"How the fuck is Dominos even a game," Becca asked, sitting at the island in the kitchen while Betty washed some fruit in the sink. Becca was turning the Dominos container over and over in their hands, opening and closing it.

"It's a game just like anything else is a game, sweetheart, because someone made some rules," Betty said, "I used to play it all the time as a kid, I haven't played it in years though. Then some fuckin' idiot decided to make Triominos, as if the word itself doesn't make you want to punch the game in the face."

"Mom, geez," Becca said, chuckling.

"Well, come on, how the hell do you play dominos when they're triangles? The triangle is the single most worthless shape, honestly. Squares and rectangles, they're everywhere. Tables, bookcases, televisions, hell even the shapes of rooms. Circles? Sure, coffee tables are circles, lamps can be circular, rugs are circular. But a fucking triangle? What does that do for anyone? The only things associated with triangles are negative things; the food triangle, the instrument, both of these are things nobody likes."

"I had no idea you were so vehemently anti Dihedral," Becca said.

"A polygon is a polygon, but the triangle is like the bastard child of the whole group. It's the kid you chain in the attic and feed fish heads," Betty said, "He smears his feces all over everything and you only let him down once a year for christmas."

"This seems oddly specific," Becca said, putting the dominos down, now looking at their mother.

"I don't like to talk about your brother much."

"...Jason?"

"...yes. Jason. Sure," Betty said, shifting her eyes and making Becca laugh. Just then Ernie came into the kitchen from upstairs, holding a box of things. Betty turned to looked at him, putting the fruit down and wiping her hands on a hand towel.

"Where you want this stuff?" he asked.

"What is that?" Becca asked.

"It's some things of your fathers I'm giving away," Betty said quietly, making Becca get up. They walked over to Ernie and the box and started looking into it, digging through it a bit, their face contorted in disgust as they pulled some things out and looked between Ernie and Betty.

"Why're you...?"

"Because it's time to move on, kiddo," Ernie said, clearing his throat, "He's not here, so why keep-"

"You are so fucking unsentimental," Becca said, grabbing the box from Ernie, "You're not throwing my dad in the fucking trash! He was your brother!"

"My brother wasn't some old socks and books, Rebecca," he said, saying their name like a snake hissing, as if it hurt him to say it, "My brother is gone, and this is just material goods, alright? I know it hurts, but it has to be done eventually."

Becca took the box and scoffed head, heading upstairs with it. Ernie looked at Betty as he took a seat at the island, looking at the dominos. Betty just shook her head, turned back to the sink and started washing more fruit.

                                                                                         ***

Jason and Amie were in her prius, as Amie drove towards his parents house. Jason had his elbow perched on the door and was looking out the passenger side window as Amie chewed on some carrot sticks. She turned the radio down and glanced over at him, concerned.

"Hey," she asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I guess," he said, stroking his incoming beard, "I just...you don't think I'm a fraud do you?"

"What?"

"I was at Whole Foods earlier, and these fuckin' kids in the line over where pointing at me and talking about how I'm a 'poser' or something, like...like I don't really care about saving the planet or conservation or anything, I just needed yet another identity to commit myself to. Like, how when you're a teenager you try on different identities until you find one you really think fits you, you know?"

"Sure," Amie said, "But we're not that. Jason, posers don't drop everything in their lives and go on a Spirit Walk to discover who they are. If you were really a poser you'd have just bought an economically good car, gotten a native american tattoos, used a juicer and called it a day, you know? You wouldn't quit your job and fly to another country to take a long, good, hard look at yourself."

"I guess," Jason said, sighing, "I just feel like sometimes I really am just trying to be a part of something."

"We're all trying to be a part of something. We all play off one another, each one affecting the other, because we need to try and survive with eachother. And honestly, who cares what some fucking punks say. Be whoever you want, so long as you're not hurting anyone else."

Jason smiled and watched her as she drove, the streetlights softly illuminating her face as they passed under them. For as much as Jason had loved Anna, still maybe did love Anna, he had to admit to himself there was something incredibly wholesome about Amie. It was nice to be with somebody who believed in things. Anna believed in things, but not with this ferocity, this intensity. She'd accepted the status quo ages ago, and had become accustomed to the way things were. Why rock the boat when the boat favors you so? But here was Amie, who was considerably a few years younger than Anna, and wanted to change the world and herself in the process. Whoever she was this month might not be who she is next month, and that was exciting. Jason wanted to be like Amie.

As they pulled up in the driveway, they noticed another car sitting on the curb, and a young black woman standing outside of it.

"Monica?" Jason asked, as they pulled up and parked. Jason got out and walked around the car towards her. Monica put her phone down as she saw him approach, and she barely acknowledged Amie.

"What're you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm picking something up from my sister," Monica said, "I've been so busy, but she said she could bring it with her tonight and I actually had the time off, so. What happened to you? You look like a vintage vinyl store took advantage of a Buffalo Exchange."

"That's cute," Jason said, crossing his arms, smirking, "So what's she bringing?"

"Wouldn't say, just told me it's something she doesn't want anymore," Monica said, "So where you been? I heard you were out of the country."

"I went to Africa for a few months, kinda sort myself out."

"Why the fuck's every white person go to Africa to 'find themselves'?" Monica asked, starting to look at her nails.

"This is Aime, we met there," Jason said, as Aime shyly waved.

Just then Anna and Ashley pulled up and parked. Anna got out of the car with Ashleys help, and while Anna waited by the car, Ashley opened the trunk and, eyes locked with Jason, scowl on her face, she picked up a large, weathered trunk and started to carry it over to Monica, who took it, a surprised look on her face.

"This better not be something you stole from some old guy who runs a voodoo store," Monica said, making Anna chuckle; Monica then turned to Jason and smiled, before adding, "Well, see ya around. Glad to see you're doing better."

As Monica walked down the driveway, Anna approached Jason and, a mere inch apart, looking into one anothers eyes, Jason spoke through gritted teeth.

"How could you give her that?" he asked.

"Very easily," Anna said.

"What was it?" Amie asked

"Can we just go inside?" Ashley said, rubbing her arms from the cold outside.

"Not just yet," Jason said, snapping at his sister before turning back to his ex wife, "You owe me an explanation. How could you do that? You could've just give it back to me. You know what, nevermind, I'll just go home, because I don't need to be here."

"Don't you a coachella concert to get to?" Anna asked, and Jason put his face right up to hers as Becca opened the front door and whistled at them. They all turned and looked at them, before leaving it and heading indoors.

Inside the house, Ernie was already sitting at the table, setting the dominos up for fun, knocking them down himself as Betty brought a platter of cheese and fruit and crackers into the room and set it on the side table by the couch. Becca sat down on the couch, as Jason grabbed Annas arm and led her into the kitchen, with Aime following them.

"How can you do this?" he continued to ask, "That was-"

"You have no right to ask me," Anna said, "After everything you did, I have the right to be a little miffed, and you know what, it was mine, you gave it to me, so I can therefore do with it whatever I please."

"What was it?" Amie asked, still curious.

"What it was was none of your business," Anna said, before exiting the kitchen, annoyed. She took her seat beside Becca and Ashley, as Jason and Aime sat by Ernie and Betty sat in a chair, watching, the way she usually did. Ernie started the game, turning the dominos on their backs and shuffling them. He wiped his nose on his sleeve and grunted.

"Alright so there's only like 4 players for this game, so I'm thinkin' myself, Jason, Rebecca and Ashley? Like core family, you know? Nothin' against you sweetheart, you're a doll," he added, patting Annas hand, making her blush.

"That sounds fine," Aime said, "I just came for the fun of being here, plus I drove."

"Alright so everyone take 7 from the bone yard and stand them up so nobody can see your hand," Ernie said, and everyone did as he did. Jason couldn't take his eyes off Anna, and she was too focused on looking at her cell phone to notice him glaring her down.

"The bone yard is my new indie band," Aime said, chuckling as she sipped her water.

"Aw, your manic pixie dream girl comes with state of the art personality action," Anna said, smirking.

"Hey, I'll have you know that I am nobody's fucking plot device," Amie said, "Guess what? He decided to better himself before we met, alright? Not after, so thank you very much."

"Well excuse me for insulting hipster Paul Bunyans taste," Anna replied, sighing as she shifted on the couch, "Tell me, Jason, are you really trying to change? Or is this just like that time in college when you decided you were into foreign film?"

Jason looked at the game table as Anna leaned forward and cupped her hands.

"He joins this group, right? They get together on the weekends and watch, then openly discuss, foreign film. Like a book club, ya know? He buys a beret, he starts wearing suspenders, he starts reading books on foreign film and acting like he's the end all be all on the subject when really he just still didn't know who he was or wanted to be. You can't just try on identities like they're suits off a rack, Jason. You're in your 30s, it's time to figure out who you are."

"...You tried on an identity," he said softly, "Happily married wife and mother. So what the fuck do you know about who anyone is?"

"Jason..." Anna said, "I wasn't happy because of me, not because of you. I hope you don't think all our problems were your fault."

Nobody said a thing as Jason got up and slunk his way back to the kitchen. Aime sat in his empty spot, playing the game for him, glaring  across the table at Anna, who did now look somewhat embarrassed.

"And for what it's worth," Aime said, "Even if he did need someone else to help him be a better person, where's the ultimate harm in that? So long as he's not just using me as a means to an end, which he isn't, then who cares? We all need other people to help us figure out who we are. Maybe instead of tearing down who he wants to be, you should build up who you want to be."

"You know," Becca said, taking some of the snacks Betty had brought out, "I agree with Aime, why is it such a bad thing to try who you want to be, even at our age? God knows the baby boomers stopped trying to better themselves...throwing away anything that means something just because it's 'stuff'."

"Are you still fuckin' on about that?" Ernie asked, chuckling, "It was like some old books and socks and shit."

"It was your brothers things!" Becca said, their voice rising in anger, "You can't just throw away things that meant something to someone you loved!"

Anna suddenly felt a pang of guilt and looked towards the kitchen where Jason had gone. She stood up and started to walk out of the room and into the kitchen. Inside, she found Jason standing at the island, sniffling, drinking a carrot juice. He turned and looked at her, and she lowered her head.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, "I guess I'm not really being very nice about this. I thought I could handle seeing you with someone else, but it's harder than I thought it would be. I don't want to get back together, but I still feel like we're married."

"Aime is a person, Anna, she's not a tool used by 40 year old man children who are looking to cure their inescapable sadness they think is caused by the fact they feel owed sex," Jason said, "She's a person. I decided to become better before we met, she's not wrong, and you know what? She's encouraging me to do it. She's got her own dreams and her own job and her own life. But what are you doing? Oh no, let's look at the poor, pregnant woman who wouldn't even TALK to her husband, even though he tried to change for her and himself. You're the same catty, angry woman you've been for years now, except now you're sleeping with my sister."

"...I'm sorry, Jason, I-"

"I don't want apologies. Amie said on the ride over here that we're all playing off one another, that we all affect one another in some way or another, and she's not wrong. I did terrible things Anna, and I am now taking responsibility for them, but the terrible things I did have changed you, and you need to decide if you want to become a better person too, or if you want to stay this way. Everyone around you is changing and adapting. Instead of trying to figure out who I am, maybe you should take some time to figure out who you want to be."

Jason turned and walked out of the kitchen, leaving Anna alone and without words. He was right. He was right in every sense. He'd tried so hard to change, and all she was doing was making a mockery of it, and now she'd taken something away from him and given it to her sister to hold onto. Something he'd given her. Something that she'd treasured. When she finally rejoined everyone in the living room, Ernie was winning, and the game was nearly over. Nobody said a word.

Everyone was turning on one another again, despite all their best efforts not to, and Ernie couldn't be happier about it.

                                                                                           ***

It was soon after they'd gotten married when Jason gave Anna the trunk. He brought it into their bedroom one night while she was laying down and reading, and he put it on the floor. She got out of bed and crawled to the end of it, curious to see what was inside this enormous, weathered box. As he smiled at her, he opened the box, lifting the lid of the trunk up and revealing inside an old blanket, the color soft pastel purple. At first, Anna gave him a quizzical look, and he smirked.

"I had to go through hell to get this," he said, "I had to talk to your sister, she's the one who actually knew where it was. It's your baby blanket."

Anna felt her eyes tear up, her lip quiver.

"I wanted you to have it to give to our child," Jason added, and the next thing Anna knew, she was on the floor on top of him, giving herself to him fully. Jason had been so different, but he'd always been different, changing all the time, and now when he was finally seeing fulfillment with himself, she saw a problem with that? It sickened her.

Sitting in the car on the way home, she glanced over at Ashley and knew she'd made the right choice, and it was time for her to stop judging Jason for making the right choices for himself.

                                                                                                  ***

Becca sat on their bed, looking through their fathers things, pulling each piece out. Ernie was right in one way, it was just stuff. Not even interesting stuff, just leftover junk that Harold probably wouldn't care if they got rid of, but to Becca, it was treasure. It was sacred. They pulled out a book, an old Sherlock Holmes novel, and flipped through the pages. A bookmark slid out, showing he'd never finished it, and then from the back cover, something else fell into their lap. Becca picked it up and turned it over, their eyes widening.

It was an old polaroid, it was from a christmas morning, the three of them around the tree. Jason was playing with some action figures and Ashley was coloring. Betty wasn't in the photo, they clearly were the one taking it, because next to Becca was Harold. Becca was wearing a long shirt that went down to their knees, and next to them was an opened, abandoned box of princess stuff that was clearly meant for Ashley but she'd obviously tossed aside for something else. Harold was putting a tiara in Beccas hair, and giving a thumbs up to the camera. Becca had the biggest smile on their face, and suddenly tears were falling from their cheeks to their pants.

Becca wiped them away, pushed everything off the bed and, holding the photo close to their chest, sobbed themselves to sleep.

Becca sat in her room, staring at herself in the mirror. She started putting in her earrings, then put on her lipstick, and then did her eyeliner the way she liked. She played with her hair a bit, curling the tips a little, and then stood up and went to her closet. Becca pulled out a cute dress with some stockings, and a pair of black flats with small wedge heels, and got dressed. As she stood admiring herself in the mirror, she heard the knock on her bedroom door, and saw her mother enter in the mirror.

"Oh, you look lovely," her mother said, smiling, "I'm just letting you know that everyone is almost here, and that I'm making snacks if you want to come down and help me."

"Sure, in a minute," Becca said, as their mother exited. She let out a single, long sigh. Finally, all these years living a life she knew was wrong, finally all these years she never felt good in her own skin, no, now she was free. For once in her life, Becca felt good about herself. She looked at the label she'd put on the mirror at the top when she'd needed to test a label maker for her father a few years ago for christmas. Becca walked to her desk, pulled out a sharpie and exed out the name on it, replacing it with her own. Yes.

                                                                                    ***

"Who arbitrarily decided that eggs were a breakfast food?" Anna asked, as she and Ashley were sitting in traffic, on their way to the Fuller household. She folded back the page of her magazine and pointed at it, saying, "See, right here, these people talk about eggs as if you can only eat them at breakfast. Who decided that what came out of a chickens ass could only go into our mouths at a certain time of day?"

"I don't know that anyone really decided it. Probably the Egg Lobbyists though, honestly. Trying to force eggs on people, or something. No doubt a conspiracy of masterful proportions," Ashley replied.

"You know, if you aren't going to take this conversation seriously, you can just not respond."

"Take it ser...Anna, you are complaining about people eating eggs at breakfast. I'm not sure how else one could take this conversation other than ludicrously!" Ashley said, laughing, "For god sakes, if you want eggs for dinner, just make some fucking eggs. It's not like the Breakfast Council is going to barge in and arrest you for gross misuse of breakfast food, charge you with Grand Theft Breakfast and throw you in Breakfast Prison."

"That sounds delicious, actually," Anna said, "I kinda wanna go to breakfast prison now."

Just then there was a knock on the window at the right light, and Ashley rolled it down to reveal Jason on his bike, with someone holding him around the waist. He waved at them, and they waved back.

"Watcha got there, a crash test dummy?" Ashley asked, leaning out her window, when the person behind Jason took their helmet off and revealed an absolutely gorgeous brunette, her hair also dreaded, with a nose ring and freckles scattered across her face. She smiled and waved at Ashley.

"Ash, this is Amie, we've been seeing eachother since Africa," Jason said, "She's coming to game night."

"...what."

The light turned green and Jason sped off as Amie put her helmet back on. Ashley and Anna sat in the car for a second, and didn't say a word or glance at one another. Finally, after a few seconds, the car behind them honked, scaring them and forcing Ashley to start driving.

                                                                                   ***

"You're letting this family fall the fuck apart," Ernie said, pacing back and forth in the living room while Betty got the UNO cards out of the closet and sat down on the couch, sipping her wine as he continued, "My brother worked hard to build this and you're letting them be whatever the hell they want, with no direction or purpose!"

"They're adults, Ernie, they can be whatever they want. It isn't my job to tell them what to do. I think my child are all perfectly fine people," Betty said, "They're all happy, which is more than I can say about the two of us."

"I'm glad Jason's bettering himself, he was always a bit uptight, which he probably got from his father, but christ, you're letting this goddamn PC bullshit infiltrate and destroy your family! We grew up without political correctness and we turned out just fine!"

"Did we? Cause we seem pretty miserable," Betty said, finishing her wine and wiping her mouth on her sleeve.

"...Betty, you have a son upstairs who likes to wear dresses. Now, in my day, we just had cross dressers, and that was that, they did it mostly in private and that was it. Sometimes you never even found out until long after they were dead. Now you got em trying to actually assimilate themselves with women, calling themselves women, and-"

"Ernie," Betty said, sighing, running a hand through her hair as she looked up at him from the couch and smiled, "Shut the fuck up. For once in your life, just shut the fuck up."

Betty got up and headed in the kitchen, leaving Ernie there alone. He threw his arms up in the air, annoyed.

"The whole goddamned world is going crazy!" he shouted.

                                                                                    ***

Ashley and Anna had parked across the street and were now crossing towards the driveway of the Fuller household, where Jason and Amie were climbing off the bike. Amie pulled her helmet off and tossed her hair a little, best she could, before kissing Jason, the two of them laughing.

"She's obnoxiously attractive," Anna said, "Like, I wanna punch her in the face for being so hot."

"I know, it's bullshit," Ashley said, "Why're all the granola girls so damn good looking and also so damn pretentious and self important."

"Sounds like you have some history with granola girls," Anna said, holding Ashleys hand.

"I dated one before I came out publicly," Ashley said, "She was just...so fucking hot, but she had the most backwards ideals, and thought my life equaled that of a chickens. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for animal rights, but guess what, a chicken can't drive a car, it can't do taxes, it can't help the economy or run a country, so it's not really the same sort of life."

"Hey ladies," Jason said, "Amie, this is my sister Ashley and her girlfriend Anna."

"You're pregnant!" Amie said, almost squealing, clapping, "Oh god, that's so exciting! It makes me so happy to see a family being created, you know, it seems like so many people these days don't want to have kids, which is fine, that's their right and their decision, but still, I love kids."

"...yeah," Ashley and Anna said in unison.

"Amie's a tattoo artist, she gave me a great tattoo," Jason said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Don't embarrass me," Amie said, blushing.

"She's great, she's going to be even more popular once she opens her own studio," Jason said, "Amie, why don't you go inside, we'll be right there."

Amie turned and headed inside, while Jason looked at the girls, both of whom weren't sure if they were supposed to laugh and cry.

"So, did she give you a tattoo?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah," Jason said meekly, looking away from them.

"Let's see it," Ashley said, smirking, as Jason reluctantly pulled up his sleeve and revealed on his upper arm a tattoo. Ashley and Anna leaned in to look at it, both making quizzical, perplexed faces, looking back and forth from the tattoo to one another.

"It's...uh...what the hell is it?" Anna asked.

"Is it supposed to be a horse? It kinda looks like a horse," Ashley said, "But like, a horse with downs syndrome."

"Awww, you got a disabled horse tattoo!" Anna said, "That's so progressive of you, Jason! Are you advocating for horse rights now?"

"...look, it's not great, okay, but she's doing what she likes, and that's more than most people," Jason said, "And for the record, it's a horse head with its mane blowing in the wind in an open wheat field, and he's a triumph, okay?"

"Tell that to Mr. Special Ed there," Ashley said, both she and Anna nearly doubling over with laughter.

"Alright, Sundew and I don't have to take this," Jason said, pulling his sleeve back down, the girls almost on their knees in the driveway now, rolling with laughter while Jason turned and headed inside. He could hear them from behind.

"He named it Sundew!" Ashley howled.

Inside, Jason found Betty and Amie in the kitchen, talking at the sink. Jason took a seat at the island and watched his mom and his new girlfriend laughing and talking, and despite the embarrassment from his tattoo, he did feel happy to have her. Jason really felt like he had something good here with Amie.

"Jason, you didn't tell me that your mom was so beautiful!" Amie said, "And so funny!"

"She's speaking too highly of me, I'm not beautiful, I'm stunning maybe, but not outright beautiful," Betty said, making them all laugh. Just then, Jason heard something come in from the back door of the kitchen, and saw someone standing there, in a dress, with their hair curled, looking wonderful. Jason knew immediately, but he was still shocked to see it. He slowly slid off the stool from the island and walked over to them, where they stood, nervously wringing their hands.

As Jason approached them, they didn't look at him until he put his hands on their shoulders. Finally, they looked up and their eyes locked with Jasons, the two still silent, and finally Jason just hugged them as tight as they could. They hugged Jason back, and after a few moments both started nearly crying.

"Becca?" Betty asked, "Do you want a snack?"

"That'd be nice," Becca said, walking back to the island with Jason, taking their seat beside him.

"You look great," Jason said, before turning to Amie, "Amie, this is my other sister, Rebecca."

"It's nice to meet you," Amie said, "Your hair is great."

"YOUR hair is great," Becca replied, the both of them chuckling. Just then Ashley and Anna came into the kitchen, still catching their breath from laughing so hard, before stopping and seeing Becca. Anna just smiled and stood upright, but Ashley walked up to the island, standing across from them, staring at them.

"...you're out," Ashley said, and Becca nodded. Ashley grinned and gave her sister a hug.

"Alright, let's get this game started!" Betty said, "I've got the UNO cards right out here."

The family and Amie followed Betty into the living room, where Ernie was nowhere to be found. As they all took their seats, Betty started dealing cards to Jason, Becca, Ashley and then Ernie walked in.

"Hey, Uno!" he said, sitting down, "Now this is a game I like. Your father always wanted to just play board games, never anything else. No cards. Cards are a game, right?"

"Cards are indeed a form of gameplay, yes," Jason said.

Betty dealt Ernie some cards, while Amie and Anna sat alone behind everyone and watched. Amie looked at Anna and smiled.

"So you and Ashley have been together for how long?" Amie asked.

"A little over 6 months I guess," Anna said, "You and Jason met in Africa?"

"Yeah!" Amie said, laughing, "How wild is that? We met at the hotel and realized we lived in the same neighborhood and everything! I take it you don't see Jason much?"

"Not since we split up."

"...you two...were together?"

"Ya see this?" Anna asked, pointing at her pregnant tummy, and then whispering with a smile, "It's his."

"Goddamned color coordinated piece of shit," Ernie mumbled as Becca used a skip card on him. He groaned as Ashley started to take her turn, while Jason eyed Ernie, almost like he was waiting for him to slip up and say something. That's when he noticed he could hear whispering behind him, and craned his neck behind his shoulder to see Anna and Amie engaging in a seemingly serious discussion. Jason started to feel a bit worried, but in a few seconds, they were both smiling and laughing again, and he felt at ease.

"Alright, now I got it, throwin' down a reverse," Ernie said.

"You would," Ashley said snarkily, which caught his attention.

"What?"

"You would throw down a reverse. You want everything to go backwards, back to when america was great and you were on top of the world," Ashley said. Ernie started to turn red, clenching his teeth. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could stand to take.

"You're the ones who're skipping me, I gotta play something!"

"We're skipping you because your time is over," Becca said sternly.

"You're just like your goddamned father, everything's a fuckin metaphor!" Ernie shouted, "Guess what, they're not a way to evaluate your life, or make decisions or phrase a statement! They're FUCKING BOARD GAMES! They are cardboard and plastic and paper and they'll be tomorrows trash!"

Ernie then stood up, grabbed the cards and threw them into the air before grabbing his coat and heading out the front door, slamming it shut.

"...you notice how we don't get play anything and enjoy it anymore?" Ashley asked, making Betty sigh.

"I know we need him to leave," Betty said, "He's not good, and he's making us all anxious and irritated, but he is your fathers brother."

"So what!" Becca shouted, "Who cares?! If someone is a bad person, it doesn't matter their relationship to you, you don't deserve to waste your time on people who aren't going to respect you in any way, shape or form, family, friend or otherwise!"

"Rebecca," Betty called after them as they headed up the stairs to their bedroom. Betty sighed again and finished her glass of wine, putting it down hard on the table before looking at the others, "Is that how you all feel? Ernie is the closest thing I have to your father at this point and-"

"No he isn't, we are, we're his children!" Ashley said.

"...I guess I'm the odd one out," Betty said, standing up, before adding, "Uno" and headed upstairs as well.

                                                                                    ***

Laying in bed at home, Anna felt annoyed while she tried to read. Ashley was typing away on her laptop beside her, trying to get some design work finished when Anna finally put her book down and looked at her.

"You know, I once told your mother that I felt honored and lucky to have your family to be a part of because mine was so broken and screwed up, and now I'm starting to wonder if she really understands that," Anna said.

"Ernie is kinda right. Dad used board games as metaphors, and they're no real way to run your life. There's no lesson to be taken from them, but what Ernie doesn't understand is that those board games bring us together, teach us to work together as a team, and he's there trying to tear us apart. We've all worked so hard to become better, especially since dad died, and board game opinion or not, he doesn't get to ruin that."

"You're right," Anna said, "I just hope Betty realizes how toxic he is soon."

They both nodded and went back to their respective hobbies before Anna snickered and muttered, "Sundew" and they both broke out laughing again.

                                                                                    Years Earlier

"You can't just ask him?" Ernie asked, "I'm desperate here, Jason, I need to talk to him."

"He won't come out, I'm sorry," Jason said, "He just...he has no interest, I'm sorry. He's barely speaking to me because of this, because I defended you. Nobody wants anything to do with either one of us."

"This is bullshit, you know? You don't just dump family because they think different from you! Family is family no matter what! Blood is thicker than thought!" Ernie said, slamming his fist on the slab. Both men sighed and Jason rubbed his eyes while Ernie scratched his head, "Alright, thanks for coming by Jason, you're a good kid."

Ernie hung up the phone, Jason hung up on his side, and both stood up. A guard came to take Ernies arm and walk him back to his cell, as Jason put his hand on the plastic divider between them and watched his uncle be taken away once again, before throwing his jacket over his shoulder and heading home.

                                                                                                  ***

"You got it!?" Annie asked excitedly, her voice shrill with happiness as she took the paper from Carls hands. The two were seated at the island in the kitchen while Ashley was preparing a snack; Betty was in the living room, taking the game out of the box and setting up.

"Yeah," Carl said, blushing, "So, I need to go to the courthouse in a few weeks and start the paperwork to get my name legally changed."

"Any ideas what you're going to pick?" Anna asked.

"How about Xena?" Ashley asked, and they both looked at her, carrot stick hanging out her mouth and she shrugged, "What? She was a powerful, kick ass broad! Xena's a bitchin' name!"

"Listen, if you want to pay Lucy Lawless royalty fees everytime you sign a check, be my guest, but I think I'm going to go with something a little more serious than Xena," Carl said, making Anna laugh. Ernie came in through the backdoor and opened the fridge, pulling out a beer.

"Xena was a babe," he said, "Who's changing their name to Xena?"

"Nobody is changing their name to Xena!" Carl said, annoyed, "And the next person who mentions the name Xena is getting kicked right in their Warrior Princess."

"So what've you picked?" Anna asked, pushing her hair behind her ear, grinning.

"I was thinking about Rebecca," Carl said, "I've always liked that name."

"Rebecca is a pretty name," Anna said, as Ernie came to Ashleys side of the counter and started eating some of her carrot sticks, pointing at Carl with one of them.

"Wait, you're changing your name to Rebecca?" he asked, "Huh. Alright. I mean, you could do worse I guess. You could be picking something outrageous like those other ones do. Why can't they just pick a normal name? Why's everything the gay community do gotta be so fuckin ridiculous and over the top?"

"On behalf of the gay community, as a spokesperson, I must inform you that the reasoning is actually classified information, a vital part of the gay agenda, and thus isn't allowed to be told to the heterosexuals," Ashley said, making Anna and Carl laugh.

"I don't know," Carl said, "I also like the name Phoebe, so we'll see which one eventually wins out. I'm just still sorta in shock that this is happening. I've spent so much time fantasizing about it throughout my life...I never thought it would become reality."

"I used to fantasize about sleeping with Xena," Ernie said, taking a sip of beer as Ashley nudged him with her elbow.

"Hey, me too!" she said, chuckling.

Meanwhile, in the living room, Betty was sitting down and staring at the Jenga game she'd set up. She heard the front door open, heard some footsteps approach the room, and looked up to see Jason coming in, his jeans torn, his shirt covered in beads, his hair still in dreads. He didn't look anything like the son she used to know, but he did look happy, and that made her happy. He tossed his coat down on the couch and sat down next to her.

"Watcha doin in here?" he asked.

"...I have trouble going in the kitchen on family game night these days," she said softly, "It used to feel so safe. Now I feel like if I go in there..."

"I get it, mom, you don't need to explain it," Jason said, hugging her gently, "But you know everyone else is fine, and nothing's going to happen."

"Nobody saw that coming either," Betty said quietly, shutting Jason up, just as everyone else entered the room. Ernie patted Jasons shoulder as he walked past him.

"Hey! I just finished fixing up my bike today, Jason! You wanna see it after the game?" he asked, Jason nodding in response, smiling politely. If he had to take one for the team and spend time with Ernie to keep him away from everyone else, he would do that. Everyone started to sit down, Anna being seated with Ashleys help, as Jason looked across the table at Ernie, who cracked his knuckles.

"Who's my victim this week?" Ernie asked, grinning, "Wait, isn't this a multiple person game?"

"Nobody's really good at it," Betty said, "So pick who you want to humiliate and get it over with."

"I'll play you," Jason said, "I'll go up against Ernie."

"There's my boy!" Ernie said, chortling as he assessed his first move, then continuing, "Hey Anna, how much longer til you pop that fuckin kid out of you?"

"Should be anytime now," Anna said, "I'll be really happy to be rid of it too, cause goddammit I'm sick of carrying all this weight around. I miss being fashionable. There's been some strides in the market these last few years to make maternity clothes more fashionable, but it's never really caught on or worked that well."

"I remember Betty lookin' pretty fashionable," Ernie said.

"That's because Harold made sure I did," Betty said, "If it were up to me, I'd have just worn sweatpants and sweatshirts for 9 months. It's hell being pregnant and not being able to go clothes shopping with your friends, seeing them all in these cute clothes. I hated it."

"Well, I guess for that to happen, I'd first have to have friends," Anna said.

"Yeah, I just don't see that ever happening," Ashley said, both of them chuckling as she kissed Anna on the cheek.

Ernie put his piece on the table as Jason started to take his turn. Ernie coughed and took a swig from his beer before wiping his mouth on his arm and starting to laugh.

"I remember, there was this girl I dated once, she got married to this buddy of mine and got pregnant, ya know, they wanted a family and shit. So she gets pregnant and she tries to make this line of fashionable womans maternity clothes, but like, with the fashions that were popular at the time, right? So she made these giant ass sweatpants with glittery text on the ass that just said 'JUICY' on it. We laughed about that for weeks, goddamn."

"You're really lucky, Anna," Carl said, filling out some paperwork while sitting by Jasons side, Betty on Jasons other side, "I mean," Carl continued, "god...I wish I could have kids like that. I'll never really know what it's like, you know? It really hurts."

"Trust me," Anna said shifting, "If I could give this pregnancy to you, I would do so in a heartbeat, cause I'm tired of it."

Carl chuckled, writing something else down and looking up afterwards, chewing on the end of their pen, "I mean, if only the future would get here already, right? And like, we could just put a working womb into transwomen, so those who wanted to give birth could, right? That's the fuckin' dream."

Jason took their piece and put it on the table, making Ernie put their beer down and start taking their turn.

"Well, it's gonna happen eventually, so I guess just, like, be happy that there will be women who will get to do that, instead of wishing for it?" Anna asked, shrugging, and Carl nodded.

"I don't know, pregnancy's a hard topic for me, I'd rather not really talk about it," Carl said quietly.

"How come nobody wants to talk about anything anymore?" Ernie asked, "For fuck sakes, like, there's college kids who won't read certain books just because they contain truths they don't want to acknowledge, ya know? Full grown fuckin adults, man, droppin' classes cause they just 'can't handle it' or it 'makes them feel bad', like, there's no such thing as protection in the world outside of college. You're gonna have to face that shit eventually."

"Yeah, but there's nothing wrong with safeguarding yourself, either," Jason said, "I mean, especially if someone doesn't wanna think about something that makes them feel incredibly bad."

"C'mon, Jason, I know you got the look down, but don't go all pussy on me now, son. You gotta admit it's a little ridiculous and over the top at this point, right? We're raising a society of adults who would rather skirt around something than discuss important topics! We only resolve things through discussion, you know? Not talking doesn't solve anything," Ernie said, "That's why the government shutdown happens every now and then, because one side just doesn't wanna fuckin' talk about anything. No discussion, just 'our way or the highway' sorta thing."

"I don't really see the point in conversing with people who don't respect me," Carl said, turning everyones heads to look at them. They shrugged and leaned forward, putting their drink on the table, "Why the fuck should I put effort into talking to people who've made it extremely clear that they want people like me dead? Fuck them."

"Well," Ernie said, "Maybe you could change their mind."

"There's no changing some peoples minds," Jason said sternly, waiting for Ernie to make his move. Ernie put his beer down and cracked his knuckles, looking across the table at Jason. He ran his fingers over his facial hair and smirked.

"You know, seems like somebody changed your mind, Jason," Ernie said, starting to take his turn.

"I changed my mind," Jason said, leaning back, trying to relax, "I realized what a bad person I was becoming, that it was hurting those around me and I decided to change. Nobody except me changed anything about me. That isn't to say they didn't help, that they didn't point things out, but change only occurs once you yourself decide to stop being a piece of shit. Nobody can make you stop being a piece of shit, you gotta make that decision on your own."

"Who's the piece of shit we're talkin' about here?" Ernie asked, his eyes narrowing, "Cause frankly son, I don't much care for your tone."

"Good, it doesn't much care for you right now either," Jason replied. Nobody said a word, nobody even exhaled. This was both riveting and terrifying, everyone almost certain things were about to come to blows. On one hand, nobody could believe Jason was handling this so well, and on the other hand, nobody could believe Jason was the one in the right for once.

"I think new and improved Jason 2.0 is right, in ways," Ashley said, "There's just no getting through to some people."

"You wanna talk gettin' through to some people? How about the fact that my own brother didn't come see me in prison the entire goddamn time I was there? Now that's abandonment, man, that's not okay," Ernie said.

"Maybe if you'd changed and been a better person, you wouldn't have been there in the first place," Jason said.

"I'm two seconds from takin you outside, boy," Ernie snarled.

"You think you can handle me? Bitch, I just hiked across mother fuckin' Africa for months, try it," Jason said, their faces almost touching. Ernie took his turn and dropped his wooden piece gently onto his pile, making Jason reach up for his own turn.

"Contrary to what your daddy believed, life is not a fuckin board game," Ernie said, standing up, looking around at them all, "And sooner or later, you're all gonna have to realize that. There's no winning, there's no losing, there's no such thing as teamwork anymore. We as a society have completely abandoned working together and now we're all too busy drifting apart because nobody will talk to one another or work with one another, all because some people have different beliefs than others, and-"

"I'm sorry," Ashley said, standing up, "But I refuse to consider someone telling me I'm going to go to hell for being in love a 'belief'. That's not an opinion. That's just cruel. There's no need to be cruel. I'm not gonna stand there and be insulted so they can feel better about their sad pathetic lives simply because they're mad I have love and they're stuck in a fuckin' awful marriage with kids they never wanted in the first place."

"Sweetheart, you don't know-"

"Don't tell me what I don't know and don't call me sweetheart you miserable relic," Ashley said, "You're so stuck in the past, Indiana Jones would track you down so he could give you to a museum."

"I'm done, I'm not lettin' people hang up on me like this," Ernie said, "This is-"

"You know why you're quitting? Because your belief system is as fragile as this Jenga Tower, and you know it, and you know that any second now, any day, it's all going to come crumbling the fuck down. Everything you believe in, everything you hold dear, everything you thought to be true...none of it is anymore," Jason said, standing up and facing him, "Nobody is taking your shit anymore, and that's what terrifies you. My father might've challenged me, he might thought different than me, he might've believed in things I didn't, but he respected me, and the one thing he didn't do was tell me that I'm wrong. That's all you and the people like you do. You tell everyone they're wrong. You talk so fuckin highly, so proudly, about wanting to generate open discussion, and yet you won't even hear another sides opinion. You wear your bigotry and your hate on your chest like a medal you earned, when all you've really earned is isolation, and one day you'll look around and you'll wonder 'where did everyone go? where is my family, my friends?' and then it'll hit you...they don't think differently than you do, they just think you're an asshole, and they're not going to sit around and be insulted by someone they thought loved them. But one day, one day soon, all of this you thought would last forever, this power, this privilege, it's all going to go away, and for once the people who say they believe in 'all men are created equal' are going to have to face actually being equal."

Nobody said a thing. Ernie and Jason stared at one another for seconds on end, before Ernie picked up his jacket, his beer and kicked the Jenga Tower onto the ground, then turned and walked back out to the garage. Everyones eyes were on Jason, as he slowly exhaled, put his hands on his knees and sat back down on the couch.

"Well," Anna said, "...same time next week?"

                                                                                          ***

Ashley and Anna had left, Carl had gone out and Betty was lying in her bed, reading a book when Jason entered. Betty looked up at her son, as he slowly walked in, hands in his pockets and took a seat on the end of the bed. He sighed and ran one hand over some dreads.

"...I'm a bad person," he said.

"Don't let the guilt get to you, they certainly don't," Betty said, "The fact you feel guilty alone means you're human enough to have feelings. Ernie would never feel guilty. He doesn't know how to feel."

"How did someone like that end up brothers with someone like dad?" Jason asked, and Betty sat up, put her bookmark in her book and cupped her hands.

"...back when I met your father, he told me that he had a brother. I never asked and he never elaborated. It just was a fact he told me, that he had a brother. When we were finally together, Ernie came over one weekend, and they hadn't seen one another in years. After listening to Ernie for about 45 minutes, Harold asked him to leave, and then felt bad for asking him to leave. Ernie said life isn't like a board game, that there's no winners or losers, but he sure acts like he's playing to win."

"I don't know that I can do this," Jason said, weakly, starting to cry, "I don't..."

"Do what?"

"Be the person dad thought I could," he said, sobbing, as he crawled onto the bed next to his mother. Betty pulled her sons head onto her chest and gently stroked his hair.

"Nobody says you have to live up to what your father expected of you, just what you expect of you," Betty said, "And for what it's worth, I'm so proud of you, Jason. I really, really am."

And Jason Fuller cried like he was a 10 year old boy again, safe in his mothers bed, from the horrors of the world outside.

Jason could almost remember it clear as yesterday; the day his father had first informed the family of wanting to start doing Family Game Night again. It was about 3 years ago, and Jason was at home, watching his then infant daughter while Anna was at work. Jason had the day off, and was flipping through channels on the TV when the phone rang, and he answered, only to hear his fathers voice on the end of the line.

"Jason?" he asked calmly, and the hair stood up on the back of Jasons neck as he slid into an upright position on the couch.

"Dad?" he calmly asked, trying not to freak out, "Hi...what...what's going on?"

"Jason, I, uh...I've been calling everyone and asking about how they're feeling about starting doing Family Game Night again. You were the last one I had to call, so I was just...it's nice to hear your voice, Jason," Harold said, trailing off, "Are you doing okay?"

"I'm doing okay, yeah," Jason said, "Yeah, I'm just watching the kid while Anna's at work. Are...you okay?"

"I'm doing alright, sure. Look, Jason, I'm ready to move on if you are," Harold said, "Why don't you stop by the toy store and pick up a game and drop on by and we can all play something this coming week, alright? It'll be nice to see you again. It's been too long."

"...that...sounds...just great, dad, yeah, I'll do that," Jason said, before they said their goodbyes and hung up. Little did Jason know at that time that he would be so grateful for the time he did get to spend with his father after that, because he'd be dead soon. Now, after Harolds death, Jason was standing in his apartment, staring at a box on the table that he'd wrapped himself, picked it up and headed out the door to Family Game Night.

                                                                                                ***

"So, you're saying werewolves deserve their own stores?" Carl asked, chewing on some nuts while sitting at the island, watching Ashley at the sink as she cleaned an orange and started to peel it.

"Well, at least a fuckin clothing exchange or something, right? I mean, it's hard enough to be a werewolf without ruining your entire goddamn wardrobe, why not cut them some slack? So you give em like a werewolf clothing exchange where they can buy cheap shit they don't care about ruining when they transform and then buy cheap new clothes in case they do ruin their clothes," Ashley said, placing the orange on a cutting board and slicing into it.

"You know, I'd imagine most werewolves just get naked when they're about to transform," Anna said, opening the fridge and taking out a bottle of water.

"Sure, there's preparations I'm sure, but it's gotta be kind of like a period, you know? Sometimes it just shows up out of the blue, you forget it's coming," Ashley said, "I've forgotten my cycle more times than I'd like to remember."

"I would imagine of all the monster syndromes to be endowed with, lycanthropy has gotta be the worst," Carl said, "I mean, vampires are pretty easy. You just try not to go in the sun too much, you slip out at night and drink some blood when you have to, it's pretty easy to conceal, especially since they look like people, but shit, a whole period of time where you just transform into a wolf? That's not something you're keeping from your wife, I'm tellin you that right now."

"If I was a werewolf, I would kill the people I hated when I transformed, and then nobody would know it was me that killed them," said Anna, "Like there's this cashier at the Whole Foods near our house, he's this skinny little redheaded fuckboy who keeps dinging my car with the cart when he's taking stuff out for me, oh my god, I'm ready to transform into a werewolf right now and slit his throat."

"That was the most white person problem I think I've ever heard," Carl said, the three of them laughing, "Waaah, this teenage boy at the Whole Foods nicked my Mazda!"

"Don't you kids ever talk about anything important?" Betty asked, coming into the kitchen.

"Where in the world did you get that idea, mom?" Ashley asked as Betty took some orange from the cutting board.

"Well, since it's your birthday," Betty said, placing her hand on Carls shoulder, "You get to pick which game you'd like to play this week."

"Same as every year, Guess Who," Carl said.

Just then there was a knock at the door, and, expecting Jason, Betty went to answer it. As she pulled the door open, there stood a man who appeared in his late 50s, somewhat balding, with a bushy mustache. He had bags on the porch next to him and opened his arms for a warm embrace.

"...Ernie?" Betty asked.

"Guess who!" he shouted.

                                                                                           ***

Jason was sitting in his car down the street, staring at the package in his lap, when he noticed a taxi pull up to the Fuller house. He opened the car door and got out, heading up to the house as he watched the man standing on the porch push his way inside the house, and a strange feeling came over Jason as he swallowed uneasily.

"Uncle Ernie?" he asked himself.

Indeed, it was Uncle Ernie, Harolds younger brother. As Ernie set his bags down in the hallway, he made his way into the kitchen and gave Ashley and Anna hugs, and then Betty got a hug. Ernie then stopped when their eyes came to meet Carl. He slid his hands into his pockets and smirked.

"Well, look at you," he said, "You're all grown up now."

"What're you doing here?" Betty asked.

"My brother dies, I'm worried about his wife, his kids, I just wanted to come to town and see if you guys were holding up okay. What's everyone doing here? I actually only expected to find Carl and Bets at best," Ernie said. Just then Jason came into the kitchen, putting the package down on the kitchen counter.

"Uncle Ernie," he said, making Ernie turn and face him. Ernie grinned and grabbed Jason, giving him a bear hug, as Jason continued, "What're you doing here?"

"I was just explaining to your mother and everyone else that I just wanted to check in on you guys," Ernie repeated, "I know it's sudden, I'm sorry for not calling or some shit beforehand, but man, Harolds death hit me really hard and after the funeral I knew I just needed to see you guys. Betty, you're like the last connection I've got to my brother, you know?"

"I understand," Betty said, "Well, we were about to sit down and play a game if you want to join us."

"Shit yeah, that sounds like a nice way to catch up," Ernie said, following Betty and Anna into the living room, leaving the three siblings alone in the kitchen, all shaking their heads in disbelief at this happening.

"I didn't know he was out of prison," Ashley said.

"You know he's not going to be any better than he used to be," Carl said.

"That's not fair, people change, right? I mean look at me, I'm changing, or trying to," Jason said.

"Oh, is that what you're calling what you're doing?" Ashley asked, picking at her teeth as she and Carl exited, laughing. Jason grimaced and glanced back at the package on the counter, then followed them into the living room. The siblings took their seats on the couch, while Anna and Betty sat this one out. Seeing as Guess Who is only a two person game, and it was Carls birthday, it would be them facing against Ernie. Ernie sat on a small footstool across the coffee table from them, wringing his hands nervously, grinning.

"God, it's great to be here," he said, "I feel like I haven't seen you kids in years."

"You haven't seen us kids in years," Ashley said.

"What're you all up to?" Ernie asked.

"Well," Jason started, while Carl set up the game, "I took some time off after dad died, I went to Africa. I just needed to really look at myself and what I was doing with my life. The pregnant broad over there's Anna, she's my ex wife and our unborn child."

"You got any other kids?" Ernie asked.

"Yeah, we have a daughter named Belle," Anna said, and Ernie smiled.

"That's real great, man, that's fantastic. Family is the most important thing in the world," Ernie said, then looking at Ashley, "What about you, sweetheart?"

"Advertising, graphic design. Doing okay right now. Life's pretty boring otherwise," she said matter of factly. Ernie nodded and then looked across the table at Carl.

"I can guess what you've been doing," he said, smirking.

"You have no idea what I've been doing," Carl responded without looking up.

"No need for attitude, I'm just pointing out the obvious," Ernie continued, "Ya know, my brother was a pretty feminine kid up to like, high school, so I'm not too shocked is all. You know, the world's becoming a more accepting place overall, but there's still some people that-"

"Can we just play," Carl said flatly, starting the game.

"Ya know," Anna said, scooping some ice cream from her bowl, "Guess Who had some flack in more recent years. That's probably why I don't see it in stores much these days."

"Flack?" Ernie asked, taking his turn, "For what?"

"Well, for one, it's got a 95% white male population for its characters," Anna went on, "There was only 5 female cards on the board for the longest time, and in fact, in the original, there was only one non white character, Annie, who was later redrawn as a white woman. Obviously the african american community, and women overall, were not very happy about this whitewashing."

"Black people always need something to be mad about," Ernie said, scratching his beard, "It's how they get things done. They pick a cause, they fight for said cause and then they enact change, even when there's nothing really wrong with the thing they're attacking. Everyone needs a villain, ya know? So the people that're the so called 'minority' are always attacking those above them, because they perceive them as the villain, purely for having worked hard or simply having a different skin color."

A quiet filled the air. Both Ashley and Jason were staring at one another in quiet disbelief.

"I need...to...pee," Jason said, standing up and heading for the stairs, Ashley right behind him as Ernie turned and looked at her.

"Where're you going?" he asked her, as she stopped, one hand on the banister, one foot on a step.

"I...too...need to pee," Ashley said.

"...you guys go to the bathroom together?" Ernie asked.

Jason and Ashley glanced at one another and then back at Ernie.

"I...can't go to the bathroom alone," Jason said, "Enormous fear of being alone. In fact, sometimes it's so crippling that instead of staying home and peeing, I'll often go out and go to a public restroom just so I don't feel too scared."

And with that, the two of them headed upstairs as Ernie turned back towards the game, scoffing.

"Strange kids you got, Bets."

"You're tellin' me," Betty replied.

Jason and Ashley got into the bathroom and locked the door. Jason leaned against it, exhaling, as Ashley sat down on the side of the tub, rubbing her forehead with her palms. After a few moments of this destressing, they finally looked at one another in awe.

"What an asshole," they said in unison.

"I mean, christ, now I know what I must've been like," Jason said.

"No, trust me, you were never like that," Ashley said, "We can't allow him to stay here. He's toxic. He's a racist, and he's obviously uncomfortable around Carl."

"Well what do we do? Mom needs help. Dad happens to be dead, remember?" Jason asked, and Ashley nodded.

"Well, we could start splitting our time with mom, come over now and then to help her with things, make sure she's not alone. If that doesn't work well, we could hire someone. Like a...like a live in maid or something," Ashley said.

"I'm not hiring some strange man to live with our mother," Jason said, "You don't know where that may lead."

"I'm not talking about hiring a fuckin hunky cabana boy here, Jason!" Ashley said.

Meanwhile downstairs, Ernie and Carl were in the middle of the game. Ernie was massaging his beard as Carl waited for him to make his move. Carl was looking at their cell phone, scrolling through some social media, all the while unaware that Ernie was taking a long time because they were staring at Carl, rather taken aback by their outward feminine appearance, and unsure of how to broach the subject.

"Is that glitter on your nails?" Anna asked, making Carl look up from their phone.

"Yeah, it's a clearcoat with glitter that goes over your color," Carl said, turning their hand over and letting Anna admire it. Anna got up and came to the couch, sitting beside them and taking their hand in her own, looking at it.

"That's really cute," Anna said, "Where did you get that?"

"I have a ton of it if you want your own bottle," Carl said, chuckling, "You can totally have one."

"That'd be awesome. I've been trying to do something new with my nails and nothing's stuck," Anna said.

"So Anna," Ernie said, interrupting and taking his turn finally, "Uh...you're not with Jason anymore?"

"No, we split a while ago," she said, "It was a somewhat mutual decision."

"Must've been quite a blow to lose his lady and his father all at once," Ernie said as Carl started to take their turn.

"Well, Jason and I were having problems long before Harold died, so, it wasn't sudden or something," Anna said, "Anyway, we've moved past things obviously. He's doing his own thing, and I'm with Ashley and we're raising Belle just fine as friends and-"

"Wait, what? You're...you're with Ash?" Ernie asked, starting to laugh, slapping his knee," Christ! I don't come to visit for a few years and Jason's a goddamned hippy, Ashley's eating rug and this one," they said, pointing at Carl, "Whoo, let's not even touch that one."

Carl blushed and looked at the lap, feeling Anna stroke their hair.

"It's been more than a few years," Betty said, "Just to be accurate, and I'd imagine it's rather hard to visit from prison."

"Yeah, well, nobody came out to see me. I mean, even my own brother for chrissake wouldn't come see me! Jason did, but that's only 'cause he's a good kid. He doesn't abandon family just because we have political or ideological differences. Jason's a stand up guy."

"Guess Who," Carl said, finishing their turn and turning their board around to show a character who looked exactly like Ernie, "Big surprise, it's an asshole."

With that they stood up and headed up the stairs, just as Ashley and Jason were coming back down.

"What's his problem?" Ernie asked, making everyone groan subtly before he turned to Betty, "Bets, there a guest bedroom I can throw my shit in?"

"Yeah, I'll take you up there," she said. Ernie grabbed his bags and followed her up the stairs. Ashley, Jason and Anna all stood around in the living room, looking down at the character piece Carl had won with, and not saying a word.

"He says you don't just abandon family because you have political or ideological differences, but I think that's just the excuse people like that use because they know they'd be utterly alone otherwise. They guilt trip people into not leaving them because they know people would in a heartbeat," Anna said, "What a disgusting person. What did he do, exactly, to end up in prison? And why the hell would you visit him? You've never really talked about him much."

"That's another story for another night," Ashley said, pulling her jacket on, "Come on, let's get out of here. This place has a bad vibe now."

"Carl was going to lend me some nail polish," Anna said.

"I'll come pick it up from them tomorrow or something, I just wanna go," Ashley said. As she and Anna approached the front door, she turned and looked back at Jason, who was standing on the stairs, looking at the photos on the wall leading up to the second floor, cleared her throat and asked, "You leaving?"

"Nah, I have something to do," Jason said. She nodded and shut the door behind herself. Jason went to the kitchen, grabbed the package off the counter and headed upstairs. As they reached the hallway, they found themselves face to face with Ernie coming out of the bathroom.

"Hey kiddo," Ernie said, "Man...what happened to this family?"

Jason shrugged and responded, "I guess we grew up. You don't stop growing when you reach eighteen years old, you know, you're supposed to always be growing and changing. Just because society says you're an adult doesn't mean you are. Hell, science says the brain hasn't even matured until you're well into your 20s, so for society to claim you're an adult when you're 18 is laughable, because you're so obviously not."

"Let me ask you somethin," Ernie said, "You're not going soft on me too are you? I mean you got a sister sleepin with your exwife and you got a brother who-"

"I don't have a brother anymore," Jason said, "And it's late and I'm too tired to discuss anything right now. I just have something to give to Carl and then I'm going home. If you wanna call me tomorrow and talk more, feel free."

Ernie smiled and smacked Jasons shoulder, nodding, before heading off towards the guest room. Jason knocked on Carls door, and after a few seconds, just entered anyway. They found Carl sitting on their bed, looking at a photo album. Jason took a seat next to them and looked at the album as well. The photos were of Harold and Betty, and the kids, mostly vacation photos.

"I took dad for granted," Carl said, "He's never going to be proud of me because he can't be proud of me. He's gone now, and no fucking game night is ever going to bring him back. So what if we 'honor his memory' or some shit. He's dead."

"Tonight...wasn't great, but I do have something for you," Jason said, handing them the package. Carl took it reluctantly and started to unwrap it. Inside was a Cribbage board. They looked at it and then looked at Jason.

"What do I look like, a 75 year old in a nursing home?" Carl asked, making Jason laugh.

"No, uh...when I graduated college, dad gave this to me. He said his father gave it to him. He...he says it was the first real game he ever played, and he played it with his own grandfather, and then his father, and he taught me to play. He told me that Cribbage holds a special place among American submariners, serving as an "official" pastime. Apparently, the wardroom of the oldest active submarine in the United States Pacific Fleet carries the personal cribbage board of the World War 2 submarine commander and Medal Of Honor recipient, Rear Admiral Dick O'Kane on board, and that upon the boat's decommissioning the board is transferred to the next oldest boat. He says it's what taught him to love games. He called it the...the best thing his father ever gave him. He says it meant the world to him, and he wanted it to end up with someone he really loved and trusted."

"Why're you giving this to me?" Carl asked, looking up from the Cribbage to Jason.

"Because...because I think it's more important right now that you have something of Dads. He was proud of you. He saw the progress you made. I think he would want you to have this. Happy Birthday, Carl," Jason said, leaning forward and hugging them.

"Thanks, Jason," they replied, tears in their eyes, "Thank you so much."

                                                                                            ***

Jason was standing in the driveway, hands in their pocket. It was soon after college graduation, and Harold was having a garage sale. Jason strolled up and down the driveway among the other people shopping and came upon an item.

"Dad?" he asked, making Harold come over to him, "What's with this?"

"Eh, it's junk, I mean, it was my grandfathers and my dads but, I don't really care about it all that much and honestly, it's not really a board game, so, I figured why not let it go," Harold said.

"What if I buy it?" Jason asked, and Harold shrugged.

"Don't think being family nets you any sort of discount," Harold said, and Jason smirked as he opened his wallet and gave his dad a five dollar bill. Jason held onto the Cribbage board for years afterwards, unsure of why he purchased it and what it really meant to him, until he decided to give it to Carl. He figured they could use it much more than he could. So what if he lied about its origins, or its importance to their father? All that mattered was he was able to make his sibling feel better, and that was the best birthday gift of all.

Betty Fuller was laying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, waiting for her children to get here for their first family game night in about 7 months. She exhaled slowly, rubbed her eyes and thought about if she could even go through with tonight, thought about how much it meant to everyone, and how much she'd missed her children since the last time they'd all been together. It had been the longest gap in family game night they'd ever had, so she knew she had to go through with it, even if-

"Betty?" Harold asked, sitting down on the bed next to her, smiling. Betty sat up and took his hand, kissing it gently as he continued talking, "You feeling okay?"

"I'm feeling alright, I guess...I don't know, honestly. I'm a little scared. It's been so long since we've done this, I hope it's still as fun as it ever was," Betty replied, as Harold leaned in and kissed her forehead, stroking her hair.

"It'll be a blast, trust me, you'll be so happy," he said, making her blush. Even after all these years, even after what happened, he could still make her blush.

                                                                                             ***

Ashley and Anna were sitting in Ashleys car, driving towards her parents house. Anna ran her hand down her rather pregnant tummy, smiling at it. Ashley glanced down, and then their eyes caught and they both giggled. Ashley turned into a new lane, and came to a red light.

"This all feels so surreal," Anna said.

"I know what you mean, but, it'll be good," Ashley said, "I have missed having family game night, honestly. I can't wait to see them again. Plus, my mom will probably give you a bunch of maternity clothes, if you don't think they're too ugly."

"I'd rather be comfortable than pretty," Anna said, "...good god, I've given up on myself."

"You're pretty in anything, come on," Ashley said, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel to the radio, not noticing Anna blushing, feeling extremely complimented. Just then, someone pulled up beside them in the lane and tapped on their window. The girls glanced at one another, then Ashley began rolling down her window to see a guy sitting on a bike. He pulled his helmet off, and it was a rather bearded Jason, but his hair was dreaded and he was wearing what appeared to be a necklace of an elephant.

"Ladies," he said, waving at them, "I'm sorry I haven't called you since I've gotten back into town, but I've only been here a few days, so I figured I'd just wait until I saw you tonight."

"...what is that smell?" Ashley asked, sniffing the air.

"Diesel," Anna said.

"That's me," Jason remarked, laughing, "It's patchouli oil. It's my fragrance of the month."

"The fuck is fragrance of the month?" Ashley asked, trying not to laugh.

"It's just a fragrance made from a species of plant. I'm just so tired of the over masculinized colognes they have on the market, aimed at making men feel bad if they don't smell like a generic, macho thing, with names like Musty Cave or Lumberjack. I wanted to try something different."

"Trust me, you smell like a musty cave," Anna said, making both the girls laugh.

"I'm not going to take that personally. We all have our likes. I'm going to take your humor with good nature and just admit that I like how I smell and that I like myself right now. I finally feel good, and it feels good to feel good."

"Where's...where's your....car?" Ashley asked, in between gasps of air from laughing, wiping her eyes of tears.

"It's at my place. I'm trying to use this bike now for exercise, plus it's better for the environment," Jason said, "It's a fixgear, best on the market.

"Oh, hang on," Ashley said, pulling her cell phone out and answering it, "Hello? Oh yeah, let me tell him. Hey, Jason, the 90s called and they wanted me to tell you that you're a walking stereotype, and that, what's that?" she asked, pretending to be on the phone again, "Alright, let me tell him, and that Felini thinks you're pretentious."

Jason just smiled and shrugged, then the light turned and he continued peddling as Anna and Ashley continued driving, cracking up the rest of the way there.

                                                                                          ***

Carl was sitting in the kitchen, at the island, looking at a scratch on the floor, their eyes damn near glued to it. All they could hear in their head was the sound of an ambulance. The fact that they were outside when Harold had had his heart attack instead of inside like usual had been eating away at them for many months now. Carl sighed and pushed their bangs out of their eyes. Their hair was longer now, well past their shoulders, and their skin had cleared up quite a bit. They were wearing a soft, deep green sleeveless blouse with a brown skirt and cute sandals, their nails painted coral.

They leaned back in their chair and sighed, crossing their arms. Sure, the situation was over, months over, but the fear of that night still lingered inside of them. They bit their lip and started chewing, still glaring at the mark on the floor, so focused that they didn't even hear the door open and hear Jason enter the kitchen.

"Hey," he said, tossing his helmet on the counter and heading for the fridge where he got out a carrot juice and took a few swigs, "....hello?" he asked again, this time getting Carls attention.

"Yeah, hi," they replied.

"Watcha lookin' at?" Jason asked, strolling over beside them.

"This mark on the floor. It was made by the thing dad dropped when he had his heart attack," Carl said, pointing at it, "I just...I can't get beyond that night. I should've been in here like I was every family game night and instead I was on the porch and I'm never going to forgive myself for that."

"Dad would," Jason said, smiling.

"I know that. I know dad wouldn't hold it against me," Carl said, sighing, "I just...I wish I could've done more. Those last few months I really felt like dad was getting to know me and feel proud of me, and that we were getting closer and closer. Then I had to blow it..."

"Come on, you know dad's not like that. You know dad loves you, supports you. You know that," Jason said, hugging Carl to them and patting their back. Carl took a whiff of the air and waved their hand in front of their nose.

"What the hell is that stench?!" they asked.

                                                                                          ***

"Do you remember right after we got married?" Betty asked, the two of them sitting on the bed, her legs to her chest, arms wrapped around them, "And all we had to do was sit around in that little apartment and watch TV on a bad signal because we had that rinky dink little antenna?"

"I do," Harold replied, chuckling.

"But then one night, you said we should just go to a thrift store, for some furniture, so we did, and you found a bunch of board games, remember? And then you told me this story about how your grandma used to play board games with you all the time and that you loved it but hadn't done it in years, and now you really wanted to so you bought them all?"

"Yep, some of those are still in that closet," Harold said, "God...it seems like a million years ago now."

"It feels like it," Betty said wistfully, "Hell, 7 months ago feels like a million years ago now...anyway, you then decided that we would have a family game night, because you knew it would bring everyone closer. But then...well, that happened, and we stopped having it for a while."

"I've always regretted missing that time," Harold said, rubbing his chest, "I feel like we wasted a lot of time on a whole buncha nothing."

"Now the family plays game night again. We're not perfect, but we all get along and we all love one another, and...and we're all invested in eachothers lives. It's how a family should be. So what if we have to wrap our identity, our togetherness and support system, around a board game? Who cares if it takes Scrabble to bring us together? We're together. That's what matters."

"I'm happy everything's going so well," Harold said, "I was pretty worried for a while that they wouldn't, especially after Jasons shitty behavior towards his wife."

"...remember how you told me we bought our house? This house? We had looked at it a few weeks before, and then one night we were playing Monopoly, and it said I landed on some property and I could buy it if I wanted to, and so I did and instead of giving me money for income from it you just handed me our door key?" Betty asked.

"I do remember that!" Harold said, laughing and coughing, "Yeah, I remember that. Man...I was a huge dork."

"You really were," Betty said, leaning in and kissing him.

                                                                                             ***

"So...so what you...you just lived in a hotel where animals could walk right through it?" Carl asked as Jason opened up a bag of pretzels and hopped up to sit on the counter. Anna was sitting at the island while Ashley leaned against the wall, one hand in her pocket as she ate an apple.

"Well, they like, built it ON an elephant trail, right, so like...okay, the elephants take the same trails every year and they have for a long ass time, so then these contractors come in and they built this hotel that went right through one of the elephant trails, so the elephants aren't gonna learn a new route so they just go right through it. It was pretty cool, eatin' breakfast like, 5 feet from elephants."

"I guess that's pretty cool," Ashley said, swallowing her bite of apple, "Any other animals?"

"There was a giraffe that would come to the upper level windows and I always fed it salad mix," Jason said, "That was pretty neat."

"Any kids ever get eaten by a lion?" Ashley asked.

"There were feedings, but they were at weird times, so I never saw them," Jason said, making Anna smirk, "Anyway, it was a wild experience you guys, you really need to check it out."

"Well, when I have some time to just hop on a plane and spend a few months in Africa, I definitely will look into that," Anna said, pushing hair behind her ear as Ashley threw her arms up in the air.

"When's this game night gonna start?" she asked.

"I don't know, I'll head upstairs and see what's up," Jason said.

"I'll set up the game board," Ashley said, grabbing The Game Of Life off the counter and heading out to the living room. Once they were gone, Anna glanced over at Carl and smiled.

"I like your look," she said.

"...oh...thanks," Carl said, blushing, "Yeah, I don't know. I still don't feel 100% comfortable, but I guess I'll get used to it. I get ma'amed everywhere I go and everyone treats me very nicely, but...I don't know, I guess I still think that like, even if they're nice to me that after I'm out of earshot, they're making fun of me, no matter how 'convincing' I seem. I don't know, it's weird."

"Being a woman generally is," Anna said, "But hey, you'll make do, you look fantastic."

"Thanks, but it's not all about appearance," Carl said, "Like...seeing you pregnant, it makes me pretty uncomfortable, because I'll never have that."

"Well, you could always ado-"

"I know. I know that. Everyone always tells me that, but that...that isn't the problem. Even if you were infertile, you still have the machinery, you know what I mean? You have all the pieces that it take to make a child, they just don't work the way they should. I'll never have that....I don't know, I'm sorry. I'm feeling really weird lately," Carl said and Anna hugged them, kissing them on the cheek.

"It's cool, you know I'm here for you," she said, making Carl blush again.

                                                                                             ***

"Well," Harold said, sighing as he lay on the bed holding his wife close, "I guess game night should get started. It's only fair, they've waited long enough."

"I don't want to leave this room," Betty said.

"You're going to have to leave it eventually," Harold said, and Betty felt him start to wipe her eyes dry as he turned her face to look at him, his smile gleaming at her, "It'll be okay. I promise."

"No, it won't. It'll be so weird and uncomfortable," she said, starting to sob.

"Life is uncomfortable, but you're Betty fucking Fuller, you're the woman I chose to live my life with, and I'll be damned if you decide to stop living it now. I love you," Harold said, kissing her firmly on the lips.

*knock! knock!*

"Mom?" Jason asked, "Can I come in? We're ready to start game night. I'm coming in."

As Jason entered, he turned the lights on and found Betty sitting alone on the bed, hugging her pillow to her chest, sobbing to herself as she softly rocked back and forth. Jason put his hands in his pockets and stood there, staring at her.

"...you okay mom?"

"I...don't know..." she managed to say.

"I know it'll be weird without him, but we're here for you, okay? We love you. You just come down when you're ready. Ashley set the board up and everything," Jason said, kissing his mom on the forehead, as she collapsed into him crying. Jason sat down and held his mother. As he sat there, he heard the tinkling of shattered glass, and looked down to see a picture frame on the floor. It was of his parents. He just kicked it until it rolled over, and kept holding his mother.

Harold Fuller might be dead, but his game night would last forever.

"I got this one for all my years at the company," Burt said, holding the golden hammer and running his thumb over it, smiling, "All those years put in and they give me this as a consolation. A fuckin' gold hammer."

"I've seen the hammer, yeah," Boris said, slouched in a chair in the main activity room, chin rested on his fist, "At least you can kill yourself with it. I guess that's something."

"Probably end up in my grandsons hands," Burt said, "Think about that. Some kids get money, actual valuables. My grandson's gonna get a stupid golden hammer. You want a legacy, Boris? Don't work in the manual labor sector. Houses you build will be torn down, because nothing lasts forever."

Boris sighed and rubbed his eyes as Whittle stopped by his chair and handed him a small cup with some pills in it.

"I know they always told me not to take drugs from strangers, but thank god for you," Boris said as he took the tiny cup from her and she smiled.

"You're getting easier to deal with," Whittle said, as he handed her back the tiny cup.

"Everyone's easier to deal with when they're drugged," Boris said, and she shrugged as she continued on, muttering under her breath, "can't argue with that."

Boris stood up, stretched and walked past Burt, heading down the hall. First he hit the public bathroom, and then afterwards, stopped in the hall to get some water from the fountain. As he finished drinking, he stood upright and looked in the mirror they hung over the fountain. He sighed, running his hand through his thinning hair before heading down the hall to his bedroom. Boris turned the doorknob and opened to see a woman sitting at his desk, looking around. She was in a lovely floral dress with a sunhat, and shoulder length faded blonde hair. He approached cautiously, confused, until she looked at him and she smiled.

"Can I help you?" he asked, "You're in my room."

"I am?" she asked, sighing, "I've been doing that a lot. I'm sorry, please forgive me."

"It's not really a problem, I'm just letting you know," Boris said, sitting on the end of his bed, across from her, scratching the back of his head nervously, "...um...so...come here often?" he asked, and she actually laughed heartily.

"Very funny," she said, "Not to this room specifically, but last few months, I've been going to the wrong room thinking it's mine. Memory, you know, it just starts to go, bit by bit. I'm Leanne," she said, holding her hand out as he smiled, gripping it gently and shaking it.

"Boris," he said, "Are you even in this building? I don't think I've ever really seen you around here."

"No, I'm not, now that you ask. I'm in the 3rd building, across the grounds," she said, "Amazed I could even make it all the way over here, with my leg and everything."

"I mean, you have two, so that should be good enough," Boris said.

She grinned, and lifted up the hem of her dress, revealing her right leg was fake. She knocked on it, making it emit a hollow sound. Boris grinned as he looked from the leg up to her face. She had really dark green eyes, and for a moment, he swore, she could've been her. He quickly shook it from his mind. No. The last thing he needed to do was attach new people to old people. He quickly cleared his throat and coughed.

"So, lost it in some gang fight back in the day, huh?" he asked, pointing at her leg.

"I wish, that'd at least make me more interesting. No, it had to be amputated. Not that interesting of a story, really. But, makes me seem pretty cool to the kids, so it has its pluses. Boris, do you want to walk me back to my building? Just in case I can't make it on my own?" she asked, smiling coyly.

"I'd love to, but I'll have to get my fake feet, so hang on a second," he said, and she chuckled as they got up to leave. As they exited the room and headed down the hall, he could still hear Burt talking to anyone who would listen about his hammer. Boris opened the back door that led into the yards and garden of the facility, putting his hands in his coat pocket afterwards as they walked past people doing their outdoor activities.

"God," Leanne said, nudging him with her elbow and nodding at the quilting table, "I could never imagine doing that. It's so tedious. If I ever pick up a knitting needle, please cut my wrists with it."

"Will do," Boris said.

"I'm holding you to it," she said.

"So Leanne, what got you stuck in the can?" he asked, and she looked at her nails as they walked, finally crossing her arms after a few moments.

"Husband died a few years ago, and everything would've been fine until I slipped in the kitchen and hit my head on the counter. I got lucky it didn't do anything worse than land me here, you know, like kill me. Although, to be honest, after being here...who knows, the alternative might be preferable."

Boris laughed, rubbing his nose, "Yeah, I know what you mean, but it's not all bad. I mean, you've got good stuff about this place too, like, well, I mean...and this is just for starters, just sorta lowballing here but, I'm here, so that's pretty cool. That's what I've been told anyway."

"Yeah, I guess that sort of makes it worth it," Leanne said sarcastically, "You want to hear a funny story? My daughter comes to visit every now and then, I cannot stand her boyfriend and unfortunately he comes along with her, and she asks me how I'm doing here. I always lie, and tell her I'm having a great time and am very happy here, because it's easier to let her be happy not having to deal with me than it is telling her how unhappy I really am. My child deserves their own life without having me burden them, though, if life were fair, they wouldn't consider us 'burdens' to begin with."

"Very, sadly true," Boris said, as they stopped so she could pick a nice, pink flower from the garden and sniff it, smiling.

Boris liked her, she was very down to earth and very pretty, and they seemed to have the same sense of humor. After she finished looking at the flowers, they went and sat on a bench, watching a family visiting their grandpa at a picnic table a bit away from them. Leanne handed Boris the flower and he sniffed it too.

"Sometimes I just think that, you know, this is how everyones lives end. You get old, your kids leave and you wind up alone in a nursing facility," Leanne said as she took her hat off, letting the wind waft through her hair, "But then I remember that not everyone does end up like this. Some people our age...they get to go home. They get to stay with the people who care about them. You would think I would prefer this, look at it as a new outlook on life, a new, final adventure before the end, but...I'd rather be with my family."

Boris looked down at his feet and sighed, his mind flashing back to the dream he'd had the other night. The car accident. Her. He gulped and started to pick at his fingernails.

"Well," he said, clearing his throat, "At least you do get to meet some interesting people here. I really like Nurse Whittle, she's very kind and smart. She's a good nurse. And I got to meet you, so that's pretty good."

"Hmmm, it is nice I suppose," Leanne said, putting her hat back on and staring vacantly at the family having lunch at the picnic table, sighing, "Besides, I could've ended up at a worse hospice."

"That's the spirit!" Boris said, making her chuckle.

"At least here," she said, "I can get up and walk around. I'm in the 3rd building, across the grounds," she said, "Amazed I could even make it all the way over here, with my leg and everything."

"Yeah, it's...uh," Boris started, then stopped, having deja vu, "What?"

She grinned, and lifted up the hem of her dress, revealing her right leg was fake. She knocked on it, making it emit a hollow sound.

"It had to be amputated. Not that interesting of a story, really. But, makes me seem pretty cool to the kids, so it has its pluses," she said, laughing about it. Boris couldn't tell, but this sounded...familiar. Like they'd already talked about this, but he didn't want to ask, in case it appeared like he rudely wasn't listening, so he just stayed silent. Leanne continued laughing, adding, "You want to hear a funny story? My daughter comes to visit every now and then, I cannot stand her boyfriend and unfortunately he comes along with her, and she asks me how I'm doing here. I always lie, and tell her I'm having a great time and am very happy here, because it's easier to let her be happy not having to deal with me than it is telling her how unhappy I really am. My child deserves their own life without having me burden them, though, if life were fair, they wouldn't consider us 'burdens' to begin with."

Boris stared at her as she looked off into the distance, still smiling. That's when it dawned on him. She didn't know she was repeating these things. She'd completely forgotten they'd even had these conversations scant minutes ago.

"...yeah," Boris said, shifting on the bench uncomfortably, putting his hands on his knees, "Yeah that...that's a funny story."

"So how'd it happen?" Carol asked, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose while Boris shrugged.

"Close as I heard, he just died in his sleep," Boris said, "If only we should all be so lucky."

"That's so boring," Carol said, "Did you ever expect yourself to die in a place like this? Surrounded by fake plants and wicker furniture?"

"I never expected myself to die, so, no," Boris replied.

As Boris popped some gum in his mouth and started chewing, Larry came up to his side, one hand on his hip, the other gripping the top of his cane, as he lifted it up and shook it at the people emptying some things from Mr. Hendersons room.

"What's going on?" Larry asked.

"Harry Henderson died last night," Boris said.

"How?" Larry asked.

"Just died in his sleep, peacefully," Boris said.

"He was always so boring, he couldn't even die excitingly," Carol said, making Boris smirk.

Just then Boris heard a loud thunk, and he turned to see Nurse Whittle pulling a stretcher in through the front doors. Boris turned and headed to help her, best he could, with bringing it down the hall. As he grabbed hold of the other side and started to wheel it with her, Whittle shook her head, her little blonde braids looking like puppy tails.

"I hate days like this," she said, "These are what I was afraid of when I first started in this business. I hate death, it just...it's so sad, I never wanna be around any dead people."

"You should've picked a different field then," Boris said, making her chuckle as he tossed another piece of gum in his mouth, "Lots of people are going to die here, all around you, and eventually even ones you'll be close to."

"Don't talk about that," Whittle said, looking up at him, and Boris felt like he'd gone too far, "Just help me get this over there so they can get him out of here."

Boris nodded and continued to help her push the stretcher over to Hendersons door. After they stopped it, Whittle turned and went back to the front desk, leaving Boris with his friends. Carol sighed as Larry headed back to the main entertainment room with everyone else. Boris and Carol turned and looked in through Hendersons door to see his body still in his bed, covered by a sheet. They entered the room, Caroline looking at his things on the dresser (pictures, etc) while Boris sat on the side of the bed by Hendersons side.

"God, look at this," Carol said, "He had like 4 grandkids. God, I remember when my grandmother died, I was so upset. My grandfather had died before I was born, so I never got to meet him obviously, but this is going to devastate these kids. It's going to change them forever."

"Your entire life is boiled down to this...a whole lifetime of experiences, dwindled to a small room you don't even like or want to be in, surrounded by only the essentials now, waiting for people who may never even come visit you," Boris said.

"Hey, you're not going anywhere anytime soon so don't worry. Besides, you didn't even like Henderson all that much," Carol said, standing next to Boris, rubbing his back. Boris wiped his nose on his sleeve and looked up at her, smirking a little as she sighed, "Alright, come on, up on your feet. We're going to get some breakfast."

                                                                                              ***

"I think my least favorite part of it all is that we have to deal with the fact that we have to get to know someone else when someone dies," Larry said, "That's so annoying. My memory is shit, okay? I'm not remembering anyone new, sorry. I already work hard to remember my own name, let alone anyone new."

Boris was sitting at the lunch table with everyone else, stirring his coffee with his spoon while Larry and Carol ate lunch. Just then, a short haired brunette stopped by the table. It was Polly Tweed from the third floor, with her pad in her hand.

"Alright, so, who bet on Harry?" she asked, tapping the pad with her pen as Larry opened his wallet and handed her some money.

"This death pool is going to wipe me out," Larry said under his breath.

"You guys don't think it's a little bit sick?" Boris asked sternly, "Betting on when your friends are going to die, hoping they die before you do?"

"First off, they're not our friends," Carol said, "Secondly, I like money more than I do living, so I'm not doing this in the hopes that I'll outlive someone as much as I'm doing it for the hope that I'll make money from outliving someone."

"I...I guess I can't argue with that," Boris said, sipping his coffee.

"Any takers for this months pool?" Polly asked.

"Who is it?" Boris asked.

"Torn Peters, up on the second floor," Polly said, "He's got a bad cough right now, and he's about 87. It's pretty much a win for anyone, so I'm likely to be paying out to everyone this month."

"I'll take that action," Carol said, handing Polly a twenty dollar bill, "Got nothing else to spend this money on."

Boris got up and headed out of the lunchroom, while the others watched. As he got outside, he began pacing, digging frantically in his coat pockets for something when he heard someone clear their throat. Boris turned quickly, surprised, to see Whittle sitting on some steps, smoking a cigarette.

"What's up?" she asked, "Did you lose something?"

"Ironically, I was looking for my nicotine gum," Boris said, finally pulling the package out of his pocket and taking a piece before sitting down beside her, neither one saying a word. They watched The Stitches working on a group quilt in the courtyard, a gentle cool spring breeze wafting by, blowing through their hair.

"Do you still have grandparents?" Boris asked, and Whittle smiled, turning her cigarette around in her fingers, watching it twirl.

"Yeah, I still have a grandpa who's around," she said, "He's not the one I liked as much, he's my dads dad, but...it's nice, having some family like that still be around. Grandparents dying are the first real hit kids take in the world of mortality. I mean, even losing a pet doesn't register the same I think, because you know, while it's not the same as the first pet you can replace a pet. You can't replace a grandparent."

"You talk to him a lot?" Boris asked.

"Nah, not really. On his birthday, or on my birthday when he calls me."

"Does he live in one of these places?" Boris asked, and she shook her head.

"Um, no, he's actually kind of wealthy, so he lives in his place still, has people living with him, helping him," she said, "But, ya know, it's good because he doesn't have to rely on his family and stuff."

"Shouldn't you want to rely on your family? Aren't they supposed to be there for you? Isn't that the whole concept of 'family'?" Boris asked, chewing rapidly while Whittle exhaled smoke into the air and waved it away with her hand, shrugging.

"I don't know," she said, "I guess he just doesn't want to feel like a burden."

"You're a kid, everyone loves you. Everyone wants to help you, give you a head start, you're an advertising dream. Then you get older, and less people want to be with you, think you should be okay on your own, even advertisers don't think you're as worth selling too after a certain age. We tell kids growing up that they shouldn't have to be alone, then they hit a certain age and we tell them 'Welp, you're on your own now, good luck!'; what an unhealthy mixed message. Then, you reach my age, and this family you grew up knowing is dead, you're all that's left, and your own kids, if you're lucky enough to even have any, want to live their own lives so they stick you in one of these places and wait for you to die so they can argue over what you left them, because that's all you end up being in the end...a goddamned slot payout."

Another few moments passed by, and Boris sighed, scratching his head.

"So, can I have Hendersons room?" he asked.

"You literally just made an argument against-"

"I know what I did, I'm a hypocrite. Can I have his room or not?" Boris asked, "It's closer to everything, it's right by the front room and everything, and I..."

"...what?" Whittle asked, exhaling smoke, pushing some hair from her eyes.

"I don't like being at the end of the hall," Boris said, sounding dejected, "I want to be closer to you. You're always at the front desk, I want to be closer to you."

Their eyes locked for a moment, and after a second, Whittle giggled and nodded, taking another long drag.

"I'll see what I can do, Boris," she said, "You want a hit?"

"...yeah, fuck it," Boris said, spitting his gum out and taking her cigarette.

                                                                                              ***

"I hate you!" she screamed at Boris in the car, "You always do this!"

"Someone has to," Boris said, feeling her kick the back of his chair, "You signed up for this, you can't just not stick to your obligations, okay? If she won't take you, then it's up to me and-"

"I didn't wanna do this! She made me sign up for it!" she yelled, "You guys never listen to what I actually want to do, you just pick things for me!"

"Stop yelling, I can hear you perfectly fine, okay?!"

"I hate you!"

"Fine, that's fine, ya know why? 'Cause I hate me too, so there!" Boris shouted back, and that's when he hit the other car, and woke up, still in bed, same as every time he had this dream. Boris sat up, grabbed his water glass from the side table by the bed and after a few seconds, put it back down, opened the tables drawer and instead pulled out a small bottle of scotch, uncorking it and taking a few sips. Boris got up, walked to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror, and for a split second he swore he was still as young as he was in the dream, but then his eyes adjusted and he saw he was still the same, old, bitter man he'd always been. He walked himself back to his bed and laid back down, thinking back on the dream.

He still hated himself, all these years later