Trouble

Rosemary beckons me with two little hands and says, "Come."

I follow.

She opens the cabinet and removes one board game at a time.

We open a box, empty the pieces, and then put them back again.

For Rosemary, this is the game–making a mess and cleaning up.

When we open Trouble, she places the plastic pieces on her fingers and then wiggles them in the air.

I think this is called "spirit fingers." They click and clack. She admires her work and asks me to look.

Then, as quickly as it started, this game is over.

She pulls off the first piece but can't tell which hand removed it.

She looks at both palms to discover where the piece ended up.

She repeats this for each finger, and each time, she wonders, "Which hand will the piece be in when I'm done?"

She performs this magic trick as both the magician and the audience.

But there is no deceit, only wonder.