"Board Games" (StoryADay Challenge/Day 11)

THE PROMPT (by Therese Walsh is the author of The Last Will of Moira Leahy and the cofounder of Writer Unboxed)

Restricted and augmented lifestyles in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic may have us writer-types writing more than ever–a silver lining.

But have you stopped to consider how your protagonist(s) might respond to a similar situation?

In the midst of an emergency situation, whom would they seek to protect? How would they behave if confined?

If sharing close quarters with others, what might be said or done that otherwise might not be, and what might be the repercussions?

How might the situation bring out the best in them all–and the worst?

*

“Board Games”

Daniel came home early to surprise the kids with new board games for family game night. God bless his heart, he’s been trying to keep smiles on their faces ever since the world seemingly paused. He’s always been a great father. Always willing to try anything to keep them laughing. This will be a house of laughter, he told me, when we bought this house nearly seventeen years ago. I was pregnant with Ari, and Holland wouldn’t be born for another two years. I was HUGE. Ari tried to destroy me from within. She would kick constantly from the second trimester on. I rubbed my belly and pleaded with her. “Mama is doing the best she can,” I would whisper. My ankles were the size of water balloons. I gained a thick seventy-three pounds. Daniel would always satisfy my randomest cravings. One time, a little after midnight, I woke him up. I had this urge for White Castle cheeseburgers and ice cream sandwiches. We already had the sandwiches in the freezer, but Daniel, like the saint he is, put his jacket over his pajamas and went and picked up the cheese sliders from the drive-through window. We both tore through them and watched bad reality-tv into the wee hours of the morning. Then I fell asleep in his arms on the couch. Being pregnant, I was always told, is a wonderful feeling, my mother told me that, my several aunts, and even my sister when she had my nephew Kamari. When I experienced it, I understood. When I was pregnant with Holland, I already knew it was a boy before the doctor told me. It was the smoothest nine-months of my life. No kicking, no problems. Even the delivery was virtually painless. He was always a sweet boy, just like his father.

The board games Daniel brought home were Operation, Connect Four, and Jenga. I guess the kids got tired of playing monopoly. Although educational, everyone gets tired of playing monopoly after a certain point. With this whole lockdown quarantine in effect the entire mood of the house has begun to shift. Ari, my now fifteen-year-old, has been very passive-aggressive. Daniel and I know it’s because her Super Sweet Sixteen has been cancelled due to the pandemic. We tried telling her that we can reschedule it when things become a bit more clear with the World Health Organization and under the guidance of the Governor. 

“You only turn sixteen once!” she yelled, before slamming her bedroom door shut. 

She cried for hours. She was embarrassed and ashamed to tell all her friends at school that the party was off due to some unseen force. She felt like the invisible force was solely picking on her.

“Ari, sweetie,” Daniel later said, opening the room door. “This is a very serious thing. A lot of people are sick and hurting. You wouldn’t want to expose yourself or your friends to danger would you?”

“No. But it just feels so unfair,” she said, eyes still wet. 

“Things happen in life that are completely out of our control,” I said, sitting on the floor beside her bed. “You learn to make the necessary adjustments and keep finding ways to be happy. They’ll be more parties sweetheart. We’ll still cut a cake and make it special for you right in here.”

“Stop being a baby,” Holland said, laughing in the doorway.

“Shut up!” Ari shouted, throwing a pillow at him. “I’m going to punch you.”

“Don’t talk to your brother like that,” Daniel said.

“But dad!” Ari pleaded.

“Holland, apologize to you sister.”

“I can’t do that dad. It wouldn’t be insincere,” Holland said.

I chuckled. Ari and Daniel stared at me. “What? That was kind of funny.”

“Thanks mom,” Holland said. 

“Be kind to your sister, and apologize. One day you two will be best friends,” I said. 

“Never!” Ari shouted.

“Ari stop yelling now,” I said. “Holland, go to your room. Family game night is in two hours.”

Daniel and I went back to our bedroom and laid on the bed in momentary silence. 

“Parenting sucks,” he said, laughing.

“They’re so cute and adorable in the beginning,” I said. “Then they grow up and have opinions and feelings.”

We both laughed. 

“Hey,” I said. “Go grab that bottle of Dornfelder in the cabinet and two wine glasses.”

“Hell yes,” Daniel said, zipping out of the bedroom. 

Daniel returned in a blink. “Here you are,” he said, pouring a glass. “Cheers to parenting being the worst and best thing of all.”

We both laughed again. 

“Amen to that,” I said, before taking a sip. “But God dammit, I love those monsters.”

“Me too,” Daniel said, taking his second sip. “We created those monsters.”

“We created them out of love and laughter,” I said, kissing Daniel on the cheek, feeling immensely grateful for my family.

The End.

**This is a work of fiction. Names. characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.