Game Night

After reading Dinner at Uncle Boris's by Charles Simic, I was inspired to write a quick and simple glimpse of my own family life, when four of us get together on Mondays to play Uno.



"Dad, what the hell! Did I not say I made it blue?" Aunt Dee yells at the top of her lungs, red creeping up her face, as she takes the top card and smacks it against Pappy's head. Pappy responds by guffawing, shaking his head at her.

The Uno-attack machine spins in my direction. I lay a red reverse on top of the green reverse Pappy laid, which results in more laughter from him, and Aunt Dee juts her chin out and rolls her eyes upward, pretend-seething, "Why, can't it be FUCKING blue!" My cousin, Miguel, and Aunt Dawn start laughing at this point, as I shrug, pointing the game at Miguel.

"James, why would you use this bowl? I always tell you to use the bigger bowls for cantaloupe, but no, heaven forbid you'd listen," Nana nags from over by the sink, sighing loudly, shaking her head, as if the cantaloupe in the wrong bowl was the worst thing in the world. Pappy rolls his eyes and sighs equally as loud.

"Yeah, James," Miguel mimicks the nagging quality of the way Nana calls to our grandfather. I'm convinced that Pappy's real name isn't James at all sometimes; it's just Pappy. James is just a word Nana uses to substitute for annoyed or impatient. I look over at Nana, standing there in her pink nightie, never changing into normal clothes except when she leaves the house or for holidays, spooning out gobs of the orange-colored fruit. I smile, shaking my head, knowing that Nana loves Pappy with all of her heart.

I see Aunt Dawn roll her eyes in Nana's direction as she plays a card on top of the pile. Pappy has to hit twice; he has Uno, and isn't happy at all.

"Well, that's not very nice!" Pappy says, making a face, slamming the button, and the machine spits out 4 cards, with two stuck halfway out.

"Here, Ding-Dong, take these too, it's about time you got some fucking cards," Aunt Dee says, pulling the cards out and throwing them at him, as we all laugh. She lays a card down, saying, "Uno, green!" and I see the card she laid is black. We all have to hit once, and she wins the round.

"Pah-chang, people! I da weeeenah!" she says and stands up, dancing around in her fed-ex uniform, Pappy just continuously laughing, Aunt Dawn putting the cards away, Nana still dishing out the cantaloupe into the right bowl.

Miguel and I just look at each other, shake our heads, smile, and get up from the dining room table.


(Note: Game Nights happen weekly, and started about five years ago. It's Pappy's favorite day of the week; he HATES to miss it. Aunt Dee treks out to my grandparents' house as soon as she's done with work, no matter how tired she is, because she knows how much the Night means to him. Aunt Dawn comes dressed in her office attire, or gym clothing depending on if she had time to go between work and Game Night; Miguel obviously has no choice, he tags along with her. Game Night holds us together, and has brought us closer, in laughter, and in tears....of more laughter.)