Elliott, 9, Tulsa, OK
“My turn!” said James after Edward had moved.
James drew a card. On it were the words:
Around it was a symbol that looked like two arrows in a circle.
James drew another card, and it said to move six spaces. But James did not move six spaces. He moved backward six spaces.
The two friends were playing their favorite board game, which happened to be one that they had made themselves.
The only problem was that they didn't have a name for it yet.
They had been thinking for a really long time, and since they had not made up a name for it, they decided to just play the game instead.
But just now, James noticed something. Whenever Edward moved his piece, he also scooted a little bit (about half an inch!) across the table.
* * *
The next day, the same thing happened, and each day it kept increasing about half an inch.
Then one day, it had a really big effect on the game. Whenever Edward moved his piece, he also moved about half a yard!
“What is wrong with you Edward?!”
“What do you-- huh?” For he had just realized that he was now on the other edge of the table. He quickly scooted back.
“What do you mean?”
“You're not fooling me!” said James.
The next day, James knew something was wrong because the statue that was usually outside their school was gone, and in its place was a giant game piece.
The same game piece from his and Edward’s game!
“I wonder what surprise the teacher has for us today!” James said and went inside.
Inside, the school was completely different.
“Draw a card!” said a person behind a desk.
But when James looked closer, he saw that the desk was not a desk at all, but a stack of cards. So he drew one.
It said: Move 5 Spaces. He started to move forward, but the card person stopped him.
“You need a piece!”
So James grabbed one of the pieces and hopped off, wondering why this school day was being so peculiar. Then, he noticed that the whole school was just one big board game.
As he was looking around the school for Edward, someone bumped into him from behind.
“Ow!”
“Sorry, it's just me!” said a familiar voice.
“Edward!”
“James!”
“Do you know how all of this happened?”
“No, but I think I know how to get it back to normal.”
“How?”
“I think we have to win the game!”
So they started to play. They drew cards as fast as they possibly could from the giant stacks of cards that the card people had.
They knew that the last square was golden.
Finally, James saw it.
It was five squares away. He crossed his fingers as he took a card.
A six.
He ran over to the golden square just as Edward came tearing down the same path.
They bumped into each other as they got to the golden square.
The whole game board melted away to reveal their classroom.
They had both won.
“Hey James, I think I know what our game should be called.”
“What?”
“Board Game Bonanza!”