A Game in Three Evenings

Every Saturday afternoon, Lena and her mother played a 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 began.

Then her mother started working at a fruit stall on Saturdays. She came home with tired feet and bits of orange peel caught in her coat pockets.

They tried playing after dinner instead. But 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 set everything out before dinner and made the hot chocolate. 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. Starting again next week would mean losing 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 slid the board onto the tray. She cleared a low shelf and put it there, with the boats and stones still in place.

On Monday evening, they played another six turns while their dinner cooked. On Wednesday, her mother stood beside the shelf for a moment 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 grinned.

Her mother reached the harbor first that evening. Lena studied the final position, 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.