Page 136 of The Genius
“Fuck you. If I’m doing it, you are too.”
People were laughing as the two large warriors made their way to the center of the outside area where we had enjoyed dinner.
“Okay, so first of all I think we should give our eight volunteers a big hand,” Mila began and we all clapped.
“This is an improv game and we’ll have two teams competing. Each team will have two men and two women.”
“Why not men versus women?” Storm shouted.
“Because this is a school of inclusion and we don’t want to pit the genders against each other.”
Storm grinned. “You’re afraid of us crushing you.”
“Bring it on,” Raven said and lifted her chin.
Mila’s eyes flickered to Pearl and Athena, who were both wise and kind Motlander women. “I guess we could vote on it.”
The men and Raven all voted for a gender vs. gender game.
“You’ve got this,” Finn called out to Hunter, Boulder, Magni, and Marco, who stood shoulder to shoulder with serious expressions on their faces. The stakes had been raised and there was now pressure to defend the male honor.
Raven convinced Paysey to switch with her because she couldn’t pass up a chance to compete.
“Now which team wants to begin?” Mila asked and picked up two baskets.
“We do. We do.” Raven raised her hand.
“Raven, why don’t we let the men show us how this game is played?” I said knowing that we would have a strategic advantage if we could learn from their mistakes.
“Need us to go first, do you?” Boulder grinned.
“Who is the leader of your group?” Mila asked and four hands flew in the air.
“Right,” Mila licked her lips. “Ehm… Dad, why don’t you close your eyes and pick a note from the basket? It will be a few lines describing a situation that once happened here at the school. Your job is to remind the men in the audience without using words. If they can guess it you get five points.”
“Hmm.” Magni stuck his hand down and pulled out a note that he and the other men studied for a minute.
“Easy,” Marco said with confidence.
“Yes, but to complicate it a bit, you have to pull props from this basket, and I have to warn you that they are random and may be a distraction from the story.”
Marco pulled out a pair of sunglasses, Boulder a yellow cape, Hunter an apple, and Magni a pink scarf with purple stripes that he held between two fingers as if it was a soiled diaper. That alone had all the men screaming with laughter.
The women’s team moved back to give them space and the four men began moving around, unsure how to portray the situation.
Putting on the sunglasses, Marco pulled off his shirt and pants until he was in his briefs. It didn’t escape me that like me most of the women were smiling.
Taking the cape from Boulder, Marco placed it on the ground like a towel and lay down, a hand shielding his eyes from an imaginary sun.
“Beach… he’s on the beach,” someone yelled.
Marco jumped up again and nodded eagerly, pointing to Magni ,who rolled his eyes and put on the pink scarf. It looked funny, and the audience were in stitches.
“He’s a woman,” Raven called out.
“Stop it, you’re helping them,” I scolded her.
“Sorry, I just get so competitive.”
