Short stories (zelf gekozen)

Charlie Fish - Death by scrabble

It's a hot day and I hate my wife. We're playing Scrabble. That's how bad it is. I'm 42 years old, it's a blistering hot Sunday afternoon and all I can think of to do with my life is to play Scrabble. I should be out, doing exercise, spending money, meeting people. I don't think I've spoken to anyone except my wife since Thursday morning. On Thursday morning I spoke to the milkman. My letters are crap. I play, appropriately, BEGIN. With the N on the little pink star. Twenty-two points. I watch my wife's smug expression as she rearranges her letters. Clack, clack, clack. I hate her. If she wasn't around, I'd be doing something interesting right now. I'd be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. I'd be starring in the latest Hollywood blockbuster. I'd be sailing the Vendee Globe on a 60-foot clipper called the New Horizons - I don't know, but I'd be doing something. She plays JINXED, with the J on a double-letter score. 30 points. She's beating me already. Maybe I should kill her. If only I had a D, then I could play MURDER. That would be a sign. That would be permission. I start chewing on my U. It's a bad habit, I know. All the letters are frayed. I play WARMER for 22 points, mainly so I can keep chewing on my U. As I'm picking new letters from the bag, I find myself thinking - the letters will tell me what to do. If they spell out KILL, or STAB, or her name, or anything, I'll do it right now. I'll finish her off. My rack spells MIHZPA. Plus the U in my mouth. Damn. The heat of the sun is pushing at me through the window. I can hear buzzing insects outside. I hope they're not bees. My cousin Harold swallowed a bee when he was nine, his throat swelled up and he died. I hope that if they are bees, they fly into my wife's throat. She plays SWEATIER, using all her letters. 24 points plus a 50 point bonus. If it wasn't too hot to move I would strangle her right now. I am getting sweatier. It needs to rain, to clear the air. As soon as that thought crosses my mind, I find a good word. HUMID on a double-word score, using the D of JINXED. The U makes a little splash of saliva when I put it down. Another 22 points. I hope she has lousy letters.

< 2 >
She tells me she has lousy letters. For some reason, I hate her more. She plays FAN, with the F on a double-letter, and gets up to fill the kettle and turn on the air conditioning. It's the hottest day for ten years and my wife is turning on the kettle. This is why I hate my wife. I play ZAPS, with the Z doubled, and she gets a static shock off the air conditioning unit. I find this remarkably satisfying. She sits back down with a heavy sigh and starts fiddling with her letters again. Clack clack. Clack clack. I feel a terrible rage build up inside me. Some inner poison slowly spreading through my limbs, and when it gets to my fingertips I am going to jump out of my chair, spilling the Scrabble tiles over the floor, and I am going to start hitting her again and again and again. The rage gets to my fingertips and passes. My heart is beating. I'm sweating. I think my face actually twitches. Then I sigh, deeply, and sit back into my chair. The kettle starts whistling. As the whistle builds it makes me feel hotter. She plays READY on a double-word for 18 points, then goes to pour herself a cup of tea. No I do not want one. I steal a blank tile from the letter bag when she's not looking, and throw back a V from my rack. She gives me a suspicious look. She sits back down with her cup of tea, making a cup-ring on the table, as I play an 8-letter word: CHEATING, using the A of READY. 64 points, including the 50-point bonus, which means I'm beating her now. She asks me if I cheated. I really, really hate her. She plays IGNORE on the triple-word for 21 points. The score is 153 to her, 155 to me. The steam rising from her cup of tea makes me feel hotter. I try to make murderous words with the letters on my rack, but the best I can do is SLEEP. My wife sleeps all the time. She slept through an argument our next-door neighbours had that resulted in a broken door, a smashed TV and a Teletubby Lala doll with all the stuffing coming out. And then she bitched at me for being moody the next day from lack of sleep.

< 3 >
If only there was some way for me to get rid of her. I spot a chance to use all my letters. EXPLODES, using the X of JINXED. 72 points. That'll show her. As I put the last letter down, there is a deafening bang and the air conditioning unit fails. My heart is racing, but not from the shock of the bang. I don't believe it - but it can't be a coincidence. The letters made it happen. I played the word EXPLODES, and it happened - the air conditioning unit exploded. And before, I played the word CHEATING when I cheated. And ZAP when my wife got the electric shock. The words are coming true. The letters are choosing their future. The whole game is - JINXED. My wife plays SIGN, with the N on a triple-letter, for 10 points. I have to test this. I have to play something and see if it happens. Something unlikely, to prove that the letters are making it happen. My rack is ABQYFWE. That doesn't leave me with a lot of options. I start frantically chewing on the B. I play FLY, using the L of EXPLODES. I sit back in my chair and close my eyes, waiting for the sensation of rising up from my chair. Waiting to fly. Stupid. I open my eyes, and there's a fly. An insect, buzzing around above the Scrabble board, surfing the thermals from the tepid cup of tea. That proves nothing. The fly could have been there anyway. I need to play something unambiguous. Something that cannot be misinterpreted. Something absolute and final. Something terminal. Something murderous. My wife plays CAUTION, using a blank tile for the N. 18 points. My rack is AQWEUK, plus the B in my mouth. I am awed by the power of the letters, and frustrated that I cannot wield it. Maybe I should cheat again, and pick out the letters I need to spell SLASH or SLAY. Then it hits me. The perfect word. A powerful, dangerous, terrible word. I play QUAKE for 19 points. I wonder if the strength of the quake will be proportionate to how many points it scored. I can feel the trembling energy of potential in my veins. I am commanding fate. I am manipulating destiny. My wife plays DEATH for 34 points, just as the room starts to shake. I gasp with surprise and vindication - and the B that I was chewing on gets lodged in my throat. I try to cough. My face goes red, then blue. My throat swells. I draw blood clawing at my neck. The earthquake builds to a climax. I fall to the floor. My wife just sits there, watching.

Plot
Op een snikhete dag zitten een man en zijn vrouw te scrabbelen. De man heeft een hekel aan zijn vrouw en zou haar het liefste willen vermoorden. Voordat hij dit wil doen, wil hij graag eerst een teken zien. Hij probeert allerlei verschillende woorden neer te leggen op het scrabblebord die iets te maken hebben met de dood. Zo legt hij “neersteken” en “dood” neer. De man komt er achter dat de woorden die hij en zijn vrouw opleggen ook werkelijkheid worden. Zo legt hij het woord “fly” neer, en het volgende moment vliegt er een vlieg voorbij. Daarna legt hij het woord “cheating” neer waarop hij stiekem een letter pakt. Zijn vrouw vraagt hierna meteen of hij valt heeft gespeeld. Uiteindelijk legde hij het woord “quake” neer. Meteen daarna legt zijn vrouw het woord “death” neer waarop het huis begint te schudden. De man was op dat moment op een scrabblesteen aan het kauwen dat vervolgens zijn keel inschoot. De aardbeving bereikt een hoogtepunt, de man valt dood neer en zijn vrouw kijkt rustig toe hoe alles gebeurt.

Scene
Het verhaal speelt zich af op een snikhete zomerdag in een kamer van een huis. In dit huis zitten een man en een vrouw te scrabbelen.

Theme
Dit verhaal heeft twee thema’s, namelijk haat en dood. De man is zo vol haat tegenover zijn vrouw dat hij haar dood wilt. Uiteindelijk gaat hij zelf dood, terwijl de vrouw rustig toekijkt. Je zou dus kunnen zeggen dat de vrouw dezelfde gevoelens had tegenover haar man.

Point of view
Het verhaal heeft een ik-perspectief. De man is de hele tijd de ik-figuur en je komt alles te weten over zijn gevoelens en gedachten.

Personal opinion
Wij vonden dit een apart verhaal, maar wel leuk om te lezen. De titel is erg pakkend: Death by scrabble. Het is zo onwaarschijnlijk dat je denkt dat het geen letterlijke titel is, maar dat hij gewoon verzonnen is om lezers aan te trekken. Naarmate het verhaal vordert, en je leest hoeveel haat de man tegenover zijn vrouw heeft en wat hij haar allemaal wil aandoen, kom je erachter dat de titel wel letterlijk bedoelt is. Het einde van het verhaal is wel ontzettend verrassend, omdat het hele verhaal over de haat van de man tegenover gaat en niet andersom. Als dan op het eind blijkt dat de man dreigt te stikken en de vrouw hier niets tegen doet, wordt duidelijk dat de titel op de man slaat en niet op de vrouw. Zijn vrouw had waarschijnlijk dezelfde gevoelens, maar dit weet je nooit zeker omdat je niets over de gedachten van de vrouw te weten komt.