Monopoly

It ended as it began: with a game of Monopoly. Under other circumstances, perhaps Sanaya could have appreciated the irony. She first met Alina when they were both little girls, peeking out around their parents’ legs during an introduction in Sanaya’s front yard shortly after they moved into the Cape Cod house on Dulcimer St. That same evening, their parents taught them how to play Monopoly as they gathered around Alina’s parents’ kitchen table. Sanaya had been more interested in the chips and salsa that night, but she still learned to play. Alina’s attention was captured from the beginning; the play money particularly fascinated her.

These gatherings to play Monopoly went from occasional get-togethers to weekly events. As Sanaya and Alina grew older, they started to play in their own right, rather than “helping” their mothers move their tokens around the board and count money. Occasionally, they even won games themselves. When the girls weren’t playing Monopoly together, they played other games and talked about school and Monopoly strategy. Sanaya, as an only child, appreciated having a friend her own age to play with. Alina was glad to get away from her brothers and do something for herself.

As neighbors, Alina and Sanaya went to the same schools from first grade through high school graduation. They shared teachers and homework assignments in addition to their board game nights, where Monopoly always had an honored place. Both girls excelled in their mathematics courses. Their parents marveled and suggested that the two should start a business together. Thus began summers of lemonade stands, craft sales, and lawn mowing by Alina and Sanaya. In middle school and high school, they took classes and joined extracurriculars that allowed them to work in the school store or help with concessions at sporting events. In their senior yearbook, both girls were featured as “Most Likely to Succeed in Business.”

Through it all, a love of entrepreneurship wasn’t all they shared. Sanaya and Alina didn’t keep secrets from one another. They told each other about their crushes and worries, their family dramas and their hopes for the future. Though they both wanted to go into business in the future, ideally together, they had different ideas of how they wanted to get there. Alina was tired of competing for attention and her parents’ approval with her four brothers. She felt stifled at home and wanted to go to university far away, preferably in New England. Sanaya didn’t want to spend the money on out-of-state tuition and wanted to be available to help care for her grandparents in their sunset years. They applied to different colleges, and Alina was accepted to Columbia University, while Sanaya accepted a great scholarship package at The Ohio State University, just a couple hours’ drive from their hometown.

That summer, the night before Alina left for Columbia, the girls bid each other a tearful farewell over a game of Monopoly that neither had paid much attention to. They vowed to stay in touch and find a way to play Monopoly together online while they were in college. And despite the difficulties of being states away from each other and juggling college classes and new friend groups, Sanaya and Alina played Monopoly Go on their phones throughout all four years of undergrad, in addition to having Discord and FaceTime calls to catch up on each other’s lives.

As they went through college, though, Sanaya noticed that Alina seemed to be getting harder and more cutthroat. She was friends with the kind of people who spent their downtime trading stocks and doing backroom business deals. The only recreation Alina seemed to allow herself was the games and calls with Sanaya. In contrast, Sanaya had joined multiple student organizations and even a recreational volleyball team. Sanaya was having fun in college while keeping good grades, but Alina was competing to be the top of her class.

“I’m worried about you, Alina,” she told her friend in one FaceTime call. “Are you sure you’re doing okay?”

“I’m fine, Sanaya,” Alina assured her. “I just want to make sure I’m getting everything I need to make sure our future business succeeds.”

They still hadn’t decided what kind of business they wanted to run together, once they graduated from university, but that was a problem they could figure out later. Sanaya, at least, wanted to spend a couple of years working for an established business before trying to start her own. And shortly after she got her Bachelors in Business, Sanaya landed a great job at a pharmaceutical company. She traveled to conferences to sell her company’s products almost every weekend. Between her salary and her commission, she was able to afford a high-end apartment in the heart of downtown.

Meanwhile, Alina hadn’t been so fortunate. She had wanted to stay in New York, but her father’s declining health after a debilitating stroke meant that someone needed to be around to help care for him, and her mother was busy with Alina’s brothers, and so she returned to her hometown. Her connections from Columbia were useful in helping her get a job, but the high-profile, high-salary positions she wanted didn’t come with the flexibility she needed to be a caretaker, and so she ended up renting half of a duplex close to her parents’ house. Sanaya’s apartment in the city was too far from her dad for the two of them to be roommates.

Sanaya was generous with Alina, hosting all of their game nights and helping where she could. But Alina was jealous of Sanaya’s success and nice things.

“It isn’t fair,” she muttered to her reflection in the mirror of Sanaya’s bathroom while she was washing her hands. “I’m the one who went to Columbia. I have friends in high places. I should be the one living the good life.”

“Alina, you coming? The game board’s all set up, and dinner just arrived,” Sanaya called from the living room. The delicious aromas of Indian carryout accompanied her words. Alina’s stomach rumbled, but envy clenched her gut. She couldn’t focus on their Monopoly game that night. It seemed like everywhere she looked, everything was coming up in Sanaya’s favor, and she was getting left behind.

But when Sanaya asked Alina to watch her cat, Mephisto, as well as her fish tank and house plants while she was away on a one-week business trip, Alina agreed without hesitation. After all, Sanaya was her best friend, and she would have the opportunity to pretend that the good life actually did belong to her.

And so it was, for Sanaya’s first night away–until Alina got a call from her mom that her dad was in the hospital. She rushed to her father’s side without a second thought. And even though her dad came home from the hospital the next day and seemed to be doing well, the thought of returning to Sanaya’s apartment didn’t cross Alina’s mind again until a week later, when Alina got a series of texts from Sanaya:

Alina, what happened? My apartment door was unlocked, and….

Photos followed: dead plants, a dirty fish tank devoid of fish, and half-eaten fish carcasses on the floor, marred by kitty teeth marks. Mephisto looked haggard and skinny in the next photo.

I’m sooooooo sorry, Sanaya. Dad had another stroke and I’ve been with him, Alina excused herself. She felt bad, but at the same time, she couldn’t help thinking that at least the cat was alive, and Sanaya had plenty of money to replace the rest.

Why didn’t you tell me? I would have gotten someone else to take care of things.

It just didn’t cross my mind. I’m sorry. Let me make it up to you?

Sanaya wasn’t sure she wanted to give Alina that chance as she held her too-thin cat close to her chest and cried into his fur. She thought she could trust Alina, and while she knew her friend was going through a tough time with her dad, she thought Alina would at least communicate. She always had, at least until the last year or so. Recently Alina had been chilly and distant, and Sanaya was wondering if maybe it would be better for them to go their separate ways.

Still, they’d been friends for nearly two decades, and so Sanaya decided that maybe forgiveness would be worthwhile.

What did you have in mind? She texted Alina back after a few minutes of consideration.

Come to mine tomorrow for Monopoly? I’ll cook your favorite stir fry and bring in cheesecake.

Sanaya had never been one to say no to cheesecake, and the next night found her at Alina’s duplex. True to her word, the kitchen smelled of beef stir-fry, and the fridge was laden with multiple cheesecake samplers. A Monopoly board was set up on the coffee table, ready to go. Alina and Sanaya hugged, but there was no warmth in it. While both were wearing their work clothes, Sanaya’s had designer labels while Alina’s were from Express.

“Let’s eat while we play,” Alina suggested, and Sanaya agreed. She took the top hat, as usual, while Alina took the battleship. The game began with stilted conversation around rolls of the dice and mouthfuls of stir fry. From the very beginning, although this was meant to be a reconciliation, it seemed to Sanaya that Alina was out for blood. The dice were on Alina’s side this time, and with each turn she took, it became clear that Alina had every intention of winning this game in a shutout.

“Why are you doing this?” Sanaya asked after Alina established a railroad monopoly. “You don’t normally play like this with me.”

“Like what?” Alina replied, one eyebrow arched.

“Vicious.” Sanaya rolled the dice again and moved her top hat three spaces, breathing a quiet sigh of relief when she landed on her own property instead of Alina’s.

“It’s all about building a business empire, no?”

“We were trying to do that together once.”

Alina shrugged and rolled the dice. “It’s just a game, Sanaya.”

“Exactly. So why are you taking it so seriously?”

“Isn’t this what we always do?”

“Not when my cat almost starved to death and my fish and plants died when you were supposed to be caring for them.”

“Sorry my dad is more important than your pets.”

“He is, but you could have at least told me, and I could have had someone else take care of them while I was away.”

“I told you I’m sorry.” Sanaya’s next turn landed her on one of Alina’s hotels. “That’ll be $1000. Pay up.”

“You’ve already cleaned out my cash on hand.”

“You can sell me Illinois Avenue.”

“But then you’ll have all the reds.”

“That’s the point.”

“I think we’re done here.” Sanaya stood up from the coffee table and carried her half-empty stir fry bowl to the kitchen sink.

“What do you mean? The game’s not over yet,” Alina protested.

“You know you’ve already won.”

“This isn’t very sportsmanlike of you.”

“Neither was the way you’ve been playing. College changed you, Alina, and not for the better. I’m done.” Sanaya gathered her purse and walked towards the door.

“You don’t just mean with Monopoly.” It was a statement, not a question, but Alina sounded like she hoped she was wrong.

“No. I don’t. We had a good run, Alina, but I don’t think we can be friends anymore.”

“You’re not serious.”

“I am.”

“Over a game of Monopoly? I can’t believe this.”

“No. You’ve turned cold and selfish. I know you’re going through a lot with your dad, but I never thought…. You didn’t just forget my pets and plants. You left my apartment unlocked. I’m lucky I came back to anything I owned and that Mephisto didn’t get out. And I wanted to give you another chance, but the way you’ve been tonight…” Sanaya shook her head. “I can’t trust you anymore. And I can’t be friends with someone I don’t trust.”

“So…that’s it?”

Sanaya nodded. Tears pricked at the backs of her eyes but she refused to let any of them out in front of Alina.

“I really am sorry. It was an honest mistake,” Alina said. Her voice sounded hollow and her face was impassive. Sanaya didn’t believe she really meant it.

“Okay.”

“Wow, that’s it? Okay?”

“What else do you want me to say?”

“That you’re overreacting and plants and fish are more replaceable than our friendship and nothing really terrible happened–”

“I can’t believe you. Good luck with your career.” Sanaya opened the door and stepped outside.

“I’ll see you next week,” Alina called after Sanaya with a hint of bitterness.

“You won’t.”

“What? You can’t possibly mean that our friendship is over and you hate me over one little mistake.”

Sanaya continued walking towards her car. Without looking back, she answered, “That’s the thing, though. I do.”