A pair of dice are thrown. Pawns are moved. Each player has four pawns on the board and the object of the game is to get the four pawns around the board from start to home.<\/p>\n
I think I have been playing Parcheesi for several days now. I\u2019m not exactly sure how long I have been playing. I play with two other people around a card table that is set in the middle of a small, windowless room with white walls and a wood floor. There is a white door that leads out of the room but it always remains shut. A fluorescent light from above is so bright that it puts a harsh sheen on the game board. I have no idea if it is night or day. I do not know why I am in this room playing Parcheesi or how long I must stay here. I\u2019m not allowed to leave.<\/p>\n
The two players playing the game with me are a man and a woman. From what I can gather, the man\u2019s name is Coach. He is a middle-aged man with dark heavy hair and a grey mustache. He is solid in build and chews gum continuously as we play. When he is losing, he rapidly chews and cracks his gum. Coach is a good Parcheesi player, he has won the majority of the games and has won the last ten games in a row.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure the woman\u2019s name is Helen because that is how she addresses herself when she thinks aloud. She is an old woman with lipstick applied heavily to her thin lips. Even her makeup is heavy around her cheeks and eyes.<\/p>\n
Helen will take a lot of time as she tries to decide which pawn she should move and will also talk to herself. \u201cWell Helen, let\u2019s see now,\u201d she will say, \u201cyou just threw a seven, you can either move this pawn seven spaces or you can move this pawn four spaces and this other pawn three spaces. Hmm…hmm…hmmm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coach always cracks his gum whenever she would think aloud. Coach likes the game to move fast in order to keep the momentum going. He often cracks his gum to intimidate Helen so she will hurry her move. Helen is cautious whereas Coach moves quickly. He has studied the board so thoroughly that he doesn\u2019t have to count out each space. He knows how many spaces to move by just eyeing the board. Coach is a good Parcheesi player though he is a sore loser. Coach does not like to lose.
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I do not like the game Parcheesi. I am not allowed to leave this room. Twice since I\u2019ve been here, I have tried to leave this room. I would get up from the table, lay my dice down and walk toward the closed door. When I would be about two feet from the door, the door would burst open and two large men would jump upon me. One would hold my arms back while the other would pummel me with his fists upon my face and stomach. I would double over from the blows and be thrown to the floor. The men would leave the room and quietly close the door behind them. Slowly I would crawl along the floor back to my chair and struggle to sit myself back down. My head would spin from the beating I received and I would gasp for air clutching my stomach. Neither Helen or Coach would come to my aid and help me into my chair after I received those two beatings. Neither would say a word to console me. They wouldn\u2019t even look at me. While I would try to collect myself after a beating, Coach would busy himself by lining up our pawns to start a new game and Helen would practice throwing her dice.<\/p>\n
Twice I received a beating for trying to leave. I wonder if Coach or Helen have ever tried to leave this room. My heart sank at the thought of Helen being physically punished. I would study her face and look for hidden bruises or welts under her makeup, but saw no evidence that she received a beating. I would look at Coach\u2019s face but his large face seemed free from punishment as well. My right eye is so swollen that I can barely see out of it and a dull ache spreads across my face.<\/p>\n
I do not like the game Parcheesi. We have been playing it for what seems like several days. I have lost track of time. Earlier I had asked Helen in a soft whisper how long she has been playing in this room.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really don\u2019t know,\u201d she said with a faint smile, \u201cbut I do know that I like this game, though it would be nice to take a break and play something else. Have you ever played Bunco?\u201d<\/p>\n
Coach cracked his gum as a signal for Helen to quit talking to me. She covered her mouth like a small child getting caught talking in a classroom and we continued to play the game in silence. We are also not allowed to talk to each other while we play. We have yet to take a decent break. I would like to ask Coach a few questions but he never looks at me. His eyes stay on the board as he puzzles over the move he must make or studies the moves that Helen or I have made.
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We are allowed though to get a fresh pair of dice. Next to the game is a brown cardboard box filled with dice and each pair is tightly wrapped in cellophane. There must be a 100 pair of dice in the box. Helen changes dice at the beginning of each new game. Coach will change dice sometimes five, six, or seven times in a game if he feels his dice are jinxed for some reason. When he gets a long string of bad throws, he\u2019ll fling the dice across the room, call them \u201cdumb dice\u201d and grab a fresh pair of dice wrapped in cellophane from the box. I have been using the same pair of dice since I have been playing.<\/p>\n
We are in the middle of a game and it is Coach\u2019s turn to throw the dice. He shakes the dice in his hand for a long time before he lets them fly onto the board. When he gets a good throw, he will bring his hands together with a loud triumphant clap, but when he gets a bad throw, his fist slams the table that make the pawns vibrate on the board. Coach is not a good loser.<\/p>\n
I do not like the game Parcheesi. I am impatient to end this game. Somehow I feel a strange sense of optimism that perhaps this will be our last game and we\u2019ll be allowed to leave this room. But then, I have felt optimistic before, that every game would be our last game.<\/p>\n
As the game continues, my mind drifts as the others take their turn. I wonder why Coach has red pawns and Helen has blue? My color is green though I would have preferred having red or blue over green. Though we are allowed to change dice any time we wish, it seems that we are not allowed to change the color of our pawns though I haven\u2019t inquired about it.<\/p>\n
I begin to count the number of spaces along the board and see that a player must go 72 spaces from start to finish. There are 12 safety zones colored in powder blue where a pawn can stand without the fear of an opposing player capturing it. I also notice there is an area on the board where a fourth player can play. I wonder why there are just three of us playing rather than four? I wonder if Coach or Helen know why there aren\u2019t four players playing this game.
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Quickly the game has a strange turn of events for Helen and I. Helen and I keep throwing high numbers while Coach keeps getting low numbers. All three of us only need to get our final pawn home to win the game. We are in a virtual dead heat. My fatigue leaves me as I grow excited at the prospect of winning. I have a good chance of winning, it\u2019s just a matter of the dice tumbling right. Coach has nothing on me.<\/p>\n
I begin to think that perhaps I have approached this game all wrong. Perhaps the more games I win, the sooner I can leave this room. I\u2019m determined to end Coach\u2019s ten game winning streak.<\/p>\n
It is my turn to throw the dice. I am able to count that Coach is only 20 spaces from home, Helen is 41 and I\u2019m 39 spaces away. I rattle the dice in my hand and throw a pair of threes! Because I threw doubles I move fourteen spaces as a bonus and also get to throw again. And to my surprise I throw doubles again! This time it\u2019s a pair of twos! I move another 14 spaces. I quickly count that I only need 11 spaces to get home. I hold the dice tightly in my hand and shake them for a long time like Coach does and throw the dice to the table. I can\u2019t believe it! I have thrown a five and a six! I win! Eagerly I move my pawn closer and closer to home as I count out the spaces. I hear Coach moan in despair while Helen oohs and aahhs as I draw my pawn closer and closer to home. I win! I hear Coach mumble something about \u201cof all the rotten luck.\u201d<\/p>\n
I feel exhilarated. I win! I want to laugh with joy, but I restrain myself so that the others won\u2019t think that I\u2019m gloating in my victory. I feel confident that it is now time to leave the room. I lay the dice down and push my chair away from the table and stand up. I walk briskly to the door, but before I can touch the doorknob, the door swings open and to my horror the same two men come into the room and surround me. One of them wraps his strong arms around me while the other pulls out a blackjack and begins to beat me upon my head and chest. I cannot protect myself as the blackjack flails upon me. With each crack, shock waves spread across my face and chest. I grow weak and limp and the man who has been holding me lets go of his grip and I crumble to the floor. I feel the warm ooze of blood trickle from my forehead and onto my eyes and cheeks. One of the men gives a sharp kick to my ribs and I let out a grunt. I curl myself into the fetal position and hear their heels click out of the room, closing the door quietly behind them.
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I lay on the floor for a few seconds as the fluorescent light burns my eyes. I slowly crawl along the floor, my body stiff and aching with each inch that I crawl. I reach my chair and hold onto it for support as I pull myself up in order to sit myself back down. My head throbs at the sides, my vision is blurred as I mop away the blood that trickles down my face.<\/p>\n
I feel nauseous and want to lay my head on the table, but I fight the urge and force myself to sit up. I see that Coach is putting each of our four pawns back into the starting position to begin a new game. He calmly chews his gum as he neatly lines up the pawns. Helen unravels cellophane from a new pair of dice and practices throwing her dice as if she was a major league pitcher warming up in the bullpen. I shake my head and try to straighten my posture, fighting the urge to rest.<\/p>\n
Coach breaks the silence and tells me to throw my dice. I always forget that winners get the first throw.<\/p>\n
I pick the dice up and shake them in my hand. I let the dice hit the board with the snap of my wrist. As they tumble along the board, I hope for a good throw.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Copyright Wawzenek 2013<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A pair of dice are thrown. Pawns are moved. Each player has four pawns on the board and the object of the game is to get the four pawns around the board from start to home.<\/p>\n I think I have been playing Parcheesi for several days now.<\/p>\n …<\/span><\/p>\n