I peek my head out of the doorframe and am forced to duck it
back in a second later as a dart misses me by millimeters. I respond with a
blind shot around the corner, hoping to pin our enemies down as my partner
reloads.
So it’s entirely surprising to me when Britney ducks
underneath my outstretched arm and puts a dart in my chest.
She giggles. “Got you!”
Her twin sister, Kayla, jumps right next to her, sticking
her tongue out at me. “Yeah! Got you!”
Tabitha, their older sister, and my partner in this game,
promptly shoots them both. They shriek, and the game is back on again.
Nerf fights are curious affairs. There are short bursts of
incredible violence where everyone is shooting at everyone else as fast as
possible, ducking behind cover and ruthlessly attacking without a thought for self-preservation.
Then suddenly everyone runs out of darts and there’s a lull in the shooting
while everyone scrambles to reload. Alliances shift in less than a second, and
a person with three allies could find themselves all by their lonesome in a
real hurry.
My cousin, Tracey, is nowhere to be found, but her husband
Shayne jumps in on the war with enthusiasm, adding a third party to our
relatively stable alliances. This of course upsets the entire balance of power,
and utter chaos ensues. Tabitha turns on me, Britney betrays Kayla, and Shayne
shoots anything that moves.
When the kids are put to bed half an hour later, none of
them want to go, and really, neither do I. It’s not often you forget that
you’re twenty three.
Thank you Shayne and Tracey for letting me stay in your
wonderful home and for your incredible generosity. Thank you Geoff and Susan
for the same.
And thank you Britney, Sammy, Kayla and Tabitha, for
reminding me that while I’ve seen jewels, temples, monuments, swords and all
kinds of magnificent things all over the world, children are our greatest
treasures.
-Doug
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