Tic Tac Toe

It is the last Sunday in June. The weather is hot and humid and smoggy. It is not yet as hot and humid and smoggy as it will be in a couple of weeks but it is bad enough that there is little motivation to venture outside. Outside of the air conditioning. I tell the kids to take a break from their iPads and they all comply. They are remarkably easy this way. 10 minutes later, however, they are bored to death. I take out a pad of actual paper and ask Elisa if she wants to play tic-tac-toe. A joyous “yes”.

We sit on the couch in front of the turned off TV (which has long since lost the battle to the iPad and kids know turning on TV does not count as iPad break time). Elisa draws the hash and starts the game. A few moves later she wins. How did that happen?

My mind shoots back in time. Almost 40 years. I am with my dad and brothers but my memory only recalls my dad and my brother Joe. We had stopped at a coffee shop halfway between Mi-Wuk village and Yosemite. It was half dome hike day.  We did not go into the coffee shop for breakfast, that’s not how we rolled. We rolled with rolls standing outside of the station wagon. My dad and Joe went for a coffee. As an adult I wonder if they snuck a cigarette together or if my dad flashed his fireman's badge for the coffee. Then I remember sitting with them. Tic-tac-toe came up. Maybe my brother wanted to play with me. I made some confident statement about how tic-tac-toe was a winless game. I was not aware of how a 12 year old could sound to adults. Annoying and ready to be slapped. My dad says I need to be careful that people who know tic tac toe can always win if the make the first move. I said bullshit. Ok, I didn’t for my dad would have killed me. But I did say that no matter the first move I would never finish worse than a draw. So we tried and each game I either won or was a draw. He was very frustrated and not convinced at all. A turning point. Dad does not know all.

Back in 2015, Elisa is elated that she won and then plays Aidan. She wins again. Glee.

I don’t spoil it.