My Favorite Game

"Play a game with me." (Sofija)

"What do you want to play?" (Rehor)

"I don't know. You decide." (Sofija)

"Why do I have to decide?" (Rehor)

"Cause your older." (Sofija)

"Why should I decide, just because I'm older than you?" (Rehor)

"Cause." (Sofija)

"But I don't know what games you like to play." (Rehor)

"But you have to." (Sofija)

"Give me a reason why I should be the one to decide." (Rehor)

"Cause I'm your sister." (Sofija)

"OK. Give me a second to figure out a game we can play." (Rehor)

Sofija is a bored child. Unlike Katarina, who has me to play with as a child, Sofija has no one that can play with her on a regular basis. As a novel person, that has just started to be in her life, she has attached herself to me. And because she is my sister, that I would like to be a part of, I have acceded to her demands.

Because I know that she likes to play games, and I have had time to myself, I have been actually able to recall some that I had in my past life. Now my skills at crafting with wood, leave a lot to be desired. However, I have created a few items that we can use to play together. The rules though, might not be true to what I used to play with, though.

One of the games that I recreated, at least to some extent, was checkers. One of those simple games, that I do not remember playing any time after I grew up, in the life that I used to be a part of. Luckily, the rules that I played with, though they might not be completely correct, are simplistic enough, that I should be able to teach Sofija how to play.

"Well, I brought this game that I have had no one to play against." (Rehor)

"What's it called?" (Sofija)

"It doesn't have a name, that I know of. I heard about it from one of my teachers, and I thought I'd try and make the game." (Rehor)

How come I said it does not have a name? It is because there is no word, in the language that I use, that has anything to do with a checkerboard pattern. And, also, I am bad at naming things. I am too good at using simplistic language. So, more creative word choices, and therefore naming, are skills I know I do not have a good grasp on.

"So there are two color of pieces. A dark piece, and a lighter colored piece. Each person controls one color." (Rehor)

"Ok, I choose the darker color." (Sofija)

"Wow, that was a quick decision. Why did you choose that color?" (Rehor)

"Because…" (Sofija)

"Fair enough, you spoiled princesa*." (Rehor)

"Hey. What did you call me?" (Sofija)

"Princesa." (Rehor)

"What's that mean?" (Sofija)

"I'm not telling you." (Rehor)

"Come on, you have to." (Sofija)

"No I don't." (Rehor)

"Yes you do. You have to do what I say." (Sofija)

"No I don't." (Rehor)

"Uh huh. You have to." (Rehor)

Yes, I called her a princess, but not in a language anybody else in this world understood. I finally had an excuse to be able to use my fading language skills of my other life. Having lived away from the rest of my family, and being in a supposed educational institute, knowledge that my family did not have access to, could now be used.

I am not saying that I would now start creating giant steam powered inventions, but I could simple knowledge that I still remember. Well, truthfully, I have a rough understanding of a steam powered engine, but I do not have the slightest clue on how to build one. Even if I knew how to build one, I do not know how to utilize it in a productive manner.

I do know that it is some type of simple mechanical device, but the intricacies involved in a steam powered engine, was something I never knew enough about. I was just some white collared worker, that lived a comfortable life in my previous world. The things that I truly understand, and still remember, are not practical for this world.

I remember knowing how to give a slide show presentation, of whatever I was trying to work on, but beyond that, how could it be useful in this life. Trying to study the laws of where I had lived, and then researching the practicality of the situation, was my primary job in that life. Making sure the company followed national, state, and local laws on a product, is not something that I have witnessed in this life.

To be honest, to myself at least, I did not enjoy that job. It was a decent enough paying job, but it was not something that I could truly throw myself into. I did my job, to the best of my ability, and that was that. It was just a job to me.

I was not one of those creative, or innovative, people that designed things. I did not research advancements or improvements, to inventions. I was a paper pushed, and nothing else.

If I would have known that I would live a second life, I would have studied things that were of practical use. Unfortunately for me now, I was not that interested in those types of things, when I had that chance to learn about them.

I never learned to chemistry involved in creating gun powder, or rubber. I never had the knowledge in biology to reproduce penicillin, even if this world had the right bacteria for it. I never even learned the engineering behind some of the greatest changes to that world.

I could not create a printing press, though I had a rough idea of how to do it, but the cost of paper, or in actuality, parchment, is prohibitive against that being an industry. As I said, I do not truly understand enough about steam power, that I can show of it's abilities. And without something that can produce a semi-consistent stream of power, I do not have the ability to create any type of automobile or train.

*Rehor uses the word princesa, the Spanish word for princess. I used a non-English word to show that he is not speaking in the common language of where he is currently in.