The game

Leonard was out of his wheelchair. But Leonora was still lingering on the sofa. In fact Leonard wished he had never asked her to move out of the bedroom.

The woman had turned into a permanent invalid who wasn't even ill. She was like Margaret out of Mary Wesley's A Dubious Legacy. Not that Leonard read Mary Wesley, but if he had done, no doubt that is what he would have thought.

Every day she graciously got up mid-morning, and with the help of the little crutches, who were having a very lazy life thanks to Leonora, she would install herself on the sofa and summon Leonard to bring her book and her cover.

If Leonard had thought being a waiter providing room service was a bad idea, being Leonora's nursemaid was even worse.

Most mornings she would sigh and make a pointed comment about it not being a fresh coffee household. Then she would reluctantly accept Leonard's offer to make her a cup of tea. The only way Leonard could bring himself to do this was because he usually wanted another one.

Of course Leonora did not like Leonard's tea so Mrs Leonard had thoughtfully bought a box of camomile tea which Leonora had one day said she liked. She also liked darjeeling and assam, but couldn't imagine Leonard faffing around with tea leaves and getting it exactly how she liked it. A camomile tea bag was far easier.

"Don't forgot to use camomile tea for me please," she repeated every morning to Leonard's increasing irritation. One morning he was going to lose it and snap at her, but so far he had resisted the temptation.

After the camomile tea, which Leonora did not usually drink at home so was enjoying the change, she would then request some fruit. If there was fruit salad, she would have a bowl of that, otherwise she was happy with a couple of kiwi fruit or a grapefruit. Sometimes she had a glass of orange juice too, but she didn't want to overdo it on the Vitamin C.

The first time she had asked Leonard for kiwi fruit, he had carefully peeled them and sliced them up for her.

"Oh Leonard, you didn't have to do that. I would have done it. All I would need is a knife and a spoon, and two bowls, oh, and some kitchen paper too," she said in her helpful pained voice.

"It's easier and less messy to do it myself," he said. So he became Leonora's unwilling fruit preparer from then on.

Tata sat next to her waiting for her share of the fruit, and was invariably disappointed to only receive a couple of pieces. She considered she was totally irresistible with her big eyes and couldn't understand why Leonora got it all down her neck without so much as a guilty look.

Leonora quite fancied fiddling with Leonard's laptop in the mornings but decided that wasn't an entirely sensible request so she quietly opened her book when she had finished breakfasting.

Occasionally Leonora would say something of a chatty nature to Leonard, to prove she was sticking to her part of the bargain. She usually managed to choose a time to start the conversation when he was in the midst of writing something or uploading photos.

"What was that Leonora?" he would answer. "Can you just wait until I have finished this?"

But he had lost his concentration by then and invariably forgot what he was going to write or which picture went where.

"Sorry Leonard, I didn't meant to interrupt you. I just didn't want you to think I was being rude and ignoring you," she would say apologetically.

One day she said brightly - interrupting Leonard's meanderings around the geocaching site - "Shall we play a game?"

"What? I spy?" he said wondering what on earth she was talking about. "Or hide and seek?"

"Ha ha. No. I meant a board game like draughts, or cards if you want," she answered.

He turned to look at her thoughtfully. "I don't know what we've got still. There might be something left over from when we played with the kids. I'll go and have a look and see if there is anything. Otherwise there may be something in the loft but we will have to ask Mrs Leonard to get that for us."

Off he went to have a look, and Leonora lay there tantalising herself with what games he might bring back. She liked draughts. Chess was a bit heavy and too thoughtful, plus she could never remember how to play and she was rubbish on the strategy.

Monopoly wasn't much fun for two. Scrabble was ok. What else might Leonard be able to find?

Dominoes would be all right too. Leonora was good at dominoes. She liked cards as well, poker, whist, rummy. She particularly liked snap. It would be ace fun to play snap and shout SNAP! in Leonard's face all the time.

Leonard returned clutching a box. Leonora's face fell. It wasn't any of the ones she had been hoping for.

Risk. Military strategy to achieve world domination.

"Leonard. I do not wish to play a game based on fighting."

"Sorry Leonora. That's all I could find. It's Risk or nothing," he said.

"Did you look for anything else?"

"Do you want to play?" he said ignoring the question.

"I don't know how."

"I'll teach you. I'm sure you will learn fast enough," he said nicely. "Shall we play?"

And Leonard started sharing out the pieces, happily dreaming of a pleasant morning trouncing Leonora and her armies as he dominated the world.



Pic courtesy of Wiki