.

[183] Six Flags Ride Mishap.

[184] Dear Karen, Georgia, and the whole MFM family.

[185] Thank you for the laughs for all these years and creating a common ground for my sister and I. You asked for Six Flags stories.

[186] Okay.

[187] Sure.

[188] So here goes nothing.

[189] I grew up in Fenton, Missouri, just outside of St. Louis, about 20 minutes away from the nearest six flags.

[190] I am the oldest of three siblings with a 15 -year age gap between me and my youngest sister, Maddie.

[191] When I was home from college one summer, I took her to six flags when she was about seven.

[192] My family isn't particularly blessed in the height department, so at age seven -ish, Maddie was barely tall enough, or really not even tall enough, to ride the thrill rides.

[193] I was tired of spending time in in Looney Tune Land and wanted to ride something fun.

[194] So forcing her to face her fears, I coaxed her onto the park's iconic ride, The Scream Eagle, a 1976 -built wooden roller coaster.

[195] Oh, uh -huh.

[196] We waited in line, and I told her how much fun the ride would be.

[197] We get onto the ride somewhere in the middle, sit down in our seats, and pull down our lap bars.

[198] The ride takes off, gets pulled slowly up the hill in a jarring fashion, up the old chain.

[199] Oh, God, wooden roller coasters, no. Yeah.

[200] And we make our way to the first drop.

[201] It was on the first drop that I realized that the height restrictions were there for a reason.

[202] As we went down the large hill, Maddie slipped out of her lap bar and the end screaming in earnest.

[203] I immediately grabbed her and held her into the cart as we proceeded to go up and down the remainder of the hills.

[204] Oh, shit.

[205] All the while saying to her, whee, isn't this fun?

[206] trying not to let on that I am shitting myself in terror that my baby sister is going to go flying off the old coaster.

[207] It'll be your fault.

[208] If she does, it'll be your fault.

[209] The ride finally ended and thankfully, Maddie was still in my arms crying.

[210] Needless to say, it took several years for her to get back on any roller coaster.

[211] And now I believe the Scream Eagle has seat belts in addition to the lap bars.

[212] Good idea.

[213] Today, Maddie has grown up to be a fellow murderino and continues to ride roller coasters.

[214] despite me traumatizing her earlier in life.

[215] Stay sexy and obey height restrictions on thrill rides, Megan and Maddie.

[216] What a way to learn that like the signs there for a reason.

[217] I mean, that is what sisters, that's a sister's story I've ever heard in my life.

[218] It is, it's why I have insane levels of trust issues.

[219] I can't tell you how many times my sister and my older cousins are like, come on, just do it.

[220] It's not the big of a deal.

[221] And like you get weirdly pressured.

[222] You're being a baby.

[223] And then you're just hanging by a finger somewhere, and they're like, we have to go.

[224] Come on.

[225] Stopping such a baby.

[226] Okay.

[227] The septual line of this one is the deepest murderino.

[228] And then in parentheses, it says, you asked for this.

[229] Hello, exactly right.

[230] Family, on Minnesota 338, you asked us to beat the murderino minor.

[231] So here I come.

[232] And minor ER.

[233] So there is a person who is a underground minor.

[234] that wrote in.

[235] And we're like, oh, my God, a minor listens to us.

[236] Karen, you asked us to write in if someone had been to the bottom of the ocean.

[237] What?

[238] What?

[239] I don't remember that.

[240] Man, we must have been fucked up.

[241] We get so drunk before we record these.

[242] And then it says, so you asked us to write in if someone has been to the bottom of the ocean.

[243] Well, I have.

[244] And you have certainly been there with me. I'm a biologist just graduated a month ago.

[245] And last year, December, I had the opportunity to go and explore the deep sea of my country.

[246] I'm from Costa Rica and our territory is 92 % ocean.

[247] I didn't know that.

[248] I didn't either, but I bet it's gorgeous.

[249] I bet.

[250] Oh, yeah.

[251] We were 200 kilometers, which is 124 miles in today's money, off the shore for over two weeks in the middle of the ocean exploring the sea mounts mostly around 3 ,000 meters or 9 ,842 feet under the sea.

[252] Whoa.

[253] We officially named the first sea mounts of the country and found at least four new species of octopus for science.

[254] Not to mention, we found not one but three whale fossils, probably from the Miocene, and the super cool microbiome studies from the hot water vents at the bottom where the octopuses lay their eggs.

[255] And yes, we saw baby octopuses being born.

[256] I, period, love, period.

[257] My period job.

[258] I love your job, too.

[259] I know, it's amazing.

[260] You've been with me during my years of studies, a semester abroad, and now an upcoming internship while applying to master programs to become a molecular biologist advocating for ocean conservation and a neurobiologist.

[261] Oh, my God, smarty pants.

[262] I mean, geez, oh, Pete.

[263] Can you imagine having a brain like that?

[264] And then listening to this fucking podcast, good luck.

[265] You got to get dumb.

[266] You got to get back to normal somehow.

[267] it's just like I'm so sick of my brain working at like optimal yeah I'm sick of being able to move stuff with my thoughts so it's like kind of creeps youble out that's like the it's the podcast version of getting high basically and then it she wraps it up by saying thank you for being you keep doing what you do stay sexy and yes the correct plural form of octopus is octopuses love valeria Valeria, that was amazing.

[268] This is our first email, I believe, from Costa Rica, although there was that creepy thing that happened on the beach that also could have been in Costa Rica.

[269] But Valeria, what an honor to go to the deep sea with you.

[270] Yeah, yeah.

[271] Let's get honorary degrees somewhere.

[272] A Chuck Echie Cheese Pizza Time Theater?

[273] My God, I went to Jackie Cheese recently with my nephews for the first time since I was a kid.

[274] It smelled like feet in there.

[275] It smelled like feet.

[276] And it turns out that being good at ski ball is hereditary because my fucking nephew.

[277] Nailing it?

[278] Nailing it.

[279] Love it.

[280] I know.

[281] I haven't even thought about ski ball since before the pandemic.

[282] And now I'm becoming slowly filled with the need to immediately play ski ball.

[283] Okay.

[284] In the Arts District downtown, the Arts District brewery is just wall -to -wall ski balls.

[285] Are you serious?

[286] And it's, last I checked, it was free on Monday.

[287] So you just go in there and ski ball your little heart out.

[288] Okay.

[289] So this is separate.

[290] I can't record this money.

[291] I'm really sick.

[292] That was good acting, right?

[293] That was good.

[294] I did.

[295] I was there.

[296] I'm like, me neither.

[297] I'm sick too.

[298] And then we see each other at the...

[299] We all feel terrible.

[300] Yeah, then we're in there just viciously competing to who can get the most tickets.

[301] Wait, what are the prizes?

[302] Oh, the same kinds of...

[303] Oh, at the...

[304] No, there aren't any.

[305] Oh, it's just for...

[306] fun times it's just for fun it would be cool if you get like free drinks and stuff but it's just for fun i want fucking some nachos yeah maybe they do nacho like they should do something i'll go down and start complaining immediately yeah let me take care of this bring a bunch of erasers and be like give these to people who do good i don't know okay this is a story about a magic comb this is my last one oh hi ladies love you admire you etc oh you ask for stories parents would make up to get their kids to do things and boy, do I have a traumatic one for you.

[307] It is fairly traumatic.

[308] So my two older brothers and I grew up with very thick and unruly hair.

[309] My mother's solution to this was to make a sit down, what at a time, on a stool in the bathroom as she went at our bird's nest with a fine -tooth comb, trying to get the knots out as best she could.

[310] Ouch.

[311] She was not gentle about it by any means either.

[312] She was a mother of three on a mission, you could say.

[313] as determined as she was, this did not stop us from crying and wincing and whining any time she tugged too hard.

[314] Yeah.

[315] Yeah, she was fucking pulling your scalp and it hurt really bad.

[316] It's painful when you get your hair pulled, turns out.

[317] Also, sorry, I think hopefully most parents know this now, but you can hold the hair and then brush it on the other side of your hand and it won't hurt the child.

[318] Oh, my God.

[319] I definitely cried a lot, getting my hair braided as a kid.

[320] Oh, yeah.

[321] My dad used to have to do our hair for ballet.

[322] because my mom was at work and he would be the one home and it was a disaster.

[323] I'm just picturing like rubber bands that came from the newspaper that morning, you know.

[324] Yes, the ones that actually rip your hair out.

[325] Oh, Jesus.

[326] Okay.

[327] The complaining obviously slowed her down.

[328] So she came up with a plan.

[329] She introduced, quote, the truthful comb to us.

[330] This was a comb that had the magic ability to get us to confess anything we might have lied about.

[331] How, you may ask.

[332] Well, any pain from the comb meant the comb sensed bad behavior.

[333] Jesus Christ.

[334] Anytime she tugged a little too hard or got caught in a knot and we would cry out or complain, my mother in her sweet and soft, angelic voice would say, uh -oh, the truthful comb knows something.

[335] What did you do?

[336] In a nice voice?

[337] That's so creepy.

[338] I know.

[339] This got us to confess loads of things from sneaking cookies from the pantry to my brothers confessing to when they would pick on me. the comb knew it all it was the ultimate snitch this is like she made up her own religion that's insane yeah we learned very quickly not to make a single sound or move an inch when we got our hair combed though we became perfect little angels it's called sucking up the pain it's it's not right it's not it's not it's not it's not it's pretty brilliant but it's not it's not as adults now we mention the comb to my mom and she just laughs and says hey I thought it was genius.

[340] So I still talk to her, at least.

[341] Yeah, that's good.

[342] As traumatic as the truthful comb was, I loved my mom.

[343] And I think back on my childhood fondly.

[344] It's called the trauma response.

[345] That's right.

[346] What choice do you have?

[347] She's always been a clever and badass woman.

[348] And I love hearing her stories of raising us with my dad from her perspective.

[349] Just a woman trying her best, even if that meant resorting to magic sentient combs that could get your kids to fess up on who wrote a bike through mom's flower garden.

[350] pretty clever honestly stay sexy and don't believe in magical combs you're probably just tenderheaded meg it's so rough it's it's similar but way less pain was involved in my mom like almost confiding in me when I was like four years old was like oh I always know when you're lying I can see it in your face yeah and of course you can't see your own face right I wouldn't be like talking to her in a mirror anything like that.

[351] So I have a very difficult time lying because I think that's still true somewhere in my mind.

[352] I'm not a great liar.

[353] Where it's just like, oh, they can tell.

[354] They can tell.

[355] Oh my God.

[356] Yeah.

[357] Smart.

[358] I mean, they had to, you know, they had to make up shit.

[359] Yeah.

[360] Back then.

[361] Wait a second.

[362] What?

[363] This is so crazy.

[364] I guess this is probably why I said it.

[365] I thought this was the master coincidence.

[366] Now I'm like, oh, no, this is me. I did it.

[367] The subject line of this email is money booth heartwarming and it just starts y 'all i'm so excited about what just happened i had to write in i've been listening to mfm for years and i've particularly enjoyed the minisode stories about money booths from that first money booth story i've been determining what my strategy would be in the unlikely event that i a grown -ass woman should wind up in a money booth well today was not my big day but my long plan strategy did pay off for my six -year -old nephew cooper when he got into the ticket blaster booth at Chuck E. Cheese for his birthday.

[368] Yeah.

[369] I mean, it's kind of weird, but I guess, yeah.

[370] I kind of did it.

[371] Did I say it?

[372] No, you said it.

[373] Yeah.

[374] It was laid in to the lasagna of emails in my brain.

[375] If you haven't been to Chuckie Cheese before, this was like, what a classy thing to do to help out people who might not know.

[376] Do you live in England?

[377] You may never heard this before.

[378] If you haven't been to Chuckie Cheese before, it's a place where kids can play arcade games to win tickets to exchange for prizes all while eating subpar pizza and watching a giant animatronic mouse and accompanying band perform on stage.

[379] If you haven't been to Chuck E. Cheese recently, you will be relieved to know that they have since removed the animatronic band and replaced it with a large screen with colorful graphics and videos of kids performing approachable dance moves.

[380] That's actually great.

[381] Those animatronic guys, though, those were epic.

[382] Yeah, but like the clicking and clanking of the machines was louder than the music, which wasn't great.

[383] Yeah, but it was such a, I mean, it was such a time and place.

[384] It was too sax heavy.

[385] Okay, anyway, today, the other kids who are also having birthday parties weren't faring so well in the ticket blaster booth.

[386] They were trying to grab what they could, but they were coming out with maybe five tickets.

[387] You can't even get a dumb, dumb lollipop these days, courtesy of old Charles Entertainment Chief.

[388] Did you know his middle name's entertainment.

[389] Chuckie cheese.

[390] Chuckie cheese.

[391] When it was time for Cooper to go into the ticket blaster, I knelt down and I grabbed him by the shoulders like I was Danny Freakantaner in full house and I said, Cooper, when you get in there, I want you to go like this.

[392] And then I pulled the bottom of my shirt straight out in front of me. He copied me without a word.

[393] He seemed to understand, but the other grownups and I were not convinced he would grasp the importance of holding the strategy for the full 30 seconds.

[394] Well, I am thrilled to report that Coop got in there with his goggles on and held the bottom of his little Minecraft sweatshirt out straight in front of him the entire time.

[395] We watched as ticket after ticket flew right up his shirt until hardly any were left in the booth at all.

[396] When he came out and shook out his shirt, tickets fell out in droves.

[397] We even had to pat him down to get the ones that were stuck in his sleeves.

[398] Y 'all, he got 275 tickets.

[399] Holy shit.

[400] They were not expecting that.

[401] No. In all caps, it says, 275.

[402] That's like two tiny toy cars and at least six and a half dumdums.

[403] It was legitimately one of my proudest moments of my life.

[404] Yeah.

[405] And like the aunt points that you got for that.

[406] Like he'll never, what is he was six?

[407] He'll never forget that.

[408] No, that is crucial.

[409] Like, I believe my job as being Norse aunt is to bring the.

[410] almost anti -establishment, remembering what it's like to be a kid, not having to worry about schedules or issues or anything, and just being like, hey, did you know if you did this and you can have that?

[411] Like, that's my job as the guide.

[412] Like how to beat the system, how to beat the system.

[413] Entirely.

[414] This was such excellent aunting.

[415] It was legitimately one of my proudest moments of my life, and I will never forget that moment with Cooper or the gigantic smile on his face.

[416] Wait, now I'm going to start crying.

[417] Oh, I love it.

[418] Or the gigantic.

[419] smile on his face when he saw all those tickets, like she helped him cheat to win.

[420] I love it.

[421] That's not cheating.

[422] That's strategy.

[423] No, you're right.

[424] It's not cheating.

[425] It's being excellent at what you do.

[426] Seroppery, I got it.

[427] That's not cheating.

[428] It doesn't count.

[429] Thanks for being you and for helping my nephew and I create a core memory together.

[430] Oh, we're a part of this.

[431] Stay sexy and always hold your shirt out in the money booth, Megan.

[432] She found it.

[433] Megan, congratulations.

[434] Congratulations.

[435] That is better than if she had gone in herself and gotten like dollar bills for sure.

[436] I think so too because as a kid, first of all, it's so funny like Chuck E. Cheese, it's like this world of wonder when you go in there and it's like, oh my God, it's perfect.

[437] When you go in as an adult, you're like, this is so disgusting and weird.

[438] And the pizza is bad, whatever.

[439] And everyone, all the adults look so miserable.

[440] Yes.

[441] But the kids, it's like truly engineered for kids stuff.

[442] So then it's not only his birthday.

[443] He's not only a Chucky Cheese.

[444] Yeah.

[445] But then he just fucking dominates the ticket booth.

[446] Amazing.

[447] Amazing.

[448] Love it.

[449] Congratulations, Cooper.

[450] You're number one.

[451] Happy birthday.

[452] Oh, my God.

[453] Right in your fucking story of the best moment of you as an aunt or uncle in your life.

[454] Yeah.

[455] Or whatever.

[456] And truly anything else that you think is worth a read, we love your stories.

[457] Thank you for writing them in.

[458] Everybody from this episode.

[459] and stay sexy.

[460] And don't get murdered.

[461] Goodbye.

[462] Elvis, do you want a cookie?

[463] This has been an exactly right production.

[464] Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck.

[465] Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

[466] This episode was mixed by Leanna Squalachie.

[467] Email your hometowns to My Favorite Murder at gmail .com.

[468] And follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at My Favorite Murder and on Twitter at MyFave Murder.

[469] Goodbye.