A Game Across Three Evenings

Every Saturday afternoon, Lena and her mother played a board game with wooden boats. They moved between painted islands, collected colored stones, and tried to reach the harbor first. A full game took almost two hours. Lena always made hot chocolate before they started.

Then her mother began working at a fruit stall on Saturdays. She came home with tired feet and pieces of orange skin in her coat pockets.

They tried playing after dinner instead. During the first game, her mother forgot to collect a blue stone. During the second, Lena kept reminding her whose turn it was.

"Perhaps we should play something shorter," her mother said.

Lena put her boat back in its box."But this is our game."

The next Saturday, Lena prepared the game and made hot chocolate before dinner. Her mother sat down and rubbed her eyes.

"I want to play," she said."I just haven't got two hours left in me."

Lena looked at the board. Her boat was already close to the largest island. If they started again next week, she would lose that position.

Then she noticed the flat wooden tray under the fruit bowl.

"What if we don't finish tonight?"

They played for twenty minutes. When her mother began to yawn, Lena carefully moved the board onto the tray. She cleared a low shelf and put it there, leaving the boats and stones in their places.

On Monday evening, they played another six turns while dinner cooked. On Wednesday, her mother paused beside the shelf before taking down the tray.

"I've been thinking about that narrow passage," she said.

"You can't move through it. My boat is there."

"I know. That's the problem."

Lena smiled widely.

Her mother reached the harbor first that evening. Lena studied where the boats had ended up, then began putting the stones away.

"Another game?" her mother asked.

"Tomorrow," Lena said. She left two mugs beside the kettle and carried the empty tray back to their shelf.