“You must venture to the water’s edge in search of a new grinding rock,” I announced in a fake accent of some sort.
“No, I want a new stick,” Vicky whined.
“But Vicky, your rock broke when you tried to smash the pebble, not your stick. So according to the rules, you need to get a new rock to smash stuff with.” I said trying to re-explain one of the ten rules we agreed on for Night Seekers, a game that we had come up with.
“So what, I don’t care what the rules are. I just want a new stick, mine’s stupid,” Vicky shouted, breaking her stick in two. “And it’s broken,” she sneered in a satisfied tone.
“You made the rules up. And last time I checked, I didn’t even have a stick.” I complained.
“Cause you never find any,” she smirked, rolling her eyes as if I was stupid.
“I found every one of the eight sticks you have! You just took them every time I went home! You took off the decorations and told me mine fell in the water!” I said in a raised voice. My frustration was now boiling over, but I was careful not to let too much of it show because I did not want her to know how much it really cheesed me off. “You have eight sticks. You only use one at a time. And you won’t give me back at least ONE of the sticks you stole from me!” I said, raising my voice even louder. I watched Vicky grab all the stolen sticks and edge away from the porch of her house and towards the bay. Suddenly she dashed onto the dock.
“So what? They’re mine now and you can’t have any! GO FIND YOUR OWN!!!!!” She screamed, throwing all eight of the beautifully smoothed and cleaned sticks she stole from me, into the bay. Then she turned around with a satisfied smile and went to find another stick that might have washed up and got stuck in the rock barrier. Breaking two more of the “agreed on” rules (that mostly Vicky made up), she was really starting to bug me. It really is hard to understand the reason that she is breaking all of her own rules. I mean SHE made them up, and now she wants to bend and warp them so she has free reign.
With a hurt sigh, I tried not to let my frustrations show. Night Seekers was a game Vicky and I had come up with. The whole object is to find things to smash up with big rocks. The stick was unimportant, it was only used to jab into the water to see what new things had washed up. I only worked so hard on making mine pretty when I had nothing else to do. It was so aggravating that she made the sticks such a big deal.
I sat down and started to review my top ten favorite “sass-offs”. Pretty soon, Vicky came back and began to pout.
“I couldn’t find any stupid sticks.” Vicky puffed.
Yes, a chance to use the best one. “I thought you were looking for a stick that WASN’T stupid.” I sassed to her. This was my favorite way to get my anger and frustration out, - sassing the stupidity of what she says.
“Well, um, well… AGH!!!” Vicky snapped in anger, trying to think of a come back. She dramatically threw her arms into the air, sat down, and scowled.
I’ll go find myself a stick. I know Vicky didn’t look thoroughly, in fact, she probably just glanced over the area. Not even a minute later I saw a stick. I reached my hand in the deep, green, mucky water. I found an end of the stick and pulled up. It wasn’t stuck, so it came out very easily. It was the BEST stick ever! It was covered in algae and barnacles. There were many stubs sticking out at each angle.
That means lots of room to decorate. I can tie things on to the stubs. I was already envisioning the ideal stick.
I walked back to the deck and passed where Vicky was pouting.
“Hey, that’s my stick! Give it here,” Vicky ordered very, very rudely.
“No! I just found it by the water. So according to the rules, that makes it mine,” I informed the whining, selfishly behaving creature.
“Oh yeah? Well I don’t give a crap about the rules,” Vicky sassed.
“So the rules don’t matter?” I asked Vicky.
“No, they don’t,” Vicky said making a grab for the stick in my hand.
“Good! Because I quit!” I barked, letting the built up frustration explode.
“But… but… but you can’t do that!” she stammered. “It’s against the rules!”