Page 6 of Love ad Lib
Claire smiled. ‘So, we’re going to start with passing the clap—’
‘Carl had better sit this one out then,’ interrupted James. ‘You don’t want the clap he’s got after that weekend in Amsterdam.’
Claire ignored him. ‘This game is also called “zip, zap, boing”. If I pass my clap left it’s a zip; right, it’s a zap, and if I pass it across the circle then it’s a boing.’
Henry felt awkward and out of his depth. Where were the PowerPoint presentations he could fall asleep to?
Claire clapped to the person on her left. ‘Zip.’
They passed the clap on.
It made it back to Claire. ‘Zap.’ She passed it to her right. The clap was halfway around the circle when she pointed her hands and her gaze at Henry and clapped. ‘Boing!’
What on earth was he meant to do? He caught Libby’s eye. She smiled encouragingly at him.
‘Boing!’ He clapped at Libby.
She jumped with excitement. ‘Boing!’ She threw the clap at Carl, who threw it to someone else.
Now they were dealing with a clap going one way around the circle and another travelling randomly across. Henry was keeping track of them all when Libby yelled, ‘Zip!’ sending another clap running off in the opposite direction to the first. Now there were three to keep track of.
‘Boing!’ Claire set off a fourth one.
Claps, yells of ‘boing’, and grunts of concentration filled the room as everyone tried to stay on top of four claps doing completely different things.
Suddenly all four claps converged on Henry and he leapt back, throwing his hands in the air. ‘Fuck!’
Everything stopped.
Shit. He’d messed up the game.
‘Go Henry, go Henry!’ Libby and Claire jumped up and down, punching the air like soccer mums celebrating their kid’s first goal.
What?
‘Henry wins the prize!’ Claire yelled as Libby continued chanting his name.
‘But he cocked it up!’ James protested.
‘Congratulations to Henry!’ Claire continued. ‘Winner, winner, chicken dinner!’
‘But—’ James started.
‘Let’s go again,’ said Claire. ‘But this time, Libby and I are both going to start, and we want you to be as quick as you can.’
‘On your marks...’ Libby bent her knees as if preparing to race. ‘Get set—’
‘Zip!’ Claire cried.
‘Zap!’ Libby replied.
‘Fuck!’ most of the men yelled.
The claps were fast and furious. Just as Henry felt they had it under control, Libby or Claire added in a boing, or another zap. Within a few seconds, the circle disintegrated into random clapping that Claire and Libby turned into applause.
‘Whoop whoop! Let’s hear it for all of us fucking it up!’ Claire cried as everyone but James laughed.
‘I got it right,’ he interjected.
