Cathy's Creative Corner: Marbles for Keeps
“Chatty, looks like the boys are getting up a game of marbles outside. Did they invite you?” Grandma Ella yelled from the kitchen.
“No, ma’am,” young Chatty replied as she pushed away her paint set while trying to remember where she placed her bag of marbles. “But I know they want me to play ‘cause they all want their marbles back!”
“Do you play ‘keepsies’ all the time?” asked her grandmother. “Aren’t you scared you’ll lose all your pretty marbles to someone else?”
Chatty giggled. “I got them all from someone else. My first bag of marbles was a bunch of plain Jane, one-color spinsters. Now I’ve got all kinds of rainbow marbles, milk glass marbles and cats eye marbles. But we play ‘fair’ a lot, too, where everybody gets their marbles back at the end of the game.”
“Okay, that sounds reasonable. It looked like they were headed towards the creek. You better go catch up with them,” Grandma Ella advised.
“Thanks, Grandma! Love ya,” shouted Chatty as the screen door slammed shut behind her and she sped off in the direction of the boys. Chatty ran most of the way to the clearing where they normally set up to play. Stopping short, she heard voices from across the hedges.
“Did anyone tell Chatty where we were playing today?” asked a familiar voice. It was either Dale or Caleb, one of the two neighboring brothers.
“I didn’t!”
“I didn’t!”
“Me neither! I don’t want to play with her again until she starts pulling out all her marbles. I know she still has my favorite bumblebee and grasshoppers. Acting like she lost them to somebody else. Who? She only plays with us.”
Chatty was busted! She thought no one knew she had two bags of marbles inside her velvet bag. One bag contained her everyday assortment with a few pretties mixed in for show. The second bag had marbles she thought were pretty or different or came with a story. Mainly, the marbles in bag two were ones she’d won from other players. When someone displayed a new marble before the game that Chatty liked, she’d pull a couple from bag two for incentive. If she were lucky, she’d win back her marbles and the opponent’s.
“And another thing, the way she flicks her middle finger to hit the shooter ain’t normal. I don’t care what y’all say about her hands having skinny, small girl fingers. She can pack a punch when she wants to! I was taught to pluck the shooter with your thumb.”
“Aww, come on, Junior. You just mad she got your best marbles. Quit your moaning. Besides, Chatty ain’t the only one who shoots like that. ”
“We better get started before she gets here if y’all want a chance to win any of the new marbles our uncle brought down from New York,” announced one of the brothers.
“How you know she’ll find us?”
“Remember, her grandma is full blood Indian. Chatty’ll track us down.”
That was Chatty’s cue to make her presence known. By the time she rounded the edge of the hedges, Dale was displaying the new acquisitions.
“What’s up, fellows?” greeted Chatty. The group consisted of neighbors Dale, Caleb, Junior and Renza. “I was headed to the clearing but heard voices coming from over here. I thought it might be y’all.”
“Come check out our new rainbows Uncle Drac bought us,” invited Caleb.
The assortment was nice. The glass marbles encased from one to nine ribbons inside. No more than three colors each but they were paired well. After hearing the comments she now believes to have come from Junior, Chatty is pulling out all the marbles and giving the boys a chance to win back their old ones. She’s got her sights set on some of these newer ones.
“I think I’ve held on to these long enough for you to miss ‘em, so here’s your chance to win ‘em back,” Chatty said as she tossed the boys’ favorite marbles in the ring after it was drawn. They were elated!
“About time!”
“I know that’s right!”
“Come home to papa!”
“And we’re playing for keeps, right? That is what you meant?” questioned Junior.
“Sure is.” Chatty smiled.
“I guess you found the boys. Win any more of their marbles today?” asked Grandma Ella when Chatty walked in.
“Yes, ma’am, I found ‘em. And I won a few new marbles. Today, I decided not to play my best. The signs were there. They needed to win back their old marbles. I can always get new marbles. It’s harder to get new friends.”
“Wise decision,” reinforced the grandmother. “Now, let me see those newbies.”
