Page 56 of No Such Thing as Serendipity
“There’s Annie,” Emma said, waving. “Come on.”
I followed behind Emma, taking in the women wearing matching purple shirts. “Looks like the women’s group is here.”
“Your power of observation is uncanny,” Emma said over her shoulder.
“Smartass,” I muttered.
“I think we’re outnumbered,” Annie said as we walked up.
“We can take them.” I did a couple of jumping jacks. “This morning’s training prepared us for this.”
“Oh, look.” Emma waved her arm in a large arc. “Our secret weapon is here.”
“Right,” I said as Katlynn walked toward us. “She’s a natural for this.”
“No doubt,” Annie added. “I’ve never seen someone with so many facial expressions.”
Soon after Katlynn’s arrival, Vera rushed into the room with another facilitator.
Emma leaned toward me and said, “Bummer, I was hoping we’d get Robyn.”
We’d not run across her all day, so I whispered back, “Maybe she isn’t here today.” I had to admit, I’d gotten used to having her around.
It took Vera a few attempts to quiet the festive crowd. After the noise died down, she welcomed everyone and encouraged us to move closer. Once everyone gathered around her, she said, “Since we weren’t expecting so many participants, we’re going to improvise, but that’s what we do best here at Blissful Breeze.”
The purple shirt-clad women let out a whoop. Apparently, this wasn’t their first retreat event.
“Normally, we like six to eight in a group,” Vera continued, “but we’ll break you into two groups of twelve.”
Someone near the front groaned. “Come on, Vera, that’s too many.”
Vera nodded. “I know, but...”
I called out, “Let us compete with each other.”
“Who said that?” Vera stood on her tiptoes, looking toward the back row where we stood.
I waved my arm. “I did. Four on a team. We go head-to-head like regular charades.”
Vera frowned. “We encourage cooperation, not competition.”
“Friendly competition is fun,” someone in the front said.
After several more chimed in, Vera relented. Since we had our four teammates, we stood back, entertained by the chaos of choosing teams.
“This is worse than grade school.” Katlynn pointed toward three women who must have been in their sixties. “They’re gonna come to blows at any minute.”
“I’d put money on the blonde. She looks mean,” Annie said.
After the chaos settled, just our luck, Vera led the blonde and her team toward us. The blond woman stood with her arms crossed over her chest, while her teammates gave her a wide berth. Vera introduced us to our competitors. I’d never remember their names, except for the cranky one—Beverly.
In the middle of Vera introducing our team, Beverly pointed at me and Emma. “It’s not fair. Don’t they have twin telepathy or something?”
“Beverly!” Vera pointed at the scowling woman. “They are not twins, and you will play nice.”
Beverly turned up her nose but muttered, “Fine.”
We soon agreed on the rules. Every player received three envelopes containing an emotion, with each getting progressively harder. The team had ninety seconds to guess. If the team failed, the other team could steal the point.
