Saturday Scrabble
A/N: Submitted for the weekly One-Shot Challenge Week #8
Theme:Pick one of the following board games: #1: Monopoly, #2: The Game of Life, #3: Sorry, #4: Clue, #5: Scrabble
.
************************************************************************
"OK, Hunter, you've had enough time this turn… you need to put some tiles down already."
Sookie was getting frustrated playing Scrabble with her teenage cousin. She had suggested it as a good way to improve his concentration and to practice "blocking," a technique that the younger telepath had been having a hard time mastering.
"This is just the stupidest game ever, Aunt Sookie" he remarked. Although they were second cousins, their relationship had always been closer to that of aunt and nephew. "You know a million times more words than I do and I always pick the worst letters, anyway," he continued. "V, Z and Q! What am I supposed to do with a Q when I never pick a U?" he complained.
Hunter was at the age where he tended to be overly dramatic; Sookie found it to be the age where he tended to be overly whiney. She often wondered how she would ever be able to deal with her own daughter as a teenager someday.
"First of all, if you read more, you would have a better vocabulary. Don't you ever look at the Word-of-the Day calendar I got you for Christmas?" An exasperated groan emerged from the sulky teenager in response.
"Second of all," she continued unfazed, "those worst letters you mentioned are worth more points so it's good to have them. Remember to work them over the spaces that double and triple the word or letter value and your score will improve in no time."
"Fine, but next time you invite me over for a Saturday barbeque, I get to choose the game," he added in a sullen tone. He looked at his letters one more time and managed the word BOND for a meager 7 points before picking new tiles. Sookie sighed inwardly at the memories that one little word evoked. Best not to think about it.
"You know, Hunter, I used to love to play this game with my Gran and brother when I was growing up. I could always beat them. Of course my brother wasn't exactly a literary scholar so it was easy to win against him. It also helped that I was able to know what words they were thinking of so I could block the higher point squares with my letters." She smiled at the fond memory from years past.
"But Aunt Sookie, that's cheating! I can't believe you did that!" Hunter seemed genuinely shocked and disappointed in his cousin. It seemed so unlike her to do such a thing. And she didn't feel the need to tell such an impressionable teenager how their special "talents" could reap far better benefits in other games, high stakes cards in particular. If Sookie didn't have such strong morals, she would have been quite a wealthy woman after just a few trips to Vegas.
"Yes, it was cheating a little, but I wasn't a perfect angel as a child, you know. And I wasn't as lucky as you are to have someone to help me figure out how to control my abilities. Besides, if you had been blocking me like I taught you, I wouldn't have been able to do the same thing to you today! Now concentrate… your guard is down and I can read all of the letters in your head. Six consonants and one vowel is not a good thing."
Hunter tried his best to focus and managed to block out Sookie's probing, sending back a blank slate. "Good…. that's much better, Hunter. I can't read anything from you now."
Sookie looked at her letters and the board for a minute before putting down TIARA for an unremarkable 10 points. "There… I purposely played this word to open up the board for you. Lots of vowels to work with and a chance for you to hit some high point squares with your letters."
Hunter still complained. "It's not fair… I told you that you know a ton more words than me!" Sookie was starting to lose her patience with him. "So what is a tiara, anyway?" he asked.
"It's a type of crown, you know, like a queen would wear," she replied, getting ready to
give up on this for the day.
"Oh, I never heard of that word before. It's for a queen, huh?" he paused. "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we had a queen or king here in America? Real royalty, like they have in other countries?"
Oh, if you only knew, Hunter, if you only knew… she thought. A headache was definitely coming on.
If I only knew what? he shot back, as they looked at each other.
"Hunter Savoy! You know better than to read the thoughts of family!" Sookie exclaimed, startled by Hunter's question and upset she had let her guard down.. He rolled his eyes in typical teen fashion, thinking his cousin was a hypocrite since she had read his mind only minutes before.
Just then, they could hear the crunch of gravel as a familiar car came up the driveway, slowly stopping at the back porch. "Yes! Sam's finally home! Can we stop playing now?" Hunter asked, hoping the interruption would bring him some welcome relief from the game.
"After one more turn. You've got some good letters and I want you to think really hard about how to best use them," she replied, happy herself that Sam was back. She got up from the kitchen table and headed to the back door to greet her husband.
"Hi honey….glad you're here!" Her eyes flashed to the dark-haired teen at the table and back so that Sam understood the source of her frustration. Sam wrapped his strong arms around his wife as they kissed hello, not nearly as passionately as they would have liked, given the present company in the kitchen.
"Hunter! How's it going, man?" Sam walked over to the boy, tousling his hair and mock punching him. "How's school?" he asked. "Oh, I see Sookie's got you playing Scrabble, huh?"
"Want to play with us, Sam?" Hunter asked hopefully.
"Me play a game with two telepaths? No thanks!" he laughed. "Will your Dad and Kristen be joining us for the cookout, too?"
"No, they had to be at some dinner party tonight so it's just me. Sookie said I could stay the night if I wanted to," Hunter added.
"You know you're always welcome here. Of course I don't know how much sleep you'd be getting anyway with the baby still not sleeping through the night. Speaking of which…"
"She's down for a nap right now," Sookie chimed in, "but I expect her up any minute. Will you check on her for me, Sam?"
"Of course, cher." He smiled as he left the kitchen and headed for the nursery.
Sookie sat back down to return to the game. "So… what did you come up with?" For some reason, she felt a gnawing pain in the pit of her stomach.
Hunter looked at his letters, looked at the board, and a big smile came to his lips.
"Well… the TIARA word got me thinking. I can add three letters to the I to make KING." He was quite proud of himself although he missed the triple word square by just one space. "Wait! I'm not done! I can add two more letters to the beginning and that triples the word!" He grabbed the tiles and placed them out for an impressive 42 points.
"VIKING! What do you think. Aunt Sookie?"
She stared at the word on the board, transported in her mind to another time in her life: a time when a younger Sookie came to a crossroad and needed to make an important choice, one which would determine the path her life would take. How many times had she asked herself what she wanted from life? How much pain had she endured when the blood bond was broken? How many times had she wrestled with her decision?
"Aunt Sookie, are you alright? You look so pale." Hunter said, a little worry coming through his voice. She looked up from the game, back in the present, startled to see Hunter there. She gazed across the room to see her husband, her best friend, her rock, walking toward her; Sam, carrying their precious daughter in his arms, his eyes lovingly fixed on her.
"Sook, everything OK?" he asked, concerned. Sam's eyes swept to the game board, and he immediately understood what triggered her reaction. His voice lowered to a whisper. "Regrets, cher?"
Sookie's eyes never left his as she responded with certainty. "Nope, never. It was all worth it, Sam." And with that she swept the board clean, told Hunter that game time was over, and stood to embrace her husband and daughter. No regrets.
************************************************************************
A/N: This was hard for me to write, not only because of the challenging theme, but I am an Eric lover at heart (or so I thought!). Yet this is what resulted so I guess a small part of me believes that Sam can make Sookie happy. Please review… your input means so much to me!!