Notes: Huge thanks to Mari and Sammy for the keyboard flailing. You're the best, ladies!
Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support! It is always appreciated.
Dedicated to my amazing grandma Ang. I love you and I miss you, Gram.
Your REAL World authors send our love to our family of readers. We want everyone to be safe, avoid public gatherings, and follow the guidelines of health professionals to protect themselves.
Since the REAL World is a place of escapism, especially during these hard times, the REAL World will remain coronavirus free.
Hope you enjoy!
Bingo! (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"All right, let's get started," the caller at the front of the room said, turning the wheel of the round cage in front of her. "First up … B-7."
"Bingooo!" Angie immediately called back, throwing both hands in the air in imitation of her beloved great-grandmother who so often won the game.
A light chuckle filtered around the condo association's community room. Angie was a familiar and very welcome presence to the group of mostly older women who adored her antics.
"No, no, Angie," DJ said gently from beside her. "That was the first number, we can't have bingo yet. You have to wait until we have a row all filled in, remember?"
She nodded and reached for a handful of bingo chips from Grandma Ang's parfait container.
Smiling, Ang motioned to the caller to continue.
"I-21," came the next call.
"Bingooo!"
"Angie!" DJ laughed. "We don't even have that one," he said, after examining the card they were sharing.
While Angie had come to Bingo many times with Grandma Ang, sometimes with Elizabeth in tow on wrangling duty, this was the first chance DJ had had to join the weekly game. Out of school for Spring Break, he'd agreed to come because Angie had been so excited at the mention of Bingo. He'd been relieved and excited to see it was just like the game they'd played in his class and he'd eagerly taken a card to share with his sister but was quickly realizing she might not be much help when it came to actually playing the game.
"G-51," the caller read and everyone in the room seemed to look toward Angie, waiting.
She grinned toothily and obliged. "Bingooo!"
Ang chuckled. "I think this might be a long game."
"Bwue, bwue, wed, yewow," Angie listed the colors as she put the chips in her hand on the table in front of her.
"Quick, while she's distracted," one of the other players said good-naturedly.
"O-62."
"Bingo!"
Only this time it wasn't Angie, but her namesake.
"Ohh, Ang," one of her neighbors groused.
"She only called four numbers!" another protested.
"Plus the free space," Ang said, pointing to her card with a grin.
"Wow!" DJ said. "You're really good at this game."
Ang shrugged. "Just lucky," she said. "That was quick, though. Usually it takes a few more squares before I win." She winked at him. "You must have brought some extra luck with you."
He beamed.
She nodded at his card that had one chip on it. "Pick that one up and let's get ready for the next game."
"Bingooo!" Angie said suddenly, pointing at the row of chips she'd made on the table.
"Come here, my girl," Ang said, patting her lap. Angie happily crawled into it. "You can help me this game. Tell your brother, 'Good luck.' "
"Goo' wuck, DJ!" Angie said.
DJ smiled broadly. "Thanks!" He straightened in his seat, turning his attention to the front of the room and the caller who was turning the cage.
"First number," the caller said. "I-29."
"Bingooo!"
As they waited for another game to start, Angie snuggled close to her great-grandmother's chest, playing with the clay heart that hung around Ang's neck on a piece of red yarn.
"Did I tell you who made this for me?" Ang asked DJ, tapping the heart with her finger.
He shook his head. "Angie?" he guessed.
Ang smiled. "No." She brushed Angie's curls back. "Do you remember who made this heart, Angie?" she asked the little girl.
"Mommy," Angie reported.
DJ's eyes widened. "Mommy made it?"
Ang nodded, smiling softly. "When she was your exact age."
DJ let out a little gasp. "My age?"
"Yes. She made it in school and the next time she came to visit me, she gave it to me all wrapped up with a ribbon and everything."
Angie wriggled to get down from Ang's lap but didn't go far, kneeling next to Ang's pink Bingo Queen bag that was propped against the chair leg.
"And you kept it even though now she's all grown up?" DJ asked.
Ang smiled. "Of course I did. It's my lucky charm."
"Wow," DJ said, looking at the heart with new appreciation.
Angie pulled a second parfait container of chips out of the bag and lifted it with a broad smile. "Shake shake shake!"
Ang reached for her. "Oh, wait, sweetheart, that's not the one you can–"
She didn't get any further as the parfait lit came off and chips flew all around.
"Shake," Ang finished with a sigh, regretting not bringing the container they'd sealed for Angie to play with after one too many such accidents.
"Uh oh," Angie said looking around at the colorful chips now in her lap and surrounding her on the floor.
"I'll help clean up," DJ offered.
"Oh, you can leave it, DJ, the next game is about to start," Ang said. "We'll clean up after."
"It's okay," he said, sliding out of the chair. "I'm not winning."
Angie beamed at her brother joining her on the floor.
"Let's clean up, Angie," he said.
"Cwean up, cwean up," she began to sing.
"All right, we're ready for our next game," the caller announced.
"Shh, Angie," DJ said, putting a finger to his lips. "We have to sing quietly."
She mimicked his gesture and they started whisper-singing, "Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere. Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share."
Smiling down at them, Ang's gaze grew thoughtful as she focused on DJ. Tapping her chin, she formulated an idea.
During the break that followed the conclusion of that game (another Grandma Ang win), Angie led DJ around the room at Ang's suggestion to introduce her "brudder DJ" to the group. The ladies, who were all regulars, had long ago adopted Angie as a surrogate granddaughter/great-granddaughter and were quick to fall in love with DJ's shy smile and quiet politeness.
"They are so sweet together," Carol, the woman on Ang's right, said as they watched Angie and DJ holding hands as they talked to a couple of neighbors.
"They adore each other," Ang said. "From the first minute they met."
"You are a lucky woman, Ang," Carol said. "And not just at Bingo."
Ang smiled as Angie caught them looking over her shoulder and waved enthusiastically, her movement causing DJ to turn and do the same.
"I am," Ang agreed. "I absolutely am."
For the final game of the afternoon, Angie had commandeered the bingo cage and was sitting on the caller's lap turning the crank. Jen, who had been organizing the weekly bingo games for the last two years, was always patient with the toddler and not-so-secretly delighted whenever she elected to join her at the front table.
"I have a feeling this might be your game, DJ," Ang said.
DJ looked up at her and smiled. "It's okay if I don't win. It's fun just playing."
She smiled, knowing he absolutely meant it. "That's a wonderful attitude to have." She picked up the bingo card she'd been using that day. "But how about we trade for this last game? Maybe you just need a little Grandma Ang luck."
DJ brightened at the offer and switched cards with her. "Daddy says you're the luckiest person he knows."
Ang smiled.
"And he said the two dollar bills you gave me and Angie and everybody at Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's and Valentine's Day are lucky."
"Well, that's true."
DJ bit his lip thoughtfully.
"What is it, sweetheart?" Ang asked.
"I think I'm lucky, too," he said quietly.
She smiled. "Do you?"
"I'm lucky Daddy and Mommy found me and now we're a family."
Ang's expression softened, tears springing to her eyes, and she leaned over to wrap an arm around him. "That wasn't luck, my sweet boy. That was meant to be."
He beamed, returning her hug.
As she sat back, she took the clay heart necklace from around her neck and placed it around his.
He gasped excitedly, gripping it and looking up at her.
"Couldn't hurt," she said with a wink.
"Okay, Angie," Jen said from the front table. "Let's get our first number." She picked up the small ball that had rolled onto the track from the bingo cage and whispered it into Angie's ear.
"Bee fwee!" Angie called out and threw her hands in the air. "Bingooo!"
As Grandma Ang, Angie, and DJ walked out of the community room holding hands after Bingo, DJ looked at the envelope in his other hand. It contained a ten dollar gift certificate to a local ice cream parlor.
"Your first bingo win, DJ," Ang said with a warm smile. "How does it feel?"
"Bingooo!" Angie said, swinging their arms from between the two. "DJ win!"
DJ smiled. "That was fun," he said. "I hope I can come with you again."
"Of course you can, sweetheart."
"Grandma Ang …?" he asked, looking up at her.
"Mm?" she said, nodding for him to continue.
"Will you take us to get ice cream so we can use my certificate?" he asked, holding up the envelope.
"Of course, sweet boy," she said, smiling softly. Her eyes twinkled. "Two bingo champions …"
"Bingooo!"
DJ grinned. "And Angie."
Hope you enjoyed!
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