"Hi Eric" said Eric's Mum as soon as he opened the door. He found himself enveloped in her arms and hugged to her ample chest. "Happy birthday for yesterday"
"We thought to suprise you" said his Dad who shook Eric's hand.
"Hi Mum and Dad. The girls said you were here. If only I had known you were coming....."
"Don't worry son. We should have warned you. I hope you enjoyed your night out"
'Um. Yeah it was a good night" In reflection it was.
"They are a mighty good looking bunch of girls you hang out with. I'm proud of you son. Any of them a special friend?"
"Um not yet... But I'm working on it"
"Oh Ted, don't embarrass the boy. Come in Eric. I was just making a pot of tea" Maureen was always the host even though they were in Eric's house
"I might just change" Suggested Eric, eager to get out of Nicky's panties
"Don't be silly. We are family here. Have a cuppa first while the pot is hot and tell us what you have been up to"
"Um... Ok" Eric knew his Mum would be persistant. He followed his parents into the kitchen where he saw a pot of tea (which was only ever used when his parents visited) sitting on the bench.
"Take a seat while I grap an extra cup" suggested Maureen
"Oh No! Why is that game out?" said Eric as he saw the Game of Life laid out on his dining table.
"Oh we were just amusing ourselves while we were waiting for you to appear. The game was sitting right here. I assume the girls must have been playing it last night" said Eric's dad. Ted was puzzled as to why Eric was so alarmed
"Err.... Have you started?" Eric didn't actually need to ask. He could see two tokens on green squares near but not on the starting point.
"Only just. One turn each. I'm sure it's not too late for you to join in"
"No! This is a silly game. We should play something different" Eric sounded very curt
"I actually like it" said Maureen. "It asked Ted to say two things he likes about me. A woman can never get too many compliments"
Eric quickly picked the dice to prevent Maureen doing so "I have much better games than this"
"Suit yourself Eric" said Ted, puzzled by his son's behavior "But for your information I was enjoying the game as well. I didn't know that Maureen so admired the natural colour of my hair - before I went grey"
"Look it's not a good game. Believe me when I say you don't want to play it"
"Ah! I get it! It's an adult game and Eric doesn't want his parents to see the type of game he plays with his friends" he smiled at Maureen confident that he had found the reason for Eric's strange behavior "Don't worry Eric, we've been there and done that. I don't think anyone could ever call either of us prudes"
"Your definately not prudes. I didn't mean that. It's just that this game is strange. Weird things can happen. I don't want you to play it. How about a game of Scrabble?"
Maureen didn't like people being upset and clearly for some reason Eric was distressed "Fair enough. Let's have this cuppa first" said Maureen pouring out the tea.
Eric was relieved. He went to put the dice, still in his hand, into the game box. He dropped them in only to see tham apparently bounce out, spin around and reveal a 3 and a 4. Eric watched in horror as a token which had also bounced out of the box moved along to the 7th square, a green square. A card flipped over. Eric groaned.
"How does it do that?" asked an incredulous Ted "These new games are so hi tech"
"Well read your card son" said Maureen "Clearly this game wants you to play"
Reluctantly Eric read out the card. "This game once started cannot be departed. Your playmates get to choose something of yours that they enthuse"
"Well that's pretty cryptic" said Maureen
"Pretty clear to me that the game doesn't want to be packed up" said Ted. "Look here. The instructions have a warning about quitting the game before it's finished. It warns of 'Unintended consequences and random changes'" Eric noticed his father pointing at the games instructions.
"I meant the second bit about playmates. What does that mean?" Maureen looked at Eric
Eric knew he was no longer going to be able to get out of playing the game. "Umm 'Something of yours that they enthuse'. I guess you and Dad are my playmates and you have to choose a feature of mine that you find enthusiastic?"
"Well that's easy. I'd love to be 21 again. Wouldn't you Reen?"
"Certainly"
"So does this mean we keep playing?" asked Ted