Musical chairs sounded delightful, innocent, so much like the grand days when I was a kid and got invited to birthday parties.
It also sounded simple: all I needed was some chairs and something that plays music. A co-worker recorded Christmas music for me: standards like Santa Claus Is Coming to Town and new stuff like Leroy the Redneck Reindeer.
Party time came, and I set out 8 chairs and corralled 9 people at a time. 9 people because Santa has 8 reindeer plus Rudolf.
Each participant in my game had to wear antlers. The participants ranged in age from toddlers to adults. Some adult men did not want to make fools of themselves in public. Some adult women thought the antlers would ruin their hair. Some toddlers had no concept of what they were supposed to do. Some kids refused to play. Some kids refused to stop playing.
Each participant in my game had to wear antlers. The participants ranged in age from toddlers to adults. Some adult men did not want to make fools of themselves in public. Some adult women thought the antlers would ruin their hair. Some toddlers had no concept of what they were supposed to do. Some kids refused to play. Some kids refused to stop playing.
The adults who did play were good sports, managing to miss a chair in the first couple of rounds so that just the kids could continue playing.
I spiced it up, making people walk forward, or walk backward, or hop on one foot. At the final round, with 1 chair and 2 people left, the participants had to take off their antlers and put Christmas shopping bags over their heads.
Every participant got a prize: a cheap kaleidoscope. The Last Reindeer Sitting got a prize plus a paper tag with the number one on it, to hang around their neck on a blue ribbon.
I counted on seeing lots of smiles. I had not counted on seeing lots of tears.
As the party progressed, I started to realize that each round started with 9 participants and finished with 1 winner and 8 losers. That’s where the tears came from.
Then a lady in a mink coat and pearls entered the room, put on some antlers, and said she wanted to play. OK, I got 8 other participants, and started up a game. I waited for the lady in the mink coat to miss a chair on round two or round three…but she kept on playing, playing with intensity. She wound up in the final round with a shopping bag over her head, competing against a 9-year-old boy.
When the music stopped for the final round, the lady in the mink coat knocked the 9-year-old to the floor, and sat down on the chair. As the Last Reindeer Sitting, she was awarded a cheap kaleidoscope and a paper number-one tag on a blue ribbon, which joined the pearls around her neck.
I sighed. I saw how cruel musical chairs can be. Mentally cruel because it created so many losers --- physically cruel because players got knocked to the ground by an adult who was much richer than they would ever be.
That was the last time we played Last Reindeer Sitting at the company Christmas party.
- . - .- . - . - .
NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath. Price = $11. You can purchase a copy at http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com
No comments:
Post a Comment