"Snatch It."
Sounds innocent enough, but inside that sleek tube of lettered tiles festers something dark and dangerous. If you don't believe me, just ask my friend Jill, or any member of my family.
None of them will play the game with me. Ever. Again. In fact, the only person on the face of the earth who will sit down and play Snatch It with me is Kristie, my other Scrabble partner.
...who, some days, I love a lot more than Jill, the way a meth addict loves an unopened box of Sudafed.
The first time my Scrabble partners and I sat down to play Snatch It, I felt my blood pressure rise and could taste adrenalin on the roof of my mouth.
A deceptively simple game, Snatch It's rules are straightforward--spill the lettered tiles on a table, turn them over and then, one at a time, reveal the letters. You can form words from the pile of tiles or by adding letters to the words your former friends already have formed. And stealing them from their pile. Bwah ha ha ha!
...did I mention that I could actually taste adrenalin in my mouth?
Jill knew immediately that this was not a game for her. Her face tightened, she sighed a lot and, under her hooded eyes, I could tell she was falling out of love with Kristie and me, with each convulsive cry we screamed.
These days, Kristie and I play it in private. Preferably when my house is empty. We have tried to reign in our compulsions, those desires to scream out a string of unintelligible "words" as we search for the one that actually exists...
"madTI! TIDma! itDAM! ADMIT! ADMIT! ADMIT, DAMMIT!!"
...but, mostly, we've failed to change our ways.
And god help us if daughter Allison roams through the room when we're playing. Inevitably, our shoulders fall a bit and we try to avoid eye contact with our 15-year-old witness.
"OMG! You are playing it AGAIN?! You disgust me."
We feel ashamed of ourselves--for about 30 seconds. But then, when we're alone again, and the adrenalin tickles the roofs of our mouths, our fingers inevitably find their way to that awful, addictive, most glorious pile of mystery tiles, where we know--we just KNOW!--that a really good word awaits us, ready to be snatched and horded.
Jane,
ReplyDeleteYes, this is a game that should be played clandestinely, as though we were a special ops force. Sadly, it has challenged our ethical character. I apologize for using "swallowing" as an excuse for not beating you to yelling out a word. Shame on me.
Jill and Allison, please know that everyone needs a vice; it's just that Jane's and mine is worse than most.
LOVE, Kristie
p.s. I have never sought to spell a swear word while playing Snatch It!!