video / night 3 of camping

[ace_of_hearts]

Someone play a word game with me. Normally I prefer silence, but honestly it makes me a little murderous, so I'd appreciate getting out of my head.

[Is this is the same narcoleptic smiley excitable combustible overly confident pirate????]

[Yes. It's just the darkness getting to him.]

Comments

[ace_of_hearts]

I spy and bingo works. But I do have a stick to draw in dirt. How's it work?

[strangeandunusual]

You draw a square, and then break it up into more squares... ten rows down and ten across. Like this.

[she holds her grid up so he can see]

Then you put letters across the top and numbers down the side. So each square has a name. A1, B2, and so on. Once you're done, we add the ships...

[ace_of_hearts]

Okay done! [Enthusiastically! But:]

Hey, do you need to sleep? I just realized, I must be keeping you up though.

[strangeandunusual]

It's okay! [even as she's yawning] If I teach you, then even if I fall asleep, you'll know how to play, and you can teach someone else so they can keep you company.

There's one last piece... you take some pebbles ... I'm going to use a pencil ... and make five ships. The carrier takes up five squares. The battleship takes up four. Then you have two smaller boats that take up three squares each, and a tiny scout ship that's two squares. The trick is: you can't tell me where you've put them. I have to try and guess, one square at a time. If I guess all the squares that a ship is in, I've sunk it. The first person to sink all the other person's ships wins. Pretty easy, right?

[ace_of_hearts]

Okay, thank you. You're always thinking of others.

Uh five ships, big one is five squares, four squares, two are three squares, one is two. And I just put them randomly wherever on the grid?

[strangeandunusual]

We all take care of each other, right? I mean, that's what we're supposed to do, anyway. So many of you remind me of people I know, so ... if I'm helping you, it's like I'm still helping them, even though I'm not home.

[and really, sometimes Adam was pretty thick, but smart in his own way, a lot like Ace]

Yeah, wherever you want.

[she chooses her own ship placement carefully. one of her favorite tricks was putting the two small ships perpendicular to one another, to possibly give the illusion that there was larger prey to be had.]

When I was little my Dad used to put them all in the corners, every single time. I wouldn't think he'd put them anywhere, until I figured it out.