Opal Reflections
Perspectives through Prose, Poetry and Photography
It’s Only Money…
“Please! Please play with me!”
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to play. She desperately needed respite from ledgers, red figures and PowerPoint trend charts. Tomorrow morning, she was slated to present the annual financial wrap-up in the windowless Board room on the 24th floor of headquarters, and via video conference to the global executive leadership team.
A good soldier, she would of course stand in front of the (arguably) impressive group, present the data and explain causative factors, projected possible mitigation and overall assessments and recommendations. Though she wasn’t responsible for the grim news, she didn’t relish being the ‘messenger’.
Hadn’t she warned them that they shouldn’t put so many eggs in a single basket, and more importantly, shouldn’t count those eggs until fully hatched? She supposed it would be unseemly to preface her report with an “I told you so” disclaimer. Her head began to throb, as she closed her laptop; realizing that inevitably, her visions of upward mobility would soon be shattered.
“Enough!” A voice screamed at her from inside her brain! “Enough!”
“Please! Grandma – Play a game with me.” Her sweet-faced grandson peered up at her.
“Okay, let’s go!”
They trudged to the bookcase abutting the descending basement staircase, where the goodies were stashed; jigsaw puzzles, coloring books, Clue, Lincoln Logs, Chutes and Ladders, Scrabble, Monopoly…
“That’s it, Grandma….Monopoly!”
She can’t explain what happened next. Nor could this charming 10-year old explain the scene when Mom returned to pick him up. Grandma had been apportioning the monopoly money, neatly separating it into perfect piles: $5, $10, $20, $50, etc. Suddenly, she was overtaken by an irresistible urge. Beginning slowly, but rapidly picking up pace, she nudged the startled boy to join her in a demonic attack of the stacks. Together, they tossed the money into the air, laughing uncontrollably, as they caused a myriad of rainbow colored bills to rain down upon them.
Now she felt much better!
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Written in response to Trifecta Week 71 Challenge:
“… inspired by the recent arrival of the Hong Kong monsoons and the start of April in general. The Challenge is to use the third definition of the word “rain” .
rain (transitive verb)
1: to pour down
2: to give or administer abundantly <rained blows on his head>
18 Comments on “It’s Only Money…”
Leave a reply to BCIJo (aka Joanne Edith) Cancel reply
Lighthouse in the Mist, Cape May, NJ
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Festive View from the Pub, Peddler’s Village – Lahaska, PA.
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Opal Reflections 
Hmmm, commenting troubles, but I loved this granny. The only logical thing to do with a Monopoly game, in my opinion. Nice piece.
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I agree…and much more fun than either boardrooms or board games 💸
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I love the image of the colored money falling over the gleeful couple.
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Thank you. The shower accompanied by a giggle fest, is a total stress buster!
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Not sure if my first comment went through…So I’ll say again this is a great piece!
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Wait, which one is the littler kid in this story…? (: Being the bearer of bad news is definitely bad, but I’m sure the cute grandson makes up for it!
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Most definitely. And with the corporate world in my rear view mirror now, I can play whenever the grandsons want to!
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Wonderful take on the word… I love it… unique.. monopoly money. That’s what “paper wealth” is all about, isn’t it? The vagaries of the stock market and windowless boardrooms. I love your thought process.
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Exactly! Paper wealth driven by vagaries of the market. Thank you!
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This is so cute-loved the contrast of intense stress of a career woman’s life & the child-like glee of a carefree grandma,playing & enjoying life with her grandson:-)Great use of the prompt with a subtle lesson hidden in it!
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Thank you..so glad to be out of the corporate world and fully into being a grandma!
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:-)Best of both worlds xoxo
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This sounds like a great stress reliever. Perhaps, she should have done this in the board room. Great two part story.
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Great idea….at least it might have broken the ice. Thank goodness I amour of the corporate world and can look back fondly at those many stressful moments.
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Sounds like a fun game of monopoly! Though, I think I prefer the neat, color-coded stacks.
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Neat stacks are nice, unless you are tearing your hair out with a business presentation. Seems like a good stress reliever…tossing the money in the air. After all…what’s more important, a great cost report or a shower of rainbow paper money? Of corse I resorted the money ino nice neat piles, after the “shower”.
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*Love*
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Thanks. Much more colorful than the authentic green stuff! 😊
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