Dedicated to my NUMB3RS girls...
Usnavi was looking critically at the board in front of him, chin cupped in his fingers and his elbow resting on his knee. His brow was furrowed and his mind was racing. The fingers on his free hand twitched slightly.
"I can't do anything," he finally said, looking around at the three people sitting at the other sides of the board. "No… wait…" He triumphantly placed the letter 'o' next to the 'n' from the word 'mine.'
"Nice," Benny said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Usnavi crossed his arms saying defensively, "Better than nothing, right?"
"Right," Lincoln piped up, whose idea it had been to play Scrabble in the first place. "Benny's turn." Usnavi couldn't help but chuckle to himself at Lincoln's enthusiasm. He always bounced slightly when it was his turn. He also announced whose turn it was but then asked if it was his, as if he did not know. Usnavi found this very entertaining.
"Uh…" Benny's eyes whizzed over the board, scrutinizing the letters. Usnavi looked over at Nina, who looked as if she was trying very hard not to point out what Benny could do. Usnavi liked it when Nina played board games with the three of them; she always beat everyone and he thought it was funny.
Usnavi watched as Benny placed the letter 'a' before the 'n' he had just used to make 'no.' M-O-L-Y followed, spelling out… anomoly?
"That's not how you spell anomaly, dear," Lincoln said suddenly, causing Usnavi to raise an eyebrow. Had Lincoln really just called Benny 'dear,' or was he imagining things? Nina covered her mouth, snickering, which assured Usnavi he was not dreaming. Benny had a very odd expression on his face, but Lincoln did not seem to realize what he had said.
"H-how do you spell it, then?" Benny asked, biting back a laugh.
"A-N-O-M-A-L-Y," Lincoln told him, still not realizing that all three of them were still trying to stifle their laughter. Controlling himself rather commendably, in Usnavi's opinion, Benny took back the letters, instead putting his 'm' and 'o' around another 'o,' spelling 'moo.'
((Anomaly))
