Mari & Ilna-you're the best.
McRollers-thanks for reading.
Additional AN's at the end.
Sorry for the late posting. I tried to post this morning but the site was down.
Your Time Starts Now (1/1)
"Did you watch it?" Al Cuzzi asked almost as soon as the skype call connected.
Steve smiled. "We did."
"And? Come on. What do you think?" Cuzzi asked. "Hoss is on board. Parker said he was game. I even convinced Jack Radicz to get in on the action. Then there's me. We need one more."
"I'm not sure I have time," Steve said noncommittally.
"You sure you wanna give up such a golden opportunity to win some bragging rights?" Cuzzi needled his friend.
"Are you seriously trying to appeal to my competitive side?" Steve fired back.
Cuzzi nodded. "I am."
"Do you really think that'll work?" Steve smirked.
Cuzzi's smile filled his whole face. "I've known you a long time, Smooth Dog." His eyes twinkled. "It'll work."
"Fine." Steve said. "I'm in."
"Excellent!" Cuzzi pumped his fist. "Annie is gonna set the tasks. She's super excited. I'll have her contact you with all the details."
"I'm only doing this because she sent an email earlier saying how excited she was and how much she was looking forward to visiting in August," Steve insisted.
Cuzzi barked a laugh. "You're doing it because there's a trophy involved." A voice called to Al from another room. "Gotta go!" he said. "I'll talk to you soon."
"If you hadn't agreed to do it I would have had an excuse not to," Steve told John as they sat on the deck watching the kids play on the beach. He narrowed his eyes playfully at Elizabeth. "And don't even get me started on you. I think you're as excited as Annie. And you even dragged DJ and Angie into your plan."
Elizabeth grinned. "I apologize for nothing."
"I still don't understand exactly what's going on," Danny said. "But the one detail I did get is that there's a chance that Steve might embarrass himself so I'm all in."
"I'm with Danny on this one," Gabby said. "I have no idea what's going on."
"There's a really wonderful show on tv in the UK called Taskmaster," Elizabeth explained. "I caught an episode one night on YouTube and just couldn't stop until I'd watched them all. Basically, there are five participants plus a taskmaster and the taskmaster's assistant. The taskmaster sets tasks for each of the participants to do and then films them doing them."
"I'm with you so far," Gabby said.
"They all do the tasks separately so that no one gets influenced by the others and then at the end of the tasks they all sit down together and watch the films and compare performances. The taskmaster assigns points to each task. 1 point to the loser up to 5 points for the winner. At the end you tally up all the points."
"What kind of things do they do?" Danny asked, intrigued by the idea.
"Make a twenty pound block of ice disappear quickest, paint a picture in the dark using paint infused with scents to match the color, draw a horse while riding on a horse, solve a riddle, ride a bike course…that sort of thing," Elizabeth said. "There's even a book with suggestions of tasks that you can set for your friends."
"Annie called one night to ask me about the initiative I was working on at the VA," Joseph added. "Elizabeth was watching Taskmaster in the background and Annie squealed as loud as Angie and Ashae. Said it's her favorite show and all her friends watch it in their down time. Next thing I knew I was cast aside and the two of them were discussing how they'd love a real life game. Since everyone is gonna be together for the SEAL reunion at the end of the summer she thought it would be great to set up a game to take place over the next few months."
"The main thing is that the participants can't discuss the tasks," Elizabeth said excitedly. "No one knows how the others did until they all sit down together at the end."
"Are you talking about Taskmaster?" DJ asked as he and Angie came up on the deck followed by Catherine and Carrie. "I love that show."
John's eyebrows shot up. "I only watched a couple of episodes but isn't it a little ….ummmm…grown up for Angie and DJ."
Elizabeth chuckled. "There's a PG version that's completely safe for kids to watch."
Carrie flopped down beside John and rolled her eyes. "Did you really think Mama Rollins wouldn't have that all under control?"
"One time a man had to sit on a cake," Angie said before collapsing in giggles. "It was very, very funny."
"It's a funny show," Catherine nodded in agreement. "It's fun to see the different ways people come up with to complete the tasks."
"Sometimes the people are allowed to have helpers," DJ said excitedly. "So we might get to help Dad a few times."
"I'm counting on it," Steve said. "You guys are my secret weapons."
"Hey, what about me?" John asked.
"You got Aunt Carrie," Angie said. "She can be your helper."
"But she's bossy," John said in a whine that never failed to make the kids laugh.
"She's not bossy, she's just always right," Angie said matter of factly.
As the rest of the adults tried to hide their laughs John pointed an accusing finger at his wife. "YOU taught her that."
"I certainly did," Carrie replied proudly.
"So how exactly is this whole thing gonna work?" Gabby asked.
"Annie is the taskmaster's assistant so she will set the tasks," Elizabeth said. "She'll email them to me. I'll make sure I have all the necessary components and supervise Steve and John doing the tasks at different times. Jacob and Kaitlyn have agreed to help me film them. At the same time Cuzzi, Hoss and Jack will be doing the same tasks and also being filmed. We'll edit the films down to the best parts and watch them at the reunion in August."
Danny narrowed his eyes at Joseph. "You've been very quiet about all this. What's your role?"
Joseph grinned. "Annie thought it might be better to have the taskmaster, who actually assigns points for each task, be a person these five very competitive men might not find so easy to argue with. So she asked me to do the job. And I was happy to say yes."
"This is gonna be an interesting few months," Danny chuckled.
"It certainly is." Elizabeth clapped her hands together. "I can't wait."
THE END
Additional ANs: One of the many enjoyable things about writing in this universe is that occasionally I am able to weave one of my own favorite things into the REAL World universe. I absolutely ADORE a show called Taskmaster which is available on YouTube. Since it contains what I consider very Steve-like activities I decided to make it a storyline
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