Lord of the Monopolies

The wind howled and thunder roared as the rain pounded against the small house.  Inside were four individuals trying to endure the long night. They knew it wouldn’t be an easy task, but things truly took a dark turn when a hopeful minded someone uttered the words “What about a board game?”  

Lightning branched out across the sky as Monopoly was placed on the freshly cleared table. 

“Dibs on the car!” Julie cried out excitedly.  Julie was a fourteen year old girl, though she was often mistook for older because of her mature nature.  She had her mother's vibrant blue eyes and her father’s curly brown hair, but what set her apart was that she was the only member of her family who possessed freckles.

“NO!!!” whined Philip, the youngest of the family.  Philip was only nine, though he often acted as if he were four, and was still quite prone to temper tantrums.  Rivaling his sister, Philip had his mom’s blonde hair. Though they shared the same lively blue eyes, the two couldn’t be more different than night and day.

“Sorry, I called it,” Julie replied smugly, certain of her claim.  For she had called dibs, the most noble and unbreakable of agreements known to young children.

“NO FAIR!!!!!” cried Philip, starting a heated quarrel.

Though neither parent wanted to risk intervening in the battle, the commotion soon became too loud for the mother to bear.  “Stop fighting” bellowed the enraged mother. Though she knew Julie had called the car, Philip was her youngest and thus she decided “Philip can be the car.”

“Bu-”

“No buts!” the mother affirmed.  The mother did not know it yet, but this was an injustice Julie would not soon forget, both moving forward in the game, and quite possibly far into the future when it came to deciding which retirement home she would be confined to.

As the night progressed, time seemed to slow for the family due to Monopoly’s very long, grueling structure.  Not to be over dramatic, but one could say that a game of such a duration was created by the devil himself.  

“Hey honey,” The father began nonchalantly, “I’ll trade you Indiana Avenue, Kentucky Avenue, and Marvin Gardens for Park Place.”

The mother could barely believe her ears.  Was he legitimately offering her three estates for one.  Twas true that she rarely played this game, and was quite frankly out of practice, yet her feeble knowledge was enough for her to realize how marvelous this arrangement was.  

“He must be going easy on me.” She thought to herself with a hint of glee, feeling like a young girl again.

“Okay.” The mother said cheerfully, accepting the exchange.

A sense of horror sunk into Julie as she realized what sinister action had just occurred.  For the father now had a Monopoly in one of the priciest neighborhoods there was. All would have to keep their wits about them, and if some great power above had pity on them, they might just walk away from this perilous situation alive.

“Four, five, six.”  Philip anxiously said.  The boy was in grave peril, for he’d had to mortgage all of his estates and only had forty dollars left on his person.  Luck was not on his side, however, as Philip’s piece landed on the dreaded, hotel barring boardwalk.

“Daddy… please?” Philip pleaded, looking up at his father's wide, misty eyes.  

Any other night his father would’ve taken pity on the boy for his blood ran through the child’s veins. However, this man was not his father.  And thus, with a resolute heart the man smiled and said, “It’s only a game, Philip.”

As Philip shamefully marched away, Julie was in shock.  She never imagined her own father to be capable of such cruelty.  It became clear to her that she had to win. Philip had to be avenged.

The mother yawned, “Well, I think I’m going to tuck Philip in and go to bed.  See you two in the morning!”

“Wait mommy,” Julie said sweetly, hoping her young diction would remind her mother of when she was a small child, “May I have your railroad?  Pretty please with a cherry on top!”

The mother was no match for the young girl’s sly tricks, so whilst her other assets went to the bank, her railroad went to Julie.  Though Julie’s deceit burdened her soul, she now possessed all four railroads and utilities. She had a chance.

The clock struck midnight, but neither of them paid any mind.  The board was now littered with buildings and plagued with broken relationships.  Both parties had given up too much to simply walk away, no matter how heavy their eyelids may have felt or how burden their now soiled souls.  

The fight had been long and tedious, but Julie was simply no match for her father.  With only thirty dollars left to her name and two estates having been mortgaged, Julie worried that this was the beginning of the end. 

“Your turn dad,” She said plainly, too emotionally exhausted to so much as smile at him.

“Thank you,” He replied, but there was no kindness in his words, as his heart had also stopped feeling long ago.  “One, two, three, fou-” He stopped as he realized what horrid luck had befallen him. Julie smiled to herself as she knew this was an act of god himself.  As her father reluctantly sat in prison, Julie was able to pass go and regain her riches. The two pressed on.

The father’s luck took a turn and Julie soon brought him to his knees.  She smiled a grand smile as her father began putting away the box. She had won.  As she laid in her bed, she recalled her epic-

“Hey voice thingamajig? Is it okay if you wrap this up?  I kinda wanna go to bed.” Julie said… in response to… me?

“Oh. Um… Yeah, sure.”

A sense of satisfaction washed over our dear heroin as she drifted off to sleep.