THE SANDMAN - PART 8

THIS IS PART 8 OF 9. Be sure to read the previous parts:

PART 7
PART 6
PART 5
PART 4
PART 3
PART 2
PART 1

At 7:00 PM on Friday night, the doorbell to Remington’s place rang. Remington opened the door to find Rex and Chelsea. “Hey you two! Come on in! Good to see you,” said Remington. Chelsea walked in and Rex followed. Jamie was already there, in the kitchen. She had one hand grasping the other arm, just like she always did when she was nervous. She and Rex made eye contact. Her smile was very forced. She seemed to be saying “Get me out of here!” or “I’m going to kill you for this!” Rex just sort of smiled like he found humor in her suffering.

“Well, how’s it going?” said Remington after no one said anything for a bit.

“It’s going good,” said Chelsea. She seemed to be having as much fun as Jamie was. On the way here she had started to seem bored already. Rex had wanted to tell her that she should feel lucky because she wasn’t going out with a murderer tonight. But he decided against it.             

“Well, you two go ahead and have a seat in the living room,” said Remington. He extended an arm toward the living room. “Jamie and I were just finishing up talking about where we’re from.” Rex followed Chelsea into the living room and raised his eyebrows toward Jamie as if to say “Good luck.”

Chelsea sat down on the far end of the couch. Rex sat safely in the middle. Not too close, not too far. “So...you like BYUSA?” asked Rex, trying to start a conversation.

“Yep,” said Chelsea.

Rex waited for a moment to see if she’d continue that strain of thought. Nothing. So he just nodded. “Awesome…So where are you from originally?”

“Blackfoot, Idaho,” she said.

“Wow. Now, I’m not familiar with that area. Is that a smaller town?” asked Rex.

“Well, I guess you could call it that.”

Rex waited for her to either expound on the idea of growing up in an I-guess-you-can-call-it-a-small-town or (hopefully) ask him where he was from. Nothing. Rex just touched the ends of his fingers on one hand to the tips on the other. Repeatedly.

“I’m from Murray, Utah,” he said awkwardly, not waiting for her to ask.

“Hmm,” said Chelsea, succinctly. It was becoming evident why she was so available this and other Friday nights.

“Yep...my whole life, born and raised,” said Rex. “Except, of course, when I served my mission, because then, obviously, I was gone for two years.”

Rex purposely left out the fact that he had served in South Africa, hoping she’d ask him where he served and get a conversation going.

Nothing.

“So, do you...” Rex tried to think of something to ask her about. “...like...the Church?” He winced at the lameness of his own question. He turned the other way and mouthed the same question to himself in his own disbelief that he just said that.

“Yeah,” said Chelsea.

Luckily the laughing from Remington and Jamie got louder as they both walked into the living room. “Oh Jamie,” sighed Remington. “You are too funny!” Rex looked up and saw Jamie actually looking like she was having a little fun. They came in and sat down on the other couch. Remington put a box on the coffee table in front of them.

“Well, I was thinking of playing some Catch Phrase. Whaddya you two say?” said Remington. He opened the box and took out the sand timer and the clicker that revealed the words to be guessed each round.

“Sure,” the other three said, not in unison.

“Great. Me and Jamie versus Rex and Chelsea,” said Remington. “We’ll start. Rex, will you turn over the timer? Thanks.”

Rex turned the one minute sand-timer over. “Go!”

Remington hit the side of the Catch Phrase word generator to get his word. “Okay Jamie, this is what your blood flows through.”

“Heart.”

“No. Okay, okay. If I were to do something pointless I would be doing it in...”

“Oh! Vein!”

“Right!” Remington hit the side of the word generator again. This went on for a few more words until Rex shouted “Time!” just as the last grain of sand fell into the bottom of the sand timer.

“Alright, Jamie. Ten points! Not bad. Alright Rex and Chelsea. Your turn,” said Remington.

Rex took the generator from Remington. Remington turned the time over. “Go!”

“Okay, let’s see.” Rex was much more relaxed and calm. He’d grown up playing this game with his family. The word he had to get Chelsea to guess was “northwest.” “Alright Chelsea, Cary Grant starred in a famous movie called...”

“An Affair to Remember! Charade! To Catch a Thief!” interrupted Chelsea.

“No. It’s the one with the plane that chases Cary Grant ….”

“Oh! Of course. The Bishop’s Wife!”

“Okay. No. It’s the cardinal direction halfway between the one that points up and the one that begins with a W.”

“South.”

Rex closed his eyes out of frustration.

“Let’s try this again. What’s the direction that points up on a map?”

“Well, it depends on if the map is a traditional map with the northern hemisphere on top and the southern hemisphere on bottom or not,” said Chelsea as if Rex should know better than to ask such a stupid question.

“Okay, let’s pretend the southern hemisphere is on the bottom for now.”

“Then north points up.”

“Okay, good. Now what’s the direction that begins with W?”

“West.”

“Now stick them together.”

“Northwest!” Chelsea was really excited at getting this one correct.

Rex was only able to get Chelsea to guess two others before the timer ran out. “Good job you guys,” said Remington. He took the pad of paper and pencil and wrote down the score. “It’s now 3 to 10. Alright, when you’re ready, Rex, turn the timer over.”

Rex reached his hand forward, grabbed the timer, and started to turn it over. He started to slow down as something occurred to him. He lifted the time in his hand and took a closer look at it. He turned it one way, then the other way, watching the sand go back and forth between the two chambers.

“Rex, start the timer,” said Remington.

Rex still examined the miniature hour-glass as he didn’t hear Remington.

“Rex, what is it?” asked Jamie.

A big grin spread across Rex’s face. “I know how you did it.”

To be CONCLUDED...