­­­­HOTEL

Chapter 1.

“It was there just now!” Joel exclaimed frustrated. ”I bought the hotel fifteen minutes ago, with the money I made the last time you visited one of my streets, and I am SURE you remember me showing you the hotel piece!”

“Well, I don’t see it now, and I’m not paying.” The game of monopoly was coming to an end, and this was Lizzy’s last chance to buy the real estate she required to survive in the endgame. Last turn her younger brother had gone bankrupt. She had a good position to negotiate, but she needed luck as well, and now she had landed her miniature ironing piece on Joel’s most expensive property.

“Maybe Mark took the piece with him when he left” Rob offered. Joel’s other cousin wanted to keep the peace. Interfering with the game in such a way did indeed fall into what Lizzy’s brother was capable of, but he would have never cheated to his sister’s advantage.

“You have to pay me 150.000 dollars please. Alternatively, I will except your two stations as a payment.” This was a very fair deal, Joel felt, and one he would not make when playing with his friends, or with his older cousins. Lizzy persisted, “there are no houses on there, so I’ll pay you 5000.” “Unacceptable!”

“Let’s go downstairs and see if there’s any food.” Rob didn’t want to play anymore. Joel did. They had about equal chance of winning by now, Lizzy had some property left, but most of what she owned she had come by through making unreasonable demands in the trading of the property cards, and Rob’s yielding to those demands. One station she had because Joel chose not to buy it. A strategy he would normally not pursue, but for the family Christmas monopoly game he could. He preferred a balanced game, with shifts in the probability each played had of winning.

He liked the game but didn’t play as much as he used to. He had very good memories of this annual family gaming event though. Especially the 2001 and 2002 editions had been epic. Rob had been there, Rob’s older brother and sister, and Joel’s own sister. This year the game had started at Lizzy’s insistence. She had been there in 01 and 02, for the full five hours those games lasted, but as an observer, being too young to play.  Now in 2005, Joel felt that she still was.

The youngest of the players left the room while the arguing went on, came back 2 minutes later chewing a mouthful of food and both hands filled with snacks as well. “Use a plate!” Lizzy said.

“Oh good, there’s food” Rob stood up and headed for the stairs.

“Ok, let’s take a break” Joel proposed. He knew that chance of finishing the game was small. The evening was filled with activities, and the extended family only got together twice a year.

“Sure!” Rob was yelling, halfway down the stairs with Mark in his trail.

What had seen like an undetermined game now felt like a sure win that had slipped away from Joel. Lizzy now was the only person left in the room. She reached all the way across the table and picked up the property card. Joel grabbed her wrist and she dropped the card. He let go of her, but only after holding on for just an extra second.

“Hey, can’t I check how much I owe you?” She said and smiled at him.

“What’s the point? You know they’re not coming back. It’s not like everyone is involved like 3 years ago.” He had lost those historical games but had really enjoyed them.

“Didn’t you enjoy playing with me… and Mark here?”

“Oh great, now we act like the game is definitely over.” Joel said sarcastically. 

“Please don’t get upset over it.” That was not helping.

“It’s been great fun, this far. I had just hoped we would finish it, I thought I could win it. I still think I can.”

She analyzed with him: “I think so too, but you need some hotels right here.” She was pointing at the empty spot and looked at him smiling. He tried to look stern but couldn’t help to smile back. The smile made her look very cute, her blue eyes lighting up.

“Can’t you just admit it?”

“Admit what?”

She held his gaze, the smile not leaving her face. She was enjoying this argument. It was a first time she was talking with him on this level.

“I cannot believe you cheated!”

“I didn’t cheat. I never cheat.”

“That makes you a cheater and a liar.” Joel said. He could see now she was getting upset.

 “Oh my god, I can’t believe you called me a liar.”

“I’m going downstairs and get some food.” He continued to look at her while he slowly stood up. She quickly stood up and raced ahead of him. She was wearing a black hooded sweater with pink lettering, sleeves rolled up, and tight jeans. He couldn’t help looking at her cute butt when she ran down the stairs before he had even left the table.

The game didn’t leave his mind during dinner. When the rest of the family asked how the game was going, he told the truth about it being not finished, and that it was completely undecided.

“Who won?” One of his uncles had asked.

“Didn’t Rob tell you? The game isn’t finished yet” He tried to sound nonchalant.

“We thought that maybe you two had battled it out.”

“Oh no, I had to explain the rules to her again”

“I know the rules!” Lizzy said. “I don’t need them explained to me”

“Oh yeah? What happens when the bank runs out of money?”

She looked confused for a moment, so Joel immediately went on: “See, you don’t know Monopoly! I guess were going back upstairs until you understand. Get the rulebook.” This got him a few laughs and the adult conversations started up again. Lizzy still looked confused. He winked at her and walked to the table, where all the snacks were. She hurried after him.

Standing next to him he noticed for the second time that day how much she had grown in the last few months. She was wearing flat sneakers but her head was level with his shoulder. Joel was a tall guy. He figured he had stopped growing, but Lizzy was only twelve and taller than both their parents and grandparents. She was standing right next to him, contemplating whatever foods he was checking out. She was almost as tall as Rob, he noticed as Rob was coming in for seconds.

“Try this.” He pointed at small bowls of orange custardy desserts that his mother had brought.

“Those are desserts, my dear cousin. They come last. I will start out with some soup.” Joel felt strongly about traditions. His grandmothers’ rich vegetable soup was one of them. While he was filling his soup bowl, Rob started talking about the football match. There was an important match going on that Joel had wanted to see, but had all but forgotten about. Rob had watched the final minutes on a tv in the corner just now. Joel’s team had won, and he got the information he wanted from Rob. His team had won, but it didn’t do him much besides that it made him feel a little better.

Joel turned to look for a place to eat. The uncles and aunts were all in a circle, none of them had bothered to eat at the table. It was reserved for the next generation, and so he pulled up a chair.  Lizzy and her soup were right behind him and then next to him.

“You know, if you had invested your money a little smarter, you could have won the game long before dinner.” She started again.

“Please Lizzy, not at the table.” And turning to Rob “I don’t think our defense is as big a problem as everybody makes it out to be.” To add strength to my argument, I mentioned several players I thought of as the backbone of our defense.

Lizzy had finished her plate. “Do you want to finish the game?” It was now all she could talk about. Joel had had enough and yielded, “yes, let’s go upstairs and finish it”. He couldn’t see how that was engaging, but someone had to put the pieces back in the box. Besides, Rob was not as cool as he thought. He had always looked up to his older cousins, but now he realized that Lizzy had become the most interesting company. They ran upstairs.

When every piece of fake money and all the other parts of the game were back in the box, Joel made a final count and concluded that three hotels were missing. He knew where they were. “Lizzy,” he said, looking up, but she was ahead of him. He saw her holding the three pieces in the palm of her small hands, a taunting grin on her pretty face. He reached for them but she quickly withdrew her hand into the pocket of her hoodie and turned around. “Cheater!” He pulled her arm out of the pocket. It was empty, he looked at her; she started to laugh. He grabbed her waist with one arm while his other arm went for the game pieces. Lizzy tried to escape his hold while also trying to stop his arm, but even though she was a tall girl, there was no point. His hand grabbed everything inside the pocket, and he let her go. As soon as she realized he had emptied her pocket she stopped laughing.

“Give that back!”

“Monopoly will not be complete without them” It was his turn to smile.

He didn’t really understand why she wanted the mini hotels back, but she wasn’t going to get them. He just held his arm straight up. She tried to pull it down, so he turned away from her and held his hand to his chest. She pressed herself to his back and now frantically tried to take back what he had taken. He felt that a larger piece was among the three hotels, tried to peak into his closed fist but his cousin gave him no chance. “Give them back!”

He was very curious why she was reacting this was as they continued to wrestle. He could feel her young body pressed against his back, and through the hooded sweater could feel that her chest was no longer flat. Last summer, at this same house, they had been celebrating a birthday and in the backyard he had noticed Lizzy was wearing a bra under her shirt. I was clear then that there was very little underneath. A few months later, he could feel clearly the soft cushions pressed against his back.  He was still laughing, but it had become a very serious matter for her. He pushed her away and opened his palm. The three red hotels were there, and a little container with pills.

“What are these?”

“Please Joel, can I have them back?”

He studied the label: ‘Porvenural’: SNEK-9 Reuptake inhibitor. He looked up and at her. She was close to tears. He felt that there was no reason to be ashamed and wanted to assure her of this. He handed her the capsule.

“Hey Lizzy what is SNEK-9?” No answer. “Do you mind me asking?”

“No.” She tried to find her cool again. “It’s a growth hormone. My body produces too much of it and doesn’t break it down.”

“And the pills do that for you.” He was a little surprised about her knowledge of her condition.

“Not really, it is not a hundred percent effective, but the pills basically make sure that they cannot reach the part of my brain that controls growth.”

“Controls growth” Joel echoed. “Oh my. How did you find out about this?”

“Duh! Because I was growing like a freak! I’m the tallest in my class!”

He didn’t want her to feel worse and looked down at her. She stood with her eyes about level with his shoulders. “I don’t know what you are talking about, shorty.” She laughed. “And so you went to see a doctor,” He continued. “then what happened.”

“Yeah, mom took me to find out what was causing it. The doctor said something was not right and made an appointment at the university hospital. They had never seen anything like it they said. They didn’t want to help me at first but eventually gave me these” She was still holding the little container. “I take two per day. I stopped growing.” That was it for her.

“You know that tall women are considered beautiful right? And I’m positive I’m not the only man who feels that way.”

“Do you think I’m beautiful?” the serious talk had made her brave. She stopped, then quickly gave Joel a smile.

“Of course! You are a freakishly cute cheater!” He pinched her cheek. She punched his arm. “You should take anti aggressiveness pills instead though.” Another punch. She really was very cute, Joel thought, and the idea of his cousin growing was turning him on. He snatched the pills from her hand and pretended to read: “the label says they are untested... you better lay off these for a while little girl.” He said sternly. “I think you were going through a normal growth spurt, it would be a shame if you didn’t make up for it.” Lizzy realized that Joel was not completely joking with her. This thought had never occurred to her.  He handed the pills back to her.

“Why are you showing Joel your girly pills, I thought they were a secret” Mark had come to look for them.

“Run back to mom and dad, Mark” Lizzy said. Standing next to her brother, Joel noticed that she was indeed tall for her age.

They finished cleaning up and went downstairs, where the rest of the family were already saying their goodbyes. This always took a long time, and Joel and Liz chatted for a while about school and then about being tall. They hugged when they said goodbye.