Girls Will Be Girls
Mara accidentally dropped the dictionary in the middle of the Scrabble board 40 minutes into the game. It wasn’t the paperback Scrabble dictionary, but my bigger American Heritage one. Leigh joked that Mara should forfeit a turn for causing such a mess.
“Don’t eat those blueberries on the couch!” I shouted to one of the little girls who came over that morning with Mara and Leigh and was playing in my living room. “They make stains!” I cringed at the thought.
As we painstakingly recreated the Scrabble board, we overheard the girls (Mara’s daughter Kyla, her friend Skyler, and Leigh’s little sister Molly) talking to my husband, Joe. “Girls are smarter,” we heard Skyler say, “cause we do more stuff.”
“And we’re flexible at thinking,” Molly added.
We big girls, gathered around the kitchen table, weren't sure we were hearing right. “Why are girls smarter?” Mara shouted into the living room.
“Because there’s more girls in history,” Kyla weighed in.
Knowing there was a time when some women writers and artists used male pseudonyms to have their art taken seriously, and that women weren’t even allowed to vote until 1920, Mara whispered (so as not to burst Kyla’s bubble), “Well, it’s nice that she thinks that.”
Leigh was giving me a tour of her tattoos when Joe, on the way out the door, bid us farewell. Was he feeling overpowered by feminine energy, I couldn’t help but wonder?
Loudly, I protested as I picked 6 one point vowels and 1 consonant from the maroon drawstring bag through out the entire game . “But in a way,” looking at the bright side, “bad letters let you off the hook, because you’re not attached to them,” I said letting go of the possibility that I could win the game. About this time, Leigh was getting good letters and was feeling the pressure to use them well.
After the little girls got finished play-acting cats, ate snacks, and jumped on the trampoline, they played their own unique version of Scrabble on the porch picnic table. Apparently, their rules allowed from them to play with nine letters and the words they made didn’t have to touch each other. As a second generation of Scrabble players, they were serious about their play. Even so, the big girls did most of the clean up.
The games came to a close, and before they all headed out to Kyla’s Karate Class, Mara could be heard saying to me, “Hey, you’re not allowed to complain about your letters and win the game.
Comments
Hi,
I am a poet, novelist and playwright. My wife Harriet and I will be taking up permanent residence in Laurel Fork in August. I understand you publish a periodical called Muse Letter. I'd like to subscribe. Please let me know how to get on your list.
Thanks,
Steve Saft
Posted by: Steve Saft (Stephen Alan Saft) | July 16, 2006 11:33 AM
Girl Power!!!
I bet Joe really couldn't take all that girl power in one place!
I hate getting all vowels like that. I can ruin my good mood quickly if I don't keep a tight hold on my emotions!!!
Posted by: Deana | July 16, 2006 11:35 AM
I love scrabble.
Posted by: The Queen | July 16, 2006 12:08 PM
Hi Colleen:
Thanks for dropping by my site. You can indeed check out posters at my art gallery. You can browse through the sub-galleries. I have a scrabble one too you'll find amusing.
www.ArtWanted.com/gilreath
cheers,
Shane
Posted by: shane | July 16, 2006 12:17 PM
Steve: You can send $15 to CERC, PO Box 81, Floyd VA 24091. That will get you a year's worth of Floyd musing. Also, if you put MUSELETTER in the search engine on my sidebar, posts in which I have written about the Museletter will come up. (with pictures!)
I look forward to meeting you and your wife.
Posted by: colleen | July 16, 2006 12:27 PM
Nyssa has learned to drive a forklift in her service work on the Gulf coast. Other girls have too. They help move the prefab shed kits to trucks and then they are distributed to those who need them. Volunteers go to the properties and put the sheds together to hold tools, supplies and any belongings the people have while their home is being rebuilt or repaired. Then they work with Helping Hands to do the house work. Before any of the rebuilding could take place the people of the community first had to repair the church. Then the first volunteers built temporary bunkhouses and got a big kitchen going in the church. As the volunteers from all over the country streamed in they built more bunkhouses as well as cleared debris out of people's homes and property. Now the final bunkhouse has been finished and they have space for 305 volunteers to sleep and eat.
A big group came in this last week, almost 300. When any of the girls (interns) started the forklift, a dozen or so guys would run over and try to tell them what to do. Nyssa said it was really annoying, so a mother there had t-shirts made for the interns. The pastor announced to the volunteer groups that the girls with the shirts had been trained and knew what they were doing when it came to the Moffit forklifts. What do the t-shirts say?
Silly boys! Moffits are for girls!
Oh the things that go on when testosterone meets estrogen.
Posted by: srp | July 16, 2006 1:18 PM
Great story!
Posted by: colleen | July 16, 2006 2:47 PM
I like the girls' enthusiasm.
Posted by: Sarcasmom | July 16, 2006 4:15 PM
what a lovely post and a lovely day sweetie!
and i just loved the last line.
Posted by: keda | July 16, 2006 4:55 PM
Estrogen is a powerful thing.
Posted by: poopie | July 16, 2006 7:06 PM
Nice to hear about that girl power in ones so young. Sounds like they have the right idea about that Scrabble game too....no stress. My kind of girls.
NOW tell me you didn't win the game with those horrid letters, did you??????
Posted by: Terri | July 16, 2006 8:10 PM
Hello From Michele... I felt like I was at that scrabble game! What a nice read....Power to those girls...and I like the way they make their own rules.
Posted by: Cyndy | July 16, 2006 9:59 PM
I am trying so hard not to be envious that you have people who will play Scrabble with you!!
Posted by: kenju | July 16, 2006 11:59 PM
You drew MOOOOIE and didn't have a cow! Great slice of life here.
Posted by: Elissa | July 17, 2006 12:03 AM
Like Elissa, all I could think about was COW when I saw your scrabble letters. Too bad you can't play onomatopoeias. Or can you? You know, like one cow says to the other cow "Mooooie, it's hotter than a billy goat in a pepper patch!"
Posted by: Mayberry | July 17, 2006 12:26 AM
I'm jealous of your scrabble matches!
:)
Wren
Posted by: Wren | July 17, 2006 9:29 AM
Your posts so often make me go "wow". How wonderful that girls could see themselves as part of a driving force of history. Female positive kids bode well for the world.
Posted by: Pearl | July 17, 2006 4:57 PM
Moly was thrilled to see herself on line! She said she had a great time with you.
Her sister said, "Hmph. Looks like they had a good time." Sour grapes!
Posted by: Sue | July 20, 2006 8:28 AM