So, Mom pulled out our stupid chore wheel one day to plan our chores for the week. Ugh! "Live from the McGee family living room in Brighton's defund manufacturing district. It's Wheel of Chore-Fun!" Mom announces, similar to a game show host. "What the heck is this?" Scratch asked. "Other than a waste of perfectly good macaroni?" "It is a time-honored tradition that all McGees must face." Molly explains. "The McGee Family Chore Wheel!" "Hope I get trash duty." Darryl said. "It's where I get my best blackmail material." "That's where annoying little brothers like you belong." I mumbled. "But why do I have to clean the house? You bought it, you clean it!" Scratch exclaimed, just as Mom gave him the death stare. What would that be called in his situation? "And there's that stare, so I'm in for chores. Count me in." "Okay! Here we go!" Molly shouted, spinning the wheel, which landed on closets. "Ah-hah! Closets! Whoo-hoo! Nailed it!" Dad landed on carpets after spinning. "Carpets." Dad chuckled. "Uh, not great for my dust allergies. But it could be worse." Darryl took a spin, ending up with kitchen duty. "Kitchen." Darryl said. "I'll take it!" "I took a spin on the wheel, which stopped at Trash Master. "Trash, huh?" I wondered. "Darryl, go to the curb after you finish the kitchen." "Not gonna happen, Amber." Dad said sternly. Mom took a spin, landing on compost. "Compost duty." Mom sighed with relief. Finally, it was time for Scratch to spin for his chore. At first, it seemed to stop at laundry duty, but then moved to the worst possible chore, the downstairs bathroom. "No. No, no! Not the downstairs bathroom!" Scratch panicked, also throwing up in his mouth. "That's the... That's the grossest chore of all!" "Very fitting." I commented. "You're the grossest roommate of all." "I command a re-spin!" Scratch commanded. "Too late." Mom said. "The wheel has spoken." Molly, Darryl, and Dad added in unison, then they turned to me. "I already told you that I wasn't doing that." I said. "This is outrageous!" Scratch shouted. "When I became a McGee, I was under the impression that families were all about perks. Like unconditional love, free food, and a bunch of schmoes who do everything for me. I didn't sign up for manual labor!" "It's all part of being a family, Scratch." Mom explained. "Sometimes it means fun and games. Today, it means hard water stains around the toilet." "I guess you're right... huh? What's that?" Scratch sighed, creating a ghost portal to escape. "Urgent ghost business? McGees, I'll be back. I'm so sorry. I gotta go..." "Coward!" I teased.
As I was collecting the trash in Darryl's room, which is literally a dumpster, I was startled by Molly screaming in the hallway. "Mom, Dad, Amber, Darryl, Scratch! Come quick!" Molly shouted. "Huh, what? I'm still working!" Scratch lied as we gathered around the closet. "Look what I found!" Molly gasped, showing off Mega City, a family favorite board game. "Mega City?!" Darryl exclaimed. "Oh, we haven't played this in forever!" "I thought we lost this in the move." Dad said. "It was all the way in back, like someone was trying to hide it or something." Molly explained. "What's the big deal?" Scratch asked. "It's just a board game." Molly, Darryl, and Dad gasped in shock. "Just a board game?" Molly asked. "Mega City is the game that inspired me to become a city planner." Dad explained. "I might just be the best player in the entire world." "Dad, you're not even the best player in this entire family." Darryl said. "Mm, oh, thank you, Darryl." Molly mumbled. "I have won the most games." "No way! Check the tally." Darryl flipped over the box to see the amount of games won by all the family members. "So, you guys play this game a lot." Scratch commented. "Some might say too much." "We used to play every week for Family Game Night." Dad recalled. "Why did we stop playing?" Darryl asked. "Isn't it obvious? The goose eggs over there." Dad pointed at me and Mom. "And it's alright, girls. You're both good at many things! Like board... board games you aren't good at. But other things, you're good at! Oh, I'm blanking right now. This is a bad time to blank. I'm sorry I'm blanking, but many things!" "Uh, thanks?" Mom questions, grabbing the board game. "Now, let's put the game away and get back to our chores!" "Whoa, whoa, whoa, we're just gonna go back to chores?" Scratch asked, taking the game from Mom. "Without playing one game of Mega-whatever? You know, you say I'm a member of this family, yet I've never experienced the camaraderie of Family Game Night!" "That is a really good point, Scratch." Molly said. "And we can finally break the tie and declare the ultimate winner of Mega City!" "Yeah!" Dad agreed. "Game on!"
I decided to play a game of Mega City, even though I wasn't good. "I thought you didn't like to play Mega City, Amber?" Scratch asked. "I don't, but if it means total humiliation for the two other losers, I'm game." I replied. "Besides, I can tolerate the losing streak." "Oh, uh, Scratch. Red's Mom's color." Molly explained. "Oh, that's fine." Mom grunted. "He can take my place. Some of us have better things to do." "See? She can't stand losing." Dad said as she slammed the door. "Still love you, honey!" "In Mega City, as in life, I believe you can play nice and still win." Molly explained. "See? I have a Cat Cafe and a Doggy Daycare living next to each other in harmony and peace, baby!" "I have a publishing company with an indoor water park." I pointed out as Dad rolled the dice. "This game is so confusing!" "Ah, tract housing. Now that's how you build a city!" Dad exclaimed as Darryl detonated his city. "Bye, Pete's Suites, hello, Darryl's palace." Darryl bragged. "The biggest casino in town!" "My turn!" Scratch exclaimed, rolling the dice and moving his pawn, drawing a card. "Ooh, a gold card. Wait, uh, what does that mean?" "Tower of Power!" We shouted, pouring blocks on the board, building a tall tower. Scratch was still very confused. Darryl winded up the timer. While we built our towers, the timer went off. Dad's tower was the tallest. "In your face!" Dad shouted. "Thank you, civil engineering degree and crippling student loan debt!" Molly knocked over the remaining blocks in defeat. "Wow. You McGees are really competitive." Scratch said. "Count up those pieces and declare a winner already!" Mom grunted. "I'm making my famous chili." "Who won? Was it me?" Scratch asked as we counted our pieces. "Bet it was me, right?" To everyone's surprise, including my own, I won that game. "Amber won?!" Darryl asked. "She doesn't even know how to play!" "Is this what victory feels like?" I asked. "Good game, family." "Oh, no! Another tie!" Molly cried. "Sorry, I'm so happy you got your first win, sis!" "Me too, but a tie will not stand!" Dad exclaimed. "We have to play again." Darryl said. "We'll stay up past our bedtime if we have to!" Molly shouted. "A victor must be crowned." "I wouldn't go that far." I commented. "Guys. This is why we can't do game night!" Mom snapped. "You all get too competitive over a silly, meaningless game! I want everyone back on chore duty!" "Yes, honey." Dad replied. "Yes, Mom." Molly, Darryl, and I sighed.
I went back upstairs to grab the trash from Darryl's room. All of a sudden, Scratch came in through the wall. "Amber! We're playing another game of Mega City in the basement." Scratch explained. "Care to join us?" "I thought Mom hated the game?" I asked. "She was so mad that she didn't even care about my first win." "That's the thing, Sharon has no idea about this." Scratch continued. "Besides, don't you want to show Pete, Molly, and Darryl that you can win again?" "Tempting." I replied.
After thinking about what Scratch told me, I snuck down to the basement with Dad and my siblings to play that tiebreaker game of Mega City. "We're breaking this tie one way or another." Dad said, turning on the basement light. "Just no one tell Mom. She's really committed to chores." "I was thinking, uh, musing, if you will." Scratch chuckled. "What if we made this interesting?" "What do you have in mind?" Molly asked. "Losers do the winner's chores." Scratch replied. "That's a four out of five chance we get... extra chores." Dad said. "That's risky." "What? Afraid to lose?" Scratch taunted. "Sounds like someone doesn't know their civil plumbing regulations." "You're on!" Dad gasped, just as Mom caught us in the basement. "Peter McGee!" Mom gasped. "Sharon, you knew I was a thrill-seeker when you married me." Dad recalled. "Good luck against these maniacs, Scratch." Mom warned. "Oh, don't worry about me." Scratch said. "In Mega City, as in life, I play by my own rules. Uh, ghost rules."
The game had a lot of high stakes as we continued playing on. Little did we know that someone had an advantage over us. "Only one theme park. And five of us." Dad said. "Lots of points on this table. Lot of points." I rolled the dice and Molly laid down her piece. "Mm. Too slow! Mollyworld is open for business, baby!" Molly cheered. "Darryl, I challenge you to a special election." I said, starting the challenge. It wasn't long before we had another Tower of Power challenge. Scratch had built his tower pretty tall compared to all of us combined. Molly took her turn and pulled a card from the deck. "Tornado?" Molly wondered. "I don't remember this card..." "It's super legit!" Scratch exclaimed, messing up the game board, but all his pieces were still there. "Well, would you look at that. Mega City is mine! I win! Now, if you'll excuse me, the winner, that's me, has earned himself some chili, while the losers clean the disgusting downstairs bathroom for me, the winner!" Mom grunted at the sound of Scratch bragging to us.
Well, we accepted Scratch's challenge, so Dad, Molly, Darryl, and I got stuck with cleaning the bathroom downstairs. "I learned a valuable lesson today." Dad admitted. "Never attach your self worth to a board game. Unless you win. I mean, then, then you're probably good." "I don't understand how Scratch beat us." Molly said. "He cheated!" Darryl shouted, removing his gas mask. "Trust me. I'm an expert on the art." "That maniacal dead-face cheater!" I shouted, tossing the sponge I used on the ground. "Less yakking and more scrubbing!" Scratch taunted, eating a bowl of chili. "I wanna see my face in that toilet." "We demand a rematch!" Molly snapped. "Sorry, no takebacks." Scratch declined. "Oh, don't make a long face. "It's just part of being a family."" "I was thinking, why don't we play one more game?" Mom suggested, wiping the shower door. "You versus me. You win, you never have to do chores ever again. But if you lose, you're on bathroom duty forever." "Uh, Sharon, are you sure you want to be the one to play?" Dad asked. "Maybe it should be someone who's actually, you know, "won" a game." "Too late! Challenge accepted!" Scratch agreed, shaking hands with Mom. Well, I guess we're doomed.
We headed upstairs to watch Mom play her game against Scratch. "I'm sorry, do you mind if I play red?" Mom asked. "It's kinda my lucky color." "Go ahead! You'll need all the luck you can get!" Scratch teased as Dad covered his face, nervous for Mom's sake. While the game was happening, Scratch was giving his all to try and cheat, but Mom was not gonna let that happen. She was dominating the game, which won her the game in the end. "Ha! Mega City is mine!" Mom shouted. "Looks like you're on bathroom duty for the rest of your afterlife." Me and my family cheered for Mom's first Mega City victory. "What? But how... how do..." Scratch stuttered. "Did I mention that I was Junior National Mega City Champion from 1990 to 1994 and then again in '96?" Mom asked. "What happened in '95?" Scratch wondered. "Disqualified for making my opponent cry." Mom replied. "You see, I'm good at many things. But board games is what I'm best at!" "Yeah, but you always lose to us." Dad recalled. "I'm so confused right now." I added. "Oh, I've been taking it easy on you four." Mom explained. "I didn't want to crush your fragile widdle spirits. That's why I hid the game. But that cat's out of the bag now! So who wants to play me next? Know me! Fear me! Lose to me!" "I think we should hide this game again." Molly whispered. "Roger that." Dad agreed, taking the game as Darryl and I held Mom down so he could hide it. "I'm sorry, Mom, but this is for lying to me." I said. "To all of us in fact." "Wherever you put it, I will find it!" Mom shouted, losing her mind.