Scrabble, New Level

Hardscrabble, New Level

Pecos and I have both conceded the championship game(s) of Scrabble – or rather, we are both champs as The Big Game ended in an honest-to-god tie. All championships are now off and we continue to play a few times each week with the final scores always just a few points apart.

My grandson and granddaughter have spent a few days with us. We are playing with a bright orange Frisbee in the yard when Dario, a local villager, walks up our driveway to check on our landlord’s cows. My grandson throws the Frisbee to him and it lands at his feet. Dario picks it up, turns it over and looks bewildered. Pecos demonstrates how he should throw it and Dario sets down his backpack and machete. He tosses the Frisbee toward my grandson but it curves wildly and lands on the roof. Pecos hoists my grandson over his head and the toy is quickly retrieved. Dario tries again and this time throws it successfully to my granddaughter. He picks up his things and walks down the driveway shaking his head.

My grandkids have brought Swiss Family Robinson and we read aloud to them. After endless games of Go Fish and War, I teach them how to play Rummy. They catch on quick and beat me nearly every hand. It is time to show them something new, and I bring out the Scrabble game. They speak Spanish, English and French fluently – but my eight-year-old granddaughter reads and spells primarily in French and Spanish. She decides that she and I will play in all three languages. While I stick mostly to English and slip in a simple French or Spanish word here and there, she spells words like cerveza and crepes. She says that ‘scrabble’ is not a word she is familiar with in any language and that we should call this game Scramble. When we play cards, my grandson says he will shuffle and dial. I love their twists of language and treasure every moment spent with them. 