Saturday, February 23, 2013

Children


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

No comments:

Post a Comment