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 |    My random thoughts and reactions to my everyday life. The voices like a forum. |
| Sun. April 5th Prompt. by Fivesixer (653) You get to pick three people- living or dead- to be quarantined with. But...in order to pass time, you have to play Monopoly. Who wins? Who cheats? Who cries? Who flips the table, sending pieces flying everywhere? You choose the players and how they see the game through its finish. I winced reading this prompt. Yep, this stirs up some memories, serious, intense memories. Monopoly is not considered a friendly game to some people. The competitive knock it up a notch and fail to see the fun in passing time with this board game. They don't play, they battle. There can only be one winner. My brother Mark and his friend, our neighbour, Rick both felt strongly about Monopoly. I suppose it represented who could brag as to being the best. They were both the second eldest in their families and perhaps they already dealt with rivalry on a daily basis in their lives. They took a board game and transformed it into a physical brawl. The game pieces and the board were flung into the air before punches were thrown. Mark karate-chopped Rick over the head. Rick saw red and shoved Mark. Yelling ensued. Mark was sent home after the boys were separated. A couple of days passed with the two of them keeping their distance. My Mom noticed my brother favouring one of his hands and she took a closer look. Off they went to the local emergency room and Mark returned with his right hand swathed in a plaster cast.The true story of his injury came out as they awaited their turn with a doctor. Mark and Rick accused each other of cheating at Monopoly. One of them believed he'd been short-changed with five dollars. The karate chop to Rick's thick skull had been in retaliation for being called a cheat. They came to injurious blows over a fake five-dollar bill! So, I would not opt to pass the time playing this deadly game with my sibling. Hmmm, who would I play Monopoly with?Okay, I'd like to see him in action, Dr. Seuss is one player. For a second game companion, I choose SB Musing  .My third player would be Captain Hook, the pirate. He already has an obvious handicap. I doubt he can spell and he's got a clumsy hook. As I anticipated, the pirate curses a great deal and brandishes his hook in our faces. When he heard we'd be walking 'the board', he assumed we'd be on a wooden deck of a ship at sea. He can't seem to sit still, he sways. Dr. Seuss smiles and jokes, but he always seems to be thinking. He rearranges the letter tiles over and over. SB Musing nods hello and sips from a tall chipped mug emblazoned with a heart. She too is a plotter. I believe her plan is to keep us preoccupied with idle chit-chat.She is the picture of nonchalance. Before we begin, we establish a few ground rules with the most important one being that a word offered up for points must be set into a sentence if challenged. I also caution that karate chops will not be tolerated. Dr. Seuss starts us off with a strange spelling that actually utilizes all of his seven tiles. Since he stands to earn extra points for this feat we challenge him to use his word in a sentence. It sounded like utter nonsense to us, but he made his word appear reasonable. Some of us are writers and we appreciate creativity, so after a two to one vote, his word stands. Hey, if he can make a combination with the difficult letters 'q, w, and x' more power to him. He mentioned something about proprietary domain and thus I cannot reveal that amazing word. Captain Hook surprised us with his momentous move. He added a 's' to that first word and he rightfully argued that if it was indeed a word then it had to have a plural. Crafty and logical, who knew? SB Musing connected several of her tiles before she and I realized we were playing the wrong game. Somehow, we'd mistaken the Scrabble game for our intended game, Monopoly. We blame it on writers' fatigue. Oops! After a bit of readjustment and counting out some funds, we reviewed the rules. Again,I reiterated absolutely no karate-chopping permitted. We agreed to refer to the money as 'booty' since someone preferred that term. Captain Hook seemed a bit miffed that there wasn't a pirate boot, or feathered hat as a game token. He chose the gentleman's top hat. Dr. Seuss expressed his desire for a cat token, but in the end he took the race car. SB Musing opted for the submarine. She said she liked the stealth of it. I picked the boot. I never seem to buy the railroads, so I knew I'd be hoofing it. This game dissolved into bedlam from its start. The pirate objected strenuously to being sent to jail. He claimed it was profiling, stereo-typing, and just bad form. He didn't feel he should have to relinquish some of his treasure to secure his release. Dr. Seuss wasted no time amassing a railroad consortium. SB Musing purchased Illinois Avenue assuring us it would prove to be the most valuable real estate of the game. Three times she rolled doubles with the dice. Captain Hook pouted in jail. Upon his release, he struggled to roll the dice. He insisted that there had to be a magical way to do it. A few times, he jolted the board and blamed it on his poor landlubber balance. In the end, Dr. Seuss declared bankruptcy and struck the game to the floor. He claimed that railroads' were a risky investment and they had to crash in some real way. He left muttering, "I do not like this game, Sam I am." Captain Hook responded, "How did he know my name? I am Sam." Clever SB Musing composed her own rhyme. "He does not like Monopoly. He does not play with two or three. He does not like this board game stuff. He just stomped away in a huff." |
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