Walter

SNAKES AND LADDERS

"Benjamin, the Jacobsen's should be here any minute now. Make sure you play nice with their son. Include him in your games, alright."

"Yes mom, I will!" shouted Benjamin.

"Remind me again why we're entertaining the neighbours," asked Erle.

"It's 'cus they just moved in last week and mom said that it was the neighbourly thing to do when a new family moves into the neighbourhood," replied Benjamin.

"I understand that much so far, I mean, why us? Why not the people across the street? Or the neighbours beside them."

"We are the neighbours beside them Erle," came Benjamin's matter of fact response. "We're the second house from the corner and they're the first. The people on the next street wouldn't really consider them to be their neighbours, now would they?"

"I guess not," said Erle. He pondered for a little while as he watched Benjamin pick up his toy cars and put them back onto their respective shelves. He wondered what the neighbours were like as he reached out for a car sitting just out of sight under the bed.

"You've got one hiding under here," he said as the car passed through his hand.

"Still trying, I see. Any success?"

"Same as usual, no luck. But I'll keep trying, maybe one day."

"Ya, one day. Hey, you wanna play checkers after I finish?" asked Benjamin.

"Sure."

Erle was good at strategy, not more than two minutes into the game and he'd already kinged himself two pieces and gobbled up half of Benjamin's.

"Remind me why I asked you to play this game?" queried Benjamin.

"I dunno, maybe you thought it would be fun," said Erle with a sense of amusement.

"Well it was," Benjamin sputtered sarcastically. "Til you ate four of my pieces in one turn."

"You set them up. I'm just following the rules."

"Uhuh," was the most Benjamin was willing to reply with at this point. He knew he was pretty much done for. "I don't think I've got much of a chance, do I?"

"Not really."

"Snakes 'n Ladders?"

"Sure. But no cheating this time," said Erle.

"I didn't cheat last time."

"So just letting the dice fall, without throwing them don't count as cheating?"

"I told you, I was just handing them to you."

"Oh, you're a funny one aren't you. Handed them to me. Ha...ha..."

Benjamin couldn't help but snicker at that last one. He knew Erle couldn't touch or move anything, but in their last game he had reached his hand out and Erle had instinctively reached to grab the dice. Plunk, the dice went as they fell on the board. His hand had not even slowed their descent. The look on Erle's face had been priceless. Benjamin liked to tease him about it once in a while.

"Ok," he said with a grin. "No cheating, I promise."

They were in the middle of their third game of snakes 'n ladders. Erle had won the first and Benjamin the second. It was a best two out of three match and Erle was leading. His piece was just steps away from reaching the finish, but two snakes lay in wait for him. It was Ben's turn and he rolled a three and ended on a ladder. This move put him four squares behind Erle. Both were focused on their game when a knock sounded on the door.

"Benjamin," said Ben's mother as she opened the door. "I want you to meet our new neighbor, Tommy. Say hello."

Ben looked up from the board and saw a boy, thin in frame with light blond hair.

"Hello," he said.

A sheepish, "Hi," was returned.

"Well, I'll leave you two to get to know each other while I get back to Mr. and Mrs. Jacobsen. Now play nice with Tommy and share your toys. Alright Benjamin?"

"Yes mom, I will.

"Alright then, have fun you two. We'll call you when dinner's ready."

Both Erle and Benjamin looked at each other, then Tommy, then back again. Tommy had entered the room but was leaning against the wall near the door and didn't seem to want to enter any further.

Erle shrugged and waved at Benjamin, "My turn, roll the dice."

The game continued with both players having fallen down the same snake before the finish. A few more rounds and up some ladders and down some snakes went their pieces. The outcome of this game seemed to be far from over.

"One, two, three, four, five," said Ben as he moved his piece across the board. "Almost got the ladder."

"If I get a six on this roll, I can skip ahead of you," replied Erle.

Tommy had slowly made his way across the room until he was crouched down beside the board.

"Are you winning or is your friend? I couldn't tell if the blue piece was yours or the green one was."

A little stunned, Benjamin looked up at Tommy for a bit before fumbling out the words, "My friend?"

"Your friend you're playing with, your mom didn't introduce him, so I don't know his name."

"My name's Erle."

"Hi Erle, nice to meet you."

"Wait a minute," sputtered Benjamin. "You can see him?"

"Ummm, ya, he's just like my friend Mikey," said Tommy.

"Mikey?"

"Ya, just a second, he's a little shy at first."

Tommy plopped himself down and turned towards the door. "Its ok, Mikey. You can come in and join us."

From around the door a head poked out, tentatively at first as if eyeing the situation inside the room. Mikey inched himself slowly into the room, staring at the two people sitting beside Tommy.

"You're right, he is like Erle, I can see through him. I thought Erle was the only person like that."

"Before I met Erle, I thought Mikey was the only one."