227 Passing GO

I imagine my game with beautiful Alise—2nd place in the beauty contest! But she's with Reed.

Reed the stud.

They're on BALTIC AVENUE. I wonder, Will they pass GO? Everyone's dealt the same at the game's start, but some just advance by how the dice land.

Reed's the race car; she's the cute Scottie. I'm the stupid boot, but I'm in the game throwing the same dice.

I take a CHANCE: ADVANCE TO GO. $200 spending money to meet Alise and talk of feelings and how Reed doesn't get it.

"But he's sure easy on the eyes," she coos.

Reed zooms by: hard to compete with a race car when I'm just a boot.

I buy TENNESSEE AVENUE. She buys the READING RR. She gets it. Reed rolls doubles twice in a row; Alise swoons. I throw a 3. Reed throws his third doubles in series and a SWAT team pounces. He's busted—off to JAIL. Yet, Alise remains intrigued.

What is it about bad boys?

Why do girls like them? Take a CHANCE on them? Notoriety won't pay the UTILITY bill, so it must make going 'round the board more fun. Until the money's gone.

I'll get a house on TENNESSEE, then two. Then MARVIN GARDENS. Life'll be sweet. Can I get Alise to regret living on MEDITERRANEAN AVENUE instead of PARK PLACE with me?

Reed gets out of JAIL and revs up to her. She's not impressed, 'cause now she owns three RAILROADs. He roars around the board, $200 at a time, spent as fast as it comes. He lands on PARK PLACE. Guess who owns it? He mortgages his crappy BALTIC AVENUE, which ends up mine.

Paying LUXURY TAX, I present Alise an engagement ring. "Let's throw the board into the air,” I suggest—the way most Monopoly games end. "Let's play for real."

Today we've several cars, designer boots, and purebred Scotties and play the GAME OF LIFE so we can add children. Reed's in JAIL. With the dice lost in the carpet, he won’t get out soon.

You don't have to beat the other players to be a winner. You just have to make the best deals and know when to throw the board.

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AUTHOR'S NOTES:

For Wednesday, August 14, Day 227 of the 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge

366 WORDS (without A/N)

Accompaniment photos were AI-generated but the COMMUNITY CHEST was not.

ABOUT THIS STORY

This was my entry into the Young Adult fiction in the Vocal 2023 challenge (https://shopping-feedback.today/challenges/2023-vocal-writing-awards). Alas, it went nowhere. In rapt denial—as I am whenever I don't even place—herein I present it, repurposed and pruned to 366 words for this challenge.

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THIS CHALLENGE GRINDS ON, 366 WORDS AT A TIME...

There are currently three surviving prolific, pretentious, promiscuous, and antediluvian Vocal cave wall artists still participating in the insane, inane, paleolithic, oligomythic 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge:

• L.C. Schäfer, (challenge originator)

• Rachel Deeming (challenge participant)

• Gerard DiLeo (wishfull thinker)

Read them. Support them. And don't forget to collect your $200 dollars.