The Ballroom

I have fond memories of playing the board game "Clue". It's always been one of my favorites. So, when I found a one-player version at the toystore, I was very excited. Now...what was I thinking?

Well, I finally decided to get it out in hopes of openning it to play. I've been waiting for the "right" time to give it a try. Lane beat me to it. This is nothing new to me. He notices EVERYTHING, so he saw the box on the counter, even hidden under some other books.

So, here we go. I'm getting it all out, & he's playing it before it's even out of the box. It has clue cards that have the whole mystery described on one side and the answers on the other side. This is more of a logic puzzle game that's based on the original board game and is rated for ages 10+. I really didn't question if he'd be able to at least sort out some of the clue details and follow along with the mystery, but I knew he couldn't read all the cards by himself yet. Well...he can't read the cards, but he's ALL into it! Loving the whole thing.

Then, the phone rang. My friend, Jenny, and I can have a conversation that may last for 45 minutes but only 20 of that is true conversation. Between our collective 4 boys, we have issues...but, I digress. Jenny knows Lane very well, so she said I had to remember to tell this story, just to let other folks know how things are day to day around here.

I had told him we were only playing through two mystery cards, and we did. Once I was on the phone/distracted he went on for the next round. Since I wanted to have at least a little adult conversation, I was willing to give him his own turn. Dumb me. I, and Jenny, end up working through this one, too. So, here's what Jenny wants you to know...

Lane looked at each room and decided that the "dead body" couldn't be in this one or that one because "the dead body wouldn't fit in there. He's too long to lay in that floor." Spacial relationship skills here? Logical process of elimination? He tried not to be too perplexed when I said, "But, maybe the dead body was draped over that chair or that table over there. Or, maybe they stuffed him in that cabinet. How do we know? The clue card doesn't tell us." Yeah, Jenny thought that was shockingly funny, too. So, we're placing all the different characters where they need to go, sort-of, and no one is supposed to be in the ballroom. Lane can't figure out where the ballroom is. He's looking...looking... I showed him the ballroom. He doesn't know WHY that's the ballroom. "What happened to all the balls? That can't be the ballroom. Oh, did they just take all the balls out, and it's kind-of like a gym?" I reassured him that there were no balls in the mystery and that this was a ballroom like the one on the Cinderella movie. After that I reminded him that Cinderella went to a ball which is the same as a dance. "Oh yeah. Well, they COULD play with balls in the ballroom, too. It's big like a gym." I guess that's the same reasoning he used when he thought the dead body should be found in there. It IS big enough for a dead body.

Yes, this is only a sample of daily life in a house full of knotheads.