MInTheGap Fiction Fiction Writing from MInTheGap

The Mystery Begins – Page 4

“Good idea. I’ve got a surprise for you!” I said. She just looked at me strange. Arriving home, I pulled up to the door and got out. We entered the house, ate lunch, and, at three, I took Tracy to the attic. There, I moved a couple of cases of things, and dug up a hat, a cowboy hat. “I was looking up here for something, when I stumbled upon these old clothes. How would you like to be in the old west for a day, and two nights?”

“I’d love it! When do we head south?”

“Not south, just across the lawn.”

“I’m home!!” I heard Kristin, my adopted daughter, shout.

“Great, come on upstairs, honey!” I shouted back. She did, and I told her what we were doing.

“When do we go?” Kristin asked.

“After dinner, I’m thinking about inviting a few friends to join us this weekend, and I might even be able to talk your teachers into making it a week-long field trip.”

“Now there’s an idea.” Tracy stated. “Old Western heat in the middle of January.”

“Well, I’ve got to go make a few phone calls and wire up the game. Y’all had better git yourselves changed into these here western clothes.” I said, handing them the clothes. I went to the game, and turned off it’s time affecting program. Then I went downstairs and called up Andy Basinger, and his wife Marie, Michelle Warner, Patrick Reddish, Kate Coleman, Heather Burnett, Hannah Mason, Laura Prescott (Noah’s wife), Aaron White, Chet Szymanski, and Sam Shade. I also invited Karin and David to join. The girls changed and Kristin asked me if I would allow her to bring a friend over, and I said it would be okay.

We all met at seven to discuss parts and jobs in the game. “I have here a list of jobs that need to be performed, by the men, inside the game, if we want to be realistic. I will put them in a hat, and whatever you get, that’s the job you have. For the ladies, most will stay home, with the exceptions of Marie, who will conduct class for Kristin and her friend Katie, and Hannah, who will be the doctor. I want Sam and Kate to pair up, Aaron and Laura to pair up, Patrick and Tricia, and David and Karin, so we pretend that we are all frontier families.

The men drew their occupations out of the hat. I would be the sheriff, and Chet was my deputy. Andy would play the Mayor of the city, and Marie, as previously stated, was his wife and school teacher. Sam was the blacksmith; Pat was the Saloon runner, with Tricia, Michelle, Heather and Karin for barmaids. David ran the stables. Aaron was the local psychiatrist. Hannah ran the hospital. Kate ran a Bed and Breakfast. Kristin would be my daughter, and Katie would be Tracy’s sister. I synthesized Tracy’s mother to make it look real. I also created, in the game, a randomization of events. The computer would randomly choose what would happen next inside the game, so I would not know the outcome. This randomization could make this weekend the most enjoyable one we would ever have or our worst nightmare.

At eight, all dressed up in our western garb, we traversed the snow and cold to enter the game. I entered last, and shut the door. We climbed down the ladder, and I activated the game, showing everyone where they lived, worked, and played. We all went to our prearranged positions, and I activated the game.