Summer Recreation

SUMMER RECREATION

Written for a Paper Doll Newbie group fun contest. Most of the jokes are “in jokes” as the characters are all Doll Leaders.

“OK newbies,” Hannah ♫♥♫ said and she opened the Monopoly box and unfolded the board, “come and pull up a chair. We are going to play ‘Newbieopoly’!”

“Are we going to use Monopoly money, or real money?” Sticktalker asked as he sat on the largest, most comfortable looking chair and took off his trifocals, twirling them by a templet.

“Neither,” answered Hannah ♫♥♫ , “we’re going to use GPs from the group bank.”  She hauled out a battered Prince Kitty tobacco can, opened it, and dumped out GP’s on the table. The GP’s were shaped like triangles, squares, hexagons and even circles. Most were colored muted shades of brown, orange, and green, but the fluorescent pink ones were like marbles and rolled across the table into 🌖 HuntersMoon ’s lap.

“Forsooth,” 🌖 HuntersMoon slowly let the words roll from his mouth as he struggled to form them into meter and rhyme, “Forsooth.”

“You already said that fair dinkum,” mae88 said as she started grouping the property cards from the box, “don’t use the same word twice in a sentence, it weakens the impact. In fact, it makes you sound like a Kiwi!”

“Forsooth, you sound like a Canadian, my dear girl,” 🌖 HuntersMoon responded, looking over the tops of his dark glasses at her, “and you look like a Cajun from Louisiana.”

“That’s three times, luv,” mae88 smiled demurely at him. “Don’t be redundant.”

“Posh, methinks that the lass is daft,
“And has only a brain by a half.
If she says ‘luv’ one more time to me,
“I’ll just have to send her to Brisibee,”
he replied, pushing his dark glasses back with his thumb and settled back in his chair. “Forsooth dear Hannah ♫♥♫ ;do deal out the GP’s now, I’m running low since I haven’t reviewed a soul in the past 10 minutes.”

“That’s four,” mae88 whispered, as she held ‘Boardwalk’ up to her face so 🌖 HuntersMoon couldn’t see who said it.

“How do we play this game? Jimminy Jingle! asked as he sat in the fourth chair.

“It’s like standard Monopoly, but we use GPs instead of Monopoly money. How many GP’s do you want?” Hannah ♫♥♫ replied, putting her green shade over her long dark brown hair which was braided Cherokee style.

“How-w-w  m-m-many?” Jimminy Jingle! stammered, “uh, well, what about 10,000?”

“Sure, gimme $10 bucks, American,” Hannah ♫♥♫ replied, “the granddaughter needs a new mouse.”

Jimminy Jingle! looked up startled and said, “$10? But I can buy 10,000 for $1 on WDC!”

“Honey, this ain’t WDC, you are on the rez now and we play by different rules. You want the GPs or not?” she said as she picked up the yellow triangular chips; “These are 1000 GP chips.”

“The Rez?” SummerLyn Guthrie said as she minced over to the table from where she and her hubby, Big Bear, had been laying side by side on the bear rug watching “Broken Arrow” for the umpteenth time this month.

“Yes, sweeti, ‘the rez’, you know, the reservation,” Hannah ♫♥♫ said as she counted out 10 of the yellow triangles.

“Oh, yes, THAT ‘rez’,” SummerLyn Guthrie   pushed her shiny black hair from her eyes. “Where is my chair?”

“I think you left it in the hogan,” Sticktalker said out of the corner of his mouth.

“Hogan? I don’t live in a hogan, I’m Sioux and the Sioux live in teepees on the rez,” she said as Sticktalker slyly reached his right hand over in front of Hannah ♫♥♫ where he pulled six of the square chips off the stack in front of her and pulled them back into his lap.

“I don’t live in a teepee either,” SummerLyn Guthrie continued, her voice rising a half octave; “I live in an apartment with Big Bear, in the city. In fact, none of my tribe on the reservation live in teepees. Most of the families have very nice mobile homes they bought used from FEMA after Katrina hit New Orleans. Some of them still have wheels on them, that is, if they haven’t been stolen by the young bucks to buy firewater.”

“Use this stool to sit on, SummerLyn Guthrie honey,” said Jimminy Jingle! as he pulled a 16-inch high stool over to the table.

SummerLyn Guthrie lifted her supple buckskin dress demurely and sat on the stool. Her chin barely cleared the top of the table.  “It’s kinda short,” she said, looking sharply at Jimminy Jingle! .

“For a cricket it is, but not for you. You’re kinda cute looking in it.”

“Watch yourself, buster, Big Bear is right over there and he doesn’t like White Eyes making cracks about his wife.”

“I’m adopted into the tribe, sweet.” Jimminy Jingle! said, “and so is Sticktalker .”

“What did you say,” young man, Sticktalker said as he reached up to adjust his hearing aide.

“I .... said... you....are....adopted.”

“I’m opted?”

“Ah-dopt-ed.” Jimmy raised his voice, “ADOPTED!”

“Oh, yeah, right. I am,” he replied, reaching over and flinching two of the property cards from in front of mae88.

“Hey, bozo, put those back,” she said, “I saw you take those cards. Put ‘em back, remember, I’m a senior leader now....and a yellow case too!”

“Put what back?” Sticktalker said.

“St. Charles and the other one.”

“I didn’t take either.”

“Then what is in front of you?” With that mae88 pulled out a huge, polished dagger from a sheath on her back and stabbed the point into two blue cards in front of Sticktalker .  As the knife vibrated from the force of the blow she went on, “and don’t tell me you BOUGHT the cards, we haven’t even started playing yet, so you couldn’t have.”

“You have played ‘Newbieopoly’ before?” Sticktalker asked, taking his glasses off again and twirling them by the templet.

“No, but I kno....”

“You don’t know the rules then! You can take any two cards from the bank before the game begins.”

“Yeah, bloody right,” mae88 replied. “I think you are cheating.”

Jimmy looked up, “And I think you are a Kiwi.”

“I’m a Cherokee,” Hannah ♫♥♫ said without looking up from counting out the GPs from the bank.

“We know that you are Cherokee,
and for that I’m glad you’re not meee,”
🌖 HuntersMoon said as he gazed at the ceiling tiles, his fingers forming a tent

“You forgot to say ‘forsooth,” Summer reminded him.

“Forsooth, so I did,” 🌖 HuntersMoon nodded his head in agreement.

“Well, kiddies,” Sticktalker said to the group, “it’s past my bedtime so I must scoot home to my lovely bride.

“Chicken,” mystic_writer muttered softly.

“Excuse me, mystic_writer, what did you said?”

“I said ‘thicken.. as in the plot thickens,”

Hannah ♫♥♫ glanced at her watch, “It IS getting late, it’s 2:30 am.”

“Not in California, it’s only 11:30 pm,” Sticktalker said and he scooted his chair back and stood up.

“It’s tomorrow morning here,” mae88 said, “so I should be going also. I have a bloody hard day tomorrow, we gotta go chase kangaroos.”

“Me too,” said mystic_writer as here eyes slowly refocused from her mystical thoughts.

“You chase Kangaroos too?” asked mae88.

“Kangaroos?  Of course not, why do you ask, darling,” mystic_writer replied, took a breath and then said, “why would I?”

“Forget it dear. Good night.” mae88 turned and started for the back door.

“Why are you going out that way?” asked mystic_writer.

“Australia is south, and the back door faces south... I’m walking home.”

“From Wisconsin?” said Hannah ♫♥♫ . “I’d better extend “Shadow’s deadline for you on the challenge page.”

“Good night all,” Sticktalker said, flipping off the main power switch and chuckling to himself as he went out the mudroom into the cold and damp Wisconsin July night.

The house lights went dark and then it was silent...finally.



(1243 words – I thought about making it 1234 words, but I’m too lazy)