Posted
August 8, 2003:
Maggie's
Monopoly
by
Paul R. May
We’d
been sitting at the
table for almost two
hours.
I had done a
fairly good job of
tweaking the game to
allow my daughters
to end up with the
better properties.
When it came
time to barter, I
traded in their
favor, selling them
monopoly-completing
properties at face
value.
I had the
opportunity to build
houses early on in
the game, but I held
back.
I wanted them
to take over the
board and have a
good time putting
Dad in the poor
house.
As
the afternoon drew
on, my older
daughter got bored
with the game and
asked if we could
call it quits.
I agreed, but
Maggie, my
seven-year-old, gave
me a pleading look
and begged me to
continue.
I didn’t
want to cut off her
fun, so I agreed to
keep the game going
with just the two of
us.
My older
daughter split her
cash and properties
between Maggie and
me and skipped off
to play on her own.
I had no idea
I was signing on for
another two hours.
The
board had a
scattering of little
green houses and
half a dozen hotels.
I had formed
only one healthy
monopoly, figuring
it would keep me in
the game for a while
but let my girls
split up the rest of
the board.
Maggie had
three monopolies,
but had built houses
only on Baltic and
Mediterranean
– properties that
offered chump change
for rent earnings.
A
big part of me wanted to
get the game over with,
but I really wanted
Maggie to experience
that Monopoly thrill of
sweeping the table.
Despite my
efforts to make the game
go better for Maggie, my
little car just zoomed
right past her
properties.
And her game
piece kept landing on my
hotels!
Maggie’s
pretty sharp, so I
couldn’t get away
with fibbing about
the rent prices on
my three properties.
She got
nailed on
Marvin
Gardens
yet a second time.
Her cash pile
was down to pretty
much nothing but
twenties and smaller
bills, and there was
no way she was going
to be able to come
up with the twelve
hundred bucks.
I saw that
she had a pretty
large stack of
fives.
“How about you
just give me that
stack of fives and
we’ll call it
even,” I said.
She gave me a
sideways glance and
then counted her
fives.
She had about
twelve.
Putting on a
good haggling face,
she said, “How ‘bout
I give you eight of
them, cuz if I give
them all to you I
won’t have any
left.”
I agreed
enthusiastically,
but then she gave me
a suspicious look.
I had to back
off on any
conspicuous attempts
to make the game go
in her favor.
Finally,
I landed on
Mediterranean
, where Maggie’s
two houses called
for a meager thirty
dollars in rent.
I handed her
a five hundred
dollar bill and told
her to keep the
change.
I worried she
wouldn’t accept
the handout, but she
smiled and thanked
me.
I called a
time-out so we could
work together to use
her money to build
more houses on her
properties.
A
few rounds later, I told
Maggie that, because I
was her father, I had
the right to build some
hotels for her.
She giggled and
thanked me for the gift.
I picked her most
expensive monopoly and
shelled out the fifteen
hundred dollars.
But my little car
continued to glide past
her properties.
Then she landed
on one of my hotels
again!
After
about an hour, the
tide finally started
to turn in Maggie’s
favor.
I landed on
one of her hotels
for a big payout.
I helped her
buy hotels for her
last monopoly,
chipping in about
half of the money.
She was
loaded for bear.
A whole
corner of the board
was set up with her
properties.
I told her we
should call it “
Maggie Street
,” and Maggie told
me I’d better look
out.
But
my little car never
landed on any of the
hotels on
Maggie Street
.
To make
matters worse,
Maggie’s piece
landed on one of my
hotels almost every
turn!
At last, my
car stopped right on
one of Maggie’s
big properties.
I was
gloriously short of
cash and reached out
to start selling
some of my
properties back to
the bank.
Finally, I
was making progress.
Maggie would
end up the big
winner and I could
clean up the game
and go check my
e-mail.
But
Maggie looked up at
me with her big
brown eyes and held
out a hand with a
crumpled five
hundred dollar bill.
“Here,”
she said.
“You’re
going to need this.”
How could I
turn her down?
The
game went on.
I slipped once
again past her expensive
properties, and she got
nailed with the
Community Chest card
that makes you pay money
for all of your houses
and hotels.
Eventually, I
landed on a couple of
her hotels and had to
start selling off some
of my properties.
At one point,
Maggie told me I could
just give her fifty
dollars for an eleven
hundred dollar hotel
visit.
I
watched Maggie’s
hopeful face as she
shook the dice.
She didn’t
get it.
She didn’t
understand that the
point of the game
was to get all of
the properties, to
take everyone’s
money, to clean
everyone out.
It’s
impossible to win if
you show any
compassion for the
other players.
It
may take hours and
hours, but I think I
prefer Maggie’s
version of Monopoly.
We took care
of each other, and
both of us stayed in
the game for a long
time.
Finally,
I sold my last property
back to the bank, and
Maggie had a huge pile
of cash and property
cards in front of her.
She
looked up at me and
said, “I won, you
know.”
Yup.
She sure did.
Paul
May is a writer living
in Fish Hawk Ranch with
his wife and two
daughters. He is the
author of several
parenting articles, and
he is actively seeking
agency representation
for two children's
novels. For more
information about his
writing, contact him at paulmay@tampabay.rr.com.