Posted by John David Anderson

Author:John David Anderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2017-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

It’s important to keep some things to yourself. If Jamie Juarez could have kept his superfluous nipple a secret, I’m sure he would have. It would have saved him a lot of grief. Same goes for Katherine McKinney’s habit of chewing on her toenails or Daniel P.’s unfortunate long-standing history of bed-wetting that earned him the name P-Diddly. That’s what happens when people find out.

Dungeons & Dragons was like that. Forget that half the kids in school probably went around slaying dragons and stashing loot on their PlayStations or iPads. It’s different when you actually have to roll the dice. It’s all about degrees. Mention you like to play board games and you’re probably okay. Break out the Monster Manual and start talking about the difference between fifth-edition and fourth-edition rule sets, you might as well give up on ever getting a date to the eighth-grade dance.

That’s why I was a little surprised to see Rose at the door.

Deedee pulled Wolf aside and the three of us had a quick huddle by the table.

“This isn’t going to work,” Deedee explained. “You’re all at level seven. If she comes in now she’ll throw everything off balance. She’ll muck it all up.”

It was a good excuse. Much better than saying that Wolf had crossed the line, inviting someone else into our game without permission, someone who probably knew nothing about constitution checks and critical hits. Someone we’d have to teach everything to. Lunch was one thing. This was different.

“I don’t want to ruin your game,” Rose said, eavesdropping. “If it’s a problem, I can just sit and watch.”

Sit and watch? Who in their right mind wants to sit and watch three guys play Dungeons & Dragons?

“It’s not a problem,” Wolf said, breaking the huddle prematurely. “We’ll just bump up your stats a little. You’ll be fine. Right, Deedee?”

Wolf and Deedee stared at each other. It was up to the dungeon master. It was Wolf’s house, but it was Deedee’s game. Wolf got to decide if she stayed. Deedee decided if she played. I was just glad neither of them was looking at me.

“She’ll need to make a character,” Deedee sighed.

Meaning that there were four of us playing, just like always. But not exactly.

We took our seats around Wolf’s scarred kitchen table, Rose between Wolf and me but closer to him, and Deedee patiently explained the absolute least she had to know to get started while I poured myself a cup of the soda. “You’ll need to choose an avatar,” Deedee told her. He had a whole trove of little plastic figures. He picked out the tallest—an orc war chief, hulking and muscular, holding a giant ax. “Maybe this one?” he said.

Rose rifled through the box. “Who is this little guy?” she asked, holding up a short, pudgy-looking figure about half the size of the one Deedee held.

“That’s a gnome,” Deedee said. “They are good at making things.”

“Like origami,” Wolf added.

“I’ll be him, then,” Rose said. “What’s his name?”

“You get to decide,” I told her.

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