Scrabble Master
“Daddy, is t-e-r-k a word?”
“Nope.”
“But I’ve heard it before,” Gus said.
“It’s spelled t-u-r-k, and that’s with a capital ‘T’,” Brian explained.
“Oh, so what does it mean?”
“With a capital ‘T’ it means someone from the country of Turkey.”
“There’s a country named after a turkey.” The wonder on Gus’ face made Brian
smile.
Brian chuckled and shook his head. “I believe the country probably came first.”
“Oh, so if it doesn’t have a capital ‘T’ what does turk mean?” seven year old
Gus asked.
“It’s often used with young, as in young turk. I was called that when I
was starting out in advertising,” Brian said making a face at the memory of his
early years at Ryder. “It’s a term for someone who likes to change things up,
doesn’t follow the rules.”
“You didn’t follow the rules, Daddy?” Gus asked looking at his father
quizzically.
“Sometimes,” Brian admitted.
“Did you get in trouble?”
“Sometimes,” Brian repeated ruefully.
“Then why didn’t you follow the rules?”
“It’s important that you do what you think is right, Gus. There were some things
going on at the advertising firm that I didn’t agree with.”
Gus frowned. “Like what, Daddy?”
“Um…” Brian said searching for a good example of what he meant. “I guess the
most obvious thing was that people who had been at the firm for a long time got
promoted over people who were starting out, even if the new people were doing a
better job and bringing in more clients and revenue.”
Gus frowned harder. He liked it when his daddy explained things to him, but he
didn’t always understand it all. Then a light dawned. “You were a new person and
you were bringing in lots of clients, right, Daddy?” Gus said with a smile.
“Absolutely,” Brian agreed proud that his son was so quick to clue in.
“Did you get in trouble?”
“Marty Ryder, my boss, didn’t like me pointing out the fallacy of his promoting
system. He threatened to fire me at one point.”
“But you didn’t get fired, did you?” Gus asked sure that he knew the answer.
“Not that time.”
“You did get fired?” Gus asked with a worried look on his face.
“Yes I did, but it was worth it.”
“What did you do when you got fired?”
“Eventually I started my own company.”
“Kinnetik, right?” Gus said proudly.
“That would be the one.”
“And nobody can fire you there because you’re the boss.”
“That’s right, sonny boy.”
“That’s good, Daddy.”
Brian nodded. “So, are you going to make turk with a ‘u’?”
Gus shook his head. “I don’t have a ‘u’.”
“Then I guess you better think of something else,” Brian said.
“I’m trying,” Gus replied. He studied his letters and the Scrabble board looking
for something he could use. He and his daddy had been playing Scrabble together
for a couple of years. They had started with three letter words to level the
playing field between father and son. Recently Gus had wanted to up the number
to four letter words. That’s what they were playing today. Gus looked at the ‘p’
in spot that his father had just placed on the board. “I got a word,” Gus
gushed. He placed his letters and looked at his father.
“Do you know what kelp is, Gus?”
“Yep, we were studying e-co-logy in school. It’s seaweed,” Gus replied
knowledgeably.
“Excellent,” Brian replied giving his stamp of approval. He calculated Gus’
score and asked Gus to do the same. When they were both in agreement, Brian
wrote down the score. He then placed his next word, maxi, with the ‘x’
landing on a double letter score. He and Gus calculated how much that was worth.
Gus made a face. “How come you get all the good letters?” he asked.
“Sometimes you get the good letters and sometimes you get all the ones that are
only worth one point. Life isn’t always fair, so you better get used to it.”
“I am used to it,” Gus replied dejectedly.
“Don’t give up, Gus. There’s thousands of words and lots of good letters left,”
Brian said encouragingly.
“Daddy, will I ever be as good at Scrabble as you are?”
“Without a doubt, one day you’ll beat the pants off me,” Brian affirmed.
“Hey, keep those pants on,” Justin chimed in. “I’m the only one who gets to take
them off.” He was sketching father and son intent upon their game.
Gus giggled and Brian stuck out his tongue.
“Justin, can you help me, pleeeeze,” Gus pleaded.
“That’s not allowed,” Brian said.
“Maybe just once,” Justin replied standing up to see what letters Gus had.
Quickly he figured out a good word and whispered in Gus’ ear. Gus placed the
letters. He made the word hymn using the ‘m’ from Brian’s maxi. He also
got a double word score.
Brian calculated the score as did Gus. The word was worth as much as his
father's.
“That wasn’t fair,” Brian objected, “two against one.”
“Life's not fair, so get used to it, Daddy,” Gus said with a grin so much like
his father’s that Justin cracked up, causing them all to laugh at the life
lessons to be learned from a game of Scrabble.
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