8/14/2019 A Game of Scrabble

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-game-of-scrabble 1/3

A Game of Scrabble

(a Maelstrom story)

by Ann M. Pino

Ricky knocked and waited while the door opened of its own accord. At theback of the room, a faint glow illuminated Kalila and Nevin at a table,hunched over something he couldn’t make out while Vic looked on.

“Ebazimt,” Kalila said. She selected the appropriate tiles and placed them onthe board.

Vic wrote something on a piece of paper. “Two thousand and fifty-threepoints.”

“I object,” Nevin said. “Ebazim has two Zs.”

Ricky crossed the room while Kalila peered at the board in concern. “You’reright.” She waved a hand and a second Z appeared.

Vic gave a little nod of approval. “Three thousand and twelve points.”

“What the hell?” Ricky examined the board. It looked an ordinary Scrabble

game, except the words were ones he had never seen before. “Uptuu?”

“That was mine, Nevin said. “Quintuple word score.”

“There’s no such thing.”

“There is when we say there is. Placidly, he laid down his tiles, displacingthree of Kalila’s in the process. “Bsaugxe.”

“You can’t move her tiles,” Ricky said. “That’s against the rules.”

Vic looked up from calculating Nevin’s score. “Rules are for mortals, although

I realize it’s your human lack of imagination that makes you think otherwise.”

“Don’t patronize me,” Ricky said, as Kalila vanished one of Nevin’s tiles,changed the color of the board squares, and spelled the word, “Ghrtt.”

“Is that even a language?” Ricky asked, but she ignored him.

“What’s the score now?”

8/14/2019 A Game of Scrabble

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-game-of-scrabble 2/3

“You’re at two million, six hundred fifty-three thousand, eight hundred andfourteen,” Vic told her. “Nevin is at two million, nine hundred thousand andforty-one.”

“Damn.” She grabbed some new letters and pondered while Nevin giggled

and spelled “Szbeharr.” For good measure, he changed the numbers onKalila’s tiles so that they all read zero.

Ricky opened his mouth to protest, but Kalila slapped him on the hand. “Letus play our way. Everything doesn’t have to work by human rules.”

He looked from her to the others and felt his sense of outrage weaken. Whatdid it matter, really, if they spelled words like “eidhthrgt,” vanished eachothers’ tiles, and added 10,000-point bonus squares to the board? At leastthey weren’t up to any mayhem, and they seemed to be enjoyingthemselves. He glanced at his watch. “Just remember you’ve got a gigtonight and you need to be on time.”

“Of course, Ricky.” Kalila dismissed him with a wave of her hand and bentback over her letters, frowning.

As he left the room, Vic called after him, “Next time, don’t be such avundrandvl!” Ricky kept walking. He didn’t want to know what that meant,and he had a feeling it didn't mean anything at all.

8/14/2019 A Game of Scrabble

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-game-of-scrabble 3/3

All rights reserved.

Copyright ©2009 by Ann M. Pino

No part of this chapter may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

including photocopying, recording, or by any information

storage and retrieval system, without permission in

writing from the author.

For more information about Maelstrom books and stories

go to: www.maelstromrock.com