Taming the Author

22: Play a Game

Loramina was bored.

The next few days were spent inside the house, nursing her sprain and editing the chapters she submitted to me.

It was obvious she was bored. She frowned longingly out the window, tapped angrily at her laptop, rubbed her fishing rod like it was a genie lamp, and she ate - a lot. She devoured plates of chicken lollipops, pasta, tacos, and mashed potatoes like she hadn't eaten in days.

I teased her about her weight, to control her stress eating, but it only succeeded in earning me an extremely painful kick on the shin.

I wanted to cheer her up, but I was running out of ideas. Reading books was out of the question. She had been doing it for the past days and it hadn't taken much of her boredom away. Playing phone applications like "Plants vs. Zombies 2" succeeded in entertaining her, but only after destroying Dr. Zombos four times. I found a Rubik's cube in the attic when I helped Helena carry boxes there. I gave it to Loramina; making sure I jumbled the cube enough to never be solved.

She solved it. She was bored after twenty minutes of shuffling the pieces.

When I walked into her room one morning with the pages of the chapter we were scheduled to work on that day, I found her shuffling a deck of cards.

"I talked to Harold," I said, noting her intense concentration on the flapping cards on her hand. "I got us permission to visit the animals, make you feed the cows or ride some horses later today."

"Great," she answered, feigning excitement and still looking at the mesmerizing dance of the cards.

"Where did you get that?" I asked, watching her shuffle the cards like she moonlighted in a casino.

"I asked Helena if they have playing cards," she answered, her eyes on the deck of gracefully flapping cards on her lap. She was slumped on the carpeted floor of her bedroom; her legs crossed. "Matthew lent me his."

I nodded and sat down in front of her; the chapter we were supposed to work on napping in front of me. "Why are they spoiling you?" I understood we were guests but they treated Loramina like she was their daughter!

I wasn't jealous. I was curious. It wasn't everyday strangers treated other strangers like family.

"They had a daughter," she answered.

"Oh?" I asked. I didn't recall any conversation about Matthew and Helena having a daughter.

"She died before she could reach my age," Loramina nonchalantly said as she stacked the cards into two and expertly shuffled it again.

I froze, shocked that the kind couple lost a child. "Y—You're kidding, right?"

She looked up at me - her face free of any hint of teasing or jest.

"O—oh," I said, realizing it was true. The way they cared about Loramina finally made sense to me, though I hoped the explanation had been less...tragic. Should I ask how she...died? "And you use their care to your advantage," I teased in opting to lighten up the mood in the room.

"It's called 'mutualism,'" she replied, unaffected by my attempt at annoying her. "They gain a daughter, I gain parents."

I stiffened. Did Loramina lose her parents? Was that why she treated Rupert like family?

"Let's play a game," Loramina said, clearing the air of my anxiety.

"Poker?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I don't play casino card games," she said. "I know Blackjack though."