“Wait a minute.” Megan held up her hand. Everyone else had picked up their boxes again and clustered after Marty. “Where does this door lead?”
“The laundry room, why?” Lisa said.
“Good. We can all take off our shoes so we won’t track mud and yuck all over the new carpets,” Megan said, stepping to the doorway. “Who’s got the box of towels? We can use those to dry off Steve and Greg.”
“Better do as Megan says. She’s got her fierce face on,” Kelly said, shifting the load in her arms. Setting the box on the concrete floor, Kelly slipped out her Swiss Army knife and slit the tape then pulled out two fluffy towels.
“Man, I ought to hire you to supervise the showings, Megan,” Steve said as he accepted a towel.
Lisa and Megan held the door wide as the crew trooped into the house and complied with Megan’s orders. After removing shoes they wandered barefoot into the empty house, exclaiming as they explored each room.
“Wow, Steve, this is so pretty,” Megan said, glancing up at the vaulted ceiling of the spacious great room.
“Cool kitchen,” Pete observed, setting his box on the counter. “Gorgeous granite. Boy, I’m impressed.”
Jennifer set her box on the tiled foyer floor. “Notice the details . . . the decorative tiles over the fireplace, glass-top range, brushed stainless appliances,” she said in a singsong real estate agent cadence as she gestured around the great room and kitchen.
“Jennifer’s shown several of these houses, bless her,” Kelly said, setting her box beside Steve’s on the foyer floor.
“And sold a couple before the slowdown got bad.” Jennifer glanced around. “These are great, Steve. You’ve really put in good stuff here.”
“Thanks, Jen. The guys and I are proud of them.”
Marty strolled through the foyer, glancing into the adjacent dining room with bay window that lead into the kitchen. “Beveled glass, cool tile. Like the carpet, too. Really nice, man.”
“Uh, guys . . .” Lisa said. “We’ve got a slight problem. Since we haven’t brought the furniture over, we can’t unpack the boxes yet. There’s no place to put this stuff. Except the garment bags, which we can hang in the bedroom closet.”
“Oooops.”
“So much for the brilliant idea.”
“Oh, the rain’ll let up in a few minutes, I bet,” Megan said, glancing toward the great room wall that was lined with windows.
Another sharp crack of thunder made everyone jump with nervous laughter.
“Then, again, maybe not,” Kelly said.
“We can pass the time by trying out their master bath,” Marty suggested with a devilish grin. “There’s a cool Jacuzzi tub. And we’ve got a box of towels.”
“Dude, no way you’re getting in my tub.”
“Why don’t we relax and wait till the storm lets up,” Jennifer said, settling on the great room floor, cross-legged.
“Is there a pack of cards in one of those boxes?” Greg asked, plopping onto the carpet.
“No cards, but I think this is the box with board games.” Steve slipped out his pocketknife and opened the box he brought to the foyer. “Yep. There’s Speedy Trivia, Monopoly, and Battleship.”
“The Speedy Trivia is mine,” Lisa said, slipping to the carpet beside Greg. “I forgot I still had it.”
“Hey, I love that game,” Marty said, sinking to the floor. “I used to play it in college. Late night sessions instead of studying.”
“You weren’t out chasing girls?” Kelly teased as she joined the semicircle that was forming on the floor.
Marty grinned. “No, the only things I chased in college were tennis balls. Had to keep my grades up to keep the scholarship.”
“I can relate to that,” Steve said as he sat on the floor beside Kelly and placed the board game in the middle of the circle. “I had to do the same to keep the baseball scholarship.”
Lisa opened the box and scanned the directions. “Okay, it’s coming back to me. There’s a different category of questions each round, and everybody starts with a hundred points. Then one person at a time reads the question and works the timer.” She pulled out a small gadget. “The reader winds up this buzzer thing, and everyone has about ten seconds to answer. The first person with the right answer gets twenty points. The next person with the answer gets ten. Everyone else loses ten points. Except the reader. Whoever is ahead at the end of the round of ten questions is the winner.”
“Hey, I remember that game,” Pete said, settling beside Jennifer.
“Wow, you gotta move fast,” Kelly said.
“It’s kind of like the television show
Jeopardy
, but you don’t have to answer in a question,” Jennifer explained. “I used to watch those quiz show reruns when I was working my first real estate sales agent job. I was at a builder’s site south of town, and no one came in. Talk about bor-ing. So, I turned on the kitchen television while I waited for clients to show up.”
“Man, I hope this market doesn’t come to that.” Steve closed his eyes and leaned his head back.
“Okaaaay,” Greg said, grabbing the lined score pads and pencil in the box. “Looks like the reader keeps score. This box is pretty worn. How old is this game?”
“Pretty old. I remember playing it with my dad and mom when I was growing up. Maybe that’s why I’ve never thrown it away.” She examined the outside of the box, smiling. “This box brings back a lot of memories.”
“Okay, I’ll start off as reader, then we go clockwise after that,” Marty instructed, reaching for the buzzer.
“How do we choose the categories?” Megan asked, leaning back on her elbows.
Lisa studied the inside of the box again. “Uhhh, I think you start off. Yeah, that’s it. The reader makes the first choice, and we go straight down the list of categories.” She pulled out a dog-eared piece of paper. “Here they are. And here’re the category cards.” Her eyes lit up. “Wow, do I remember these. I used to study up on the category cards when I was a kid, hoping I’d remember the answers. My mom and dad were super at this game.”
“Okay, so we know who’s gonna win,” Kelly said, relaxing back on her hands.
“Not necessarily.” Marty took the stack of cards from Lisa. “It’s not enough to come up with the answer. You’ve got to come up with it fast. That’s the tricky part.”
“Okay, this time limit has peaked my interest. Let’s get started. See how fast we all are.”
Steve grinned. “Spoken by the bike racer.”
“All right,” Marty said, checking the category list. “I pick World History to start off.”
“Uh-oh, I only took a couple of those courses in college. Accounting ate up my schedule.” Kelly looked over at Steve. “I don’t think I’m gonna be very good at this, partner.”
“Well, I took several courses, but I’ve probably forgotten everything by now,” Steve said.
“Everybody understand how this goes?” Marty asked, shuffling a deck of blue cards. “I’ll read the question and push the timer. We’ve got ten seconds.” Placing the shuffled cards beside Megan, he said. “Cut.”
“Sure thing.” Megan obliged. “Can I take a peek?”
Marty looked shocked. “No! That’d be cheating.”
“I was only
kidding
.” Megan rolled her eyes, then put the cards beside him.
“Megan, I hope you know this, because I can’t answer. One of the most successful rulers of the Holy Roman Empire during the eighteenth century had a forty-year reign, sixteen children, and is credited with being the savior of the Hapsburg Dynasty. Okay, here goes.” He pushed the timer. A metallic whirring noise sounded.
Kelly could barely understand the question and turned to Steve. “Do you know—”
“Empress Maria Theresa of Austria,” Pete and Jennifer answered together. They both looked at each other and burst into laughter. The buzzer buzzed.
Greg’s mouth dropped open. “Whoa! That wasn’t even five seconds. Were you guys History majors or something?”
Pete gave a modest smile. “History and Literature.”
“Hey, same here,” Jennifer said. She and Pete grabbed hands in a jock handshake, laughing softly.
Steve looked at Kelly. “We’re in deep trouble, partner.”
“Don’t I know it.”
“Didn’t you take any History courses?” Marty teased Megan as he handed her the stack of cards.
“Yeah, but it wasn’t
Speed
History,” Megan said. “I had the name, but I just couldn’t come up with it that fast.”
“So, twenty points each for Jennifer and Pete, and minus ten for the rest of us.” Marty scribbled on the score pad. “Darn it! I knew that one, too,” he said with a frown.
Megan made a face at him while she shuffled the cards. “Let’s see how fast
you
are.” She set the deck in front of him.
Kelly smiled to herself, watching supercompetitive Megan and equally competitive Marty react to losing a game. Neither one of them had much experience at losing.
Greg clapped his hands together. “Okay! Now, that we all see what we’re up against, let’s get serious. I had that name on the tip of my tongue, too. Couldn’t get it out fast enough.”
“Well, Kelly and I were clueless,” Steve admitted.
“All right, here’s the next question,” Megan announced, holding up her hand for emphasis. “Which American president was responsible for the United States completing the Panama Canal?”
“Teddy Roosevelt,” Pete said, even faster than the first time. Jennifer echoed his answer a second or two behind. Marty came in third.
“Whoa,” Kelly said, laughing as she watched Greg’s astonished expression.
“Man, we’ve
got
to move faster.” Greg shook his head and turned to Lisa. “I thought you said you used to study the questions.”
Lisa gave him a look. “That was ages ago! I can’t remember any of it now.”
“Fat lot of help you are.”
Lisa gave him a poke.
Megan scribbled on the score pad. “Well, Pete’s still in the lead, and Jennifer is right behind him.” She handed the buzzer and cards to Kelly. Then she gave Marty an evil smile. “Not fast enough Mr. Smarty Marty.”
Marty gave a sheepish grin.
Greg cackled. “You are
so
sleeping on the sofa tonight.”
“And you’re
not
?” Lisa said, arching a brow.
Steve collapsed on the floor laughing. Steve, Kelly, Jennifer, and Pete all joined in, watching their overly competitive friends goad each other. After Kelly shuffled, she cut the deck and read the next question.
“One of the greatest rulers of Russia in the 1700s—”
“Man, what is it with the eighteenth century?” Greg grumbled.
“This monarch was also one of the most controversial. She collected art from all over Europe, founded schools and universities, reformed the Russian legal system, and made war on Prussia, Turkey, and the Crimea. Who was it?”
“Beatrice the Wise,” Megan piped up, laughing.
“Hannah the Humble,” Lisa joked.
“Catherine the Great,” Pete and Jennifer chorused again, then started to laugh.
Once again, Marty was too late. “Damn, you guys are scary.”
“I remembered that name. Just not fast enough,” Greg said.
Kelly handed the deck to Steve, who was still laughing. “Hannah the Humble? I don’t think I remember hearing about her.”
“She used to hang out with the monks a lot,” Pete quipped.
“That’s because she had really bad hair,” Jennifer added, then burst into laughter.
“Okay, you guys are getting way too cocky,” Greg said. “Let’s see if we can beat you on one question. I mean, one out of ten. You’d think the rest of us would know at least one.”
Kelly watched as Steve read the next question. Once again, Pete and Jennifer were the first to answer. And so it went, question after question. Either Pete and Jennifer answered together or nanoseconds apart. Marty was always right behind them. But at least Greg beat out Marty once with a response. Meanwhile, Kelly and Steve watched their respective scores steadily drop to the basement.
Finally it was time for the last question. Megan held up the blue card. “The Ottoman Turks, led by Suleiman the Magnificent, stormed the gates of which European city in 1529?”
“Ohhhh, I know this, I read a novel,” Greg sputtered. “Vienna!”
Marty was right behind.
Kelly and her friends turned to Jennifer and Pete, who sat quietly smiling at everyone. “What’s the matter? Didn’t you guys know that one?”
“We thought Greg and Marty deserved to win a round,” Jennifer replied.
Greg screwed up his face. “Ooooh, charity points. That is so cruel.”
Marty shook his head. “Sad. Really sad.”
“Guys, get a grip, it’s a board game,” Kelly said.
“Yeah, just accept Jennifer’s and Pete’s charity and admit that you guys stink,” Steve teased.
“Give up?
Never
!” Greg declared melodramatically. “We have just begun to fight. Quick! Who said that?”
“John Paul Jones,” Jennifer answered with a wicked smile.
Greg sank his head into his hand. “Man, we
do
stink.”
“I think we’re outgunned, that’s all,” Marty offered. “I know. Let’s switch partners. I get Jennifer.”
“
What!
You’re ditching me?” Megan exclaimed. “Boy, you’re not even getting close to the sofa. You’re sleeping on the floor.”
“Okay, then I get Pete!” Greg declared, gesturing for Pete to join him.
“Then you can stay here tonight and sleep with the towels,” Lisa said, giving her boyfriend a shove. “Kelly, you wanta team up?”
“Hey, we’re on a roll,” Pete said. “We don’t want to mess it up.”
“Steve and I are no help whatsoever. We didn’t know any of the answers.”
“Kelly and I should go get some beer. That, we can handle,” Steve volunteered.
Kelly looked out the tall windows. Still raining. “We’re going to get soaked.”
“All we have to do is get to my truck. There’s an umbrella there. We’re already wet.”
“
You’re
wet, I’m not,” Kelly teased as they both scrambled to their feet. “Okay, beer run, it is.”