"I really don't think this is a good idea," Anna said, sitting in the passenger seat, putting her earrings in, "I really think everyone is going to be very, very pissed at us."
"What's wrong? She's part of the family, she's our child, my parents grandchild, why should this be a problem?" Jason asked. "It's your family," Anna said, shrugging, as Jason glanced at her, his brow furrowed. *** "Why's it have to be board games?" Carl asked, "Why can't we play poker or gin rummy or uno one night? Those are games. Why're you limiting us to one singular form of entertainment? What about the board makes the game more special?" "It's more interactive. It's the whole idea behind an amusement park vs a theme park," Harold said, "An amusement park is there just for fun, for the sake of going on rides, for amusing you. A theme park, that's an experience. Amusement parks are built around a premise, a theme park is built around an idea. A theme park gives you an entire world to discover, to live in, just for a short period of time. That's why we play board games, Carl." "...that was actually quite insightful, dad," Carl said, "I guess you're right. There's a big difference between going to something like Six Flags vs going to something like Disneyland." "There's also the ease factor," Betty said, pulling herself out from the oven, where she had a large pot between her hands, "Meaning card games take a lot of numbers to factor in, lots of information to remember. Board games are simple. They do everything for you. You roll a dice, you move a certain number of spaces. Let's not overlook your fathers laziness just because he made a solid argument." "...wow, mom really knows just how full of crap you are," Carl said, looking back at his father. "I knew I loved this woman," Harold said, grabbing and kissing her hand. Just then, Ashley entered, her hair a mess, her clothes looking slept in. She was in a grey tank top and jeans, with boots on. She had her hair pulled back into a ponytail, as she went to the fridge, got a beer and then sat beside Carl at the island, cracking the top off her drink. "Rough night at the office?" Carl asked, smirking, and she mocked him before taking a long drink. "I lost a client, a big client, and I'm completely distraught," Ashley said, "When you're self employed, you rely on yourself to bring in your own clients, so when you lose a client, you can only blame yourself, which sucks if you don't want to admit you're anything less than perfect." "That sucks, Ash, I'm sorry," Carl said, "Who was the client?" Ashley looked into the bottle, before mumbling, "Snack Cats." "Snack Cats?" her brother, mother and father all said in unison. "The cat treats that look like cats?" Carl asked. "Does that bother you too?" Harold asked, "Doesn't it feel like they're advocating for cat cannibalism?" "Yeah, that did always creep me out," Carl said. "Well, they wanted to redesign their packaging, and I completely borked the whole situation," Ashley said, "Anyway, it's all over. That was a huge project too, which means I just lost a good percentage of my income for this year." "What happened?" Anna asked, as she entered the kitchen. "Ashley lost a big client," Carl said, "Snack Cats." "Those commercials creep me out," Anna said, "Their treats look like cats, which means cats are eating cats. The insinuation is deeply unsettling. It's like when a banana companies mascot is a banana. That just opens up a whole world of questions, like, in this humanoid banana world, does that mean bananas as a food don't exist, or that they slaughter and eat their own? It's all very morally and ethically ambigious." "Heyo," Jason said, coming into the kitchen with his daughter, Belle, on his shoulders. Everyone stopped and stared at him, while Anna tried to hide her face, a bit embarrassed at the fact that they'd brought their kid to this thing. Harold finished his orange and cleared his throat. "Jason, I see you brought our granddaughter," Harold said. "Well, it's a kids game tonight, so I figured let the kid play for us," Jason said, "She's part of the family." "Hi grandma," Belle said, as Jason let her off his shoulders and onto the floor, where she ran to Betty, who picked her up and hugged her tightly. Harold went to set up the game board, while Betty took Belle out into the living room, Anna on her heels, leaving everyone else in the kitchen. Ashley and Carl turned to their brother, a smug smile on his face, his hands in his pants pockets. "You devious, underhanded bastard," Carl said, "You brought your fucking kid here to try and gain the sympathy hand? You think people will just forgive your behavior after what you've done the last few weeks? How you've acted? Just because your adorable little daughter is here?" "Who says I'm trying to gain anything from this? She's part of the family, and it's a family game night, so why can't she participate?" Jason asked. "I'm gonna wipe that smirk off your face and then wipe my ass with that smirk," Ashley said. "Game's on!" Harold called from the other room. Carl and Ashley stormed out of the kitchen, leaving a rather bewildered Jason behind. As they set up in the living room, Carl and Ashley sat on the couch beside eachother, realizing they were going to play against Harold and Betty and Belle. They were facing off against their parents, and their brothers child. Carl and Ashley gave one another a nervous glance, and then both looked across at Jason and Anna, standing behind Belle. Anna just shook her head, mouthing "I am so sorry" at them. Ashley felt a fire rising up inside of her. Harold handed the dice to Belle. "Here sweetheart, why don't you roll first," he said. She took them, grasped them in her fist and shook it, letting them roll onto the board, and then taking her spaces. Ashley got up as Carl took the dice for his turn and headed to the kitchen to get another beer. As she had the beer in her hand, shutting the fridge door, she felt a hand on her shoulder and then felt it turning her around, making her face to face with Anna. "Is it my turn?" Ashley asked. Anna stared at her for a moment, and then put her hands on Ashley's hips, pushing her back against the fridge and leaned in. "I'm so sorry," she whispered again, and then kissed her. Ashley couldn't believe what was happening, but she put the beer on the table next to them, held Anna's face with her hands and kissed her back, tasting her, enjoying her. After it ended, Anna looked at Ashley's eyes and sighed. "Are you...are...is...are you okay?" Ashley finally managed to mutter. "....what do you think?" Anna asked. "Ash! It's your turn!" Carl shouted from the living room. Ashley grabbed her beer, looked at Anna again and then headed for the living room. Anna paced in the kitchen, chewing on her nails. Ashley took her seat back on the couch and took the dice, handing Carl her beer, which he promptly opened and took a few sips of. Ashley rolled the dice, and only got a 2. "Mother-" Ashley started, when Carl prodded her in the ribs with his elbow, gesturing at Belle, and Ashley finished, "...of invention." "Atta girl," Carl said dryly. Anna came back in and stood back behind Belle, staring directly at Ashley, their eyes deadlocked. "Look mom, I'm winning!" Belle said, smiling up at her mother. "That's great, honey," Anna said, leaning down, kissing the top of her daughters head. Harold took the dice and rolled for him and Betty. A few minutes went by, and Carl, handing Ashley her beer back and wiping his mouth on his sleeve looked at Jason and ran his hand through his own hair, now sitting up and no longer slouching. "So," Carl said, "how's living in your wife's shadow financially feeling?" "I have no problem with my wife making more money than me," Jason said, "I'm not so wrapped up in my masculinity that I need a bigger paycheck to feel superior or something. Come on, you should know me better than that." "I can't believe I lost Snack Cats," Ashley mumbled under her breath, wiping her forehead with her palm. "Snack Cats?" Belle asked, "People are eating cats?" "No, sweetheart, they're a snack FOR cats," Anna said. "I mean, people DO eat cats," Carl said, with Jason looking at him in horror, so Carl shrugged and added, "Hey, you wanted her to be a part of the family, so why should I talk down to her just because she's younger than us? I'm going to respect her intelligence, talk to her like an adult. It's true, Belle, people eat cats. Mostly in foreign countries." "Why would people eat cats?" Belle asked, and then something dawned on her face and she looked up at Jason in horror and asked, terrified, "Is that what happened to Ziggy? Did you eat Ziggy?!" "Honey, Ziggy was old, I had him even before I met your mother," Jason said, "I didn't eat the cat." "What is the weirdest thing you've eaten?" Carl asked. "Besides your own words," Ashley added, the two of them doing a high five without looking. "Once, my parents took me to a small island in the Caribbean," Anna said, "I ate fried crickets. Lots of bugs, mostly fried. Didn't eat spiders though. I won't eat spiders or scorpions." "Wow, you ate bugs?" Ashley asked. "So what, I ate bugs as a kid and nobody patted me on the back," Carl said, "I even did it for money. I was an entrepreneur, but no." Carl picked up the dice for his turn as Ashley slapped his knee and stood up, "I gotta go to the bathroom, beer goes right through me," she said, as she headed up the stairs to the bathroom. While Jason and Carl argued about whether they'd ever eat anything exotic, Anna slipped away and headed up the stairs after Ashley. Anna came into the bathroom and shut the door behind her, locking it. Ashley was washing her hands. Anna reached out, only to find Ashley pinning her against the bathroom wall, kissing her neck, Anna's nails running up Ashley's back of her shirt. "I fucking hate your brother," Anna whispered. "It's ok, everyone in the family does," Ashley replied. "He has to be top of the food chain at everything, even game night. 'Secure enough in his masculinity', give me a break. He cries when he can't get it up," Anna said as Ashley kissed down to her collarbones. Just then there was a knock on the door, and they heard Betty asking if Ashley was alright. Ashley said she'd be out in a second, and then they waited for Betty to leave before talking again. Ashley had her ear against the door, listening. "Alright, she's going down the stairs. Climb out the window and down the wisteria to the backyard, say you needed some fresh air," Ashley said. A few moments later, Ashley reappeared downstairs, and a few moments after that Anna also reappeared, coming in from the backdoor. Carl finished his turn and handed the dice to Betty. "Speaking of Snack Cats, I hate things like Candy Land that exist within their own universe where everything is anthropomorphic," Carl said, "It's creepy. Do they have candy in Candy Land that they eat, and if they do, is that insinuation that they're cannibals? And if they don't, then what DO they have? Human bars?" "Dude," Jason said, looking down at his daughter and Carl shrugged. Belle took her turn, and then Ashley took the dice. "It'll be okay, I'll find a new client. I can make up for the lost revenue," Ashle said, "So long as finding the new client doesn't take too long." After she moved, Carl took the dice, rolled, moved and realized he'd just won. "Uncle Carl won," Belle said, smiling. "I did win," Carl said, surprised at this himself. "You were supposed to let Belle win!" Jason shouted. "Daddy," Belle said, "It's just a board game. Mommy, I have to pee." As Anna took Belle upstairs, everyone looked at Jason, who was seething with rage. He began to pace the living room floor, hand on his head, other hand on his hip, gritting his teeth. Carl stood up and headed out the front door. When Jason showed up with him, Carl was lighting a cigarette as Jason stood beside him, arms folded. "She was supposed to win," Jason repeated. "Like your own kid said, it's just a board game," Carl restated. "You don't...." Jason said, "...I have to have this, it's all I have left. Everyone, even my own wife, does better than I do. I need to win Family Game Night. I recognize it's an unhealthy thing to have, this fixation on winning and being the best, but goddammit, it's all I've got left." "You've got a wife and a child," Carl said, blowing smoke into the air, "It's not all you've got left. Stop being so damn dramatic." Carl put the cigarette out and headed back inside, as Jason sat on the front steps and silently cried into his palms. That night, in the car driving home, Jason still wasn't over it. He was gripping the steering wheel with such intensity, while Belle slept in the back seat and Anna scrolled through her social media newsfeeds on her cell phone. "Tonight was a mistake," Jason said, "Everything I've ever done has been a mistake." "Jesus, you don't need to go THAT overboard," Anna said, "Besides, not everything you've ever done has been a mistake. Marrying me wasn't, right? Having Belle wasn't, right?" "I will always be seen poorly by that family, all because I refuse to be mediocre," Jason said, "Because I...I refuse to be middle of the road, or an underdog. When did being successful become something to be ashamed of? Embarrassed by? They rally around Carl, and they make fun of me. That's backwards." "Maybe you're right, maybe everything has been a mistake," Anna said, "Let me out of the car." Jason pulled over, somewhat surprised by his wifes attitude. As she got out, she leaned in through her open window and told him, "Put her to bed, no dessert, try not to even wake her up, honestly. I'll be home in a bit. I just need to be alone for a bit." Jason nodded, then pulled away and kept driving, looking in his rearview mirror at her. After he was well out of sight, Anna began walking. *** Ashley was in her kitchenette in her apartment, making a smoothie when there was a knock at her door. She opened it to find Anna standing there. Ashley pulled down on the oversized college sweatshirt she was wearing with nothing else, but Anna just waited and finally spoke softly. "Are you alone?" Anna asked. "Only all the time," Ashley replied, both of them snickering. "...can I come in?" Anna asked, and Ashley nodded. "I'm making a smoothie, I can make you one if you-" But Anna had her lips pressed firmly against Ashley's before she could even finish the offer. They found their way to the couch, and spent most of the time there. Anna didn't get home until late that night.
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Family Game Night follows the Fuller family, a (possibly too) tight knit family who meet every Thursday night to play board games...and air their dirty laundry. Archives
March 2019
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