Apocrypha

Chapter 31

"For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever."
Psalm 9: 18

THE HEAT had already begun to grow, despite it still being the middle of spring.

"Has the name been announced?" Lysander asked.

Gabriel was still glued to the TV, awaiting any future news. "Nothing yet, as of right now." He replied.

"Let me know if anything happens." Lysander said, then walked outside. Gabriel turned back to the TV.

"What are you waiting for?" Mamillius asked while playing with action figures.

"They're gonna say something important right now." Gabriel replied.

Mamillius stood up and looked at the TV, attempting to read the words out loud. "6 killed in Bangkok by Is...lamic terrorerers." He stumbled on the last word.

Gabriel quickly turned off the TV. "Kids shouldn't be watching this." He added.

"Wanna play with me?" Mamillius asked while holding up an action figure of George Washington.

"What's the game?" Gabriel asked, sitting on the carpet.

"Well, it was an American Heroes pack. But I mixed them with other stuff." Mamillius brought a box of random toys.

As he searched inside, Gabriel found fake money, Chance cards, and multi-sided dice. He figured he could make a game to entertain himself and the kid.

"Here, why don't we do this?" Gabriel arranged all the pieces, placing the cards and money in the middle and lining up the figures as a front.

"Ooh, what is it?" The boy asked.

"Imagine that the American Heroes find themselves stuck in the future..."

"So, is their future our present? Or is it our past?" Mamillius asked.

"Doesn't matter. Anyways. They now have to play a game that was a result of their creation: American capitalism." Gabriel explained.

"That sounds boring." Mamillius said. "Can't we make them fight Apache or Mexicans?"

"Fine. What do you have in mind?" Gabriel asked.

Mamillius thought hard while glancing at all the random pieces of toys. "Here, take these." He slid Gabriel some 'Sorry' pawns and random amounts of fake money.

"What do we do?"

"Well, the winner is whoever has the most money in the end." Mamillius said. "We can use these to get more money." He held up his pawns.

"And then we can use the 'Chance' cards for other boosts."

"And the more paws you have, the more money you get each round!" Mamillius added.

The boy was the first to throw the dice. It landed on a 4 and Mamillius moved his piece four spaces. Gabriel moved his piece 5 spaces after rolling his dice.

When Gabriel read his 'Chance' card, he decided to lie. "I get to throw two times." He said. Mamillius huffed in annoyance.

As they kept playing, Mamillius noticed that he had to sell some of his pawns and properties to Gabriel for extra money.

"Can I get a loan?" Mamillius asked as he was down to his last $100.

"Hm," Gabriel thought. "I'll give you a loan, but you'll have to pay me back 5% interest. And there will be an additional late fee if you don't give me at least $50 per round."