Chapter Fourteen
posted in Novel |
Finally — got another chapter up on the blog this morning. This chapter is more of a personal reminiscence than it is a vital part of my life at the time. I wrote this chapter because it is such a fond memory for me. It also leads up to what’s coming next. So, do stay tuned.
Thanks to those who sent some new readers. I really do appreciate it.
Be well — be in peace,
Ron Rink
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Later in the fall after the racetrack work was over for the season, I started to hang around more with Billy from the bowling alley. Some days he would be working double shifts so we didn’t get a chance to do anything after my shift was over. However, on days that he didn’t work extra, we would go and mess around together, at least until it was time for me to go home.
Sometimes we would play catch with either a baseball or a football. One of our favorite games was mumbletypeg. (We didn’t spell it that way, but the dictionary does. We spelled it mumble-de-peg when we bothered to spell it). This was another of the many kids’ games which were built on the essence of war — taking and holding territory. It depended on two properties of the pocketknife that we didn’t even think about in those days: the fact knife blades are flat, and the fact they’ll stick in the ground if you throw them correctly.
Needless to say, in the days when I was just a kid, carrying around a pocket knife wasn’t something frowned upon as it would be today. Most children, boys anyway, had a pocket knife with them.
We’d start by drawing an outline in the dirt — maybe a big, wobbly circle (although Billy could draw circles that looked just about perfect) — or maybe some kind of polygon. All that really mattered was it needed to be a closed figure. Then we’d scratch a line across the playing area, dividing it approximately in half. We’d each throw our knife to see who could get closest to the dividing line. Whoever was closest would win the right to toss his knife first.
When it was time for the first throw, whichever kid won the toss threw his knife so it stuck upright (roughly) in his opponent’s territory so a line extending the gash the blade had made would cut into the initial dividing line — the “internal” boundary. He’d draw the line, dividing his opponent’s territory into two pieces, and cutting the original dividing line into two segments. He would then erase one of those two segments, adding part of his opponent’s territory to his own.
Now it was the other kid’s turn. He’d throw his knife, draw the line that extended the gash made by his blade, and reclaim a piece of the other guy’s territory.
At any one point in the game, there would be two territories inside the outer boundary. The line that separated them could get pretty jagged, and eventually, one of the players would “own” most of the land.
As one player’s territory shrank more and more, it got harder and harder for that player to throw the knife so the resulting line would reach his territory. With skillful players, though (or where the losing player happened to make a very lucky throw), a game could last a long time. With just a smidgen of territory left, you might get just the right angle on your knife, so one end of the extended line did touch your land and essentially split your opponent’s holding in half.
This was a real favorite game of ours and it was something that I could do and have an even chance of winning. Many times we had to quit before a winner was decided because I had to get home.
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