Game Night At The Pomeroy

Location: The Pomeroy

Date: Wednesday, February 27, 2013; 6:00 pm-7:30 pm

I was caught up in a meeting at work and this venue was far uptown.  Plus the weather outside was quite lousy, a carry-forward from yesterday, which had forced the cancellation of the ‘Read-With-Me’ evening at the AIC.  In this setting, I rushed to find a cab and managed to arrive at The Pomeroy just in time.  The first thing that struck me was the elegance of the place.  The lobby was plush and the doorman even made a visitor’s pass for me.  This was a first in my Chicago Cares career. 

Our spread for the evening

The Pomeroy is a senior living facility and I was directed to the activities room where I saw a woman separating cards, while two men were playing them.  She was our Volunteer leader Rosie, and the two gentlemen were her brothers.  She said that this was going to be a game night like any other amongst friends. The residents would come down and select a game to play, either as a group or in pairs; and we would be playing with them, as well as serving some popcorn and other snacks.

 

The first task she gave me was to separate three cards decks which were mixed together.  This is not as difficult as it sounds and once you follow a process of separating in suits and arranging in order, it becomes very easy.  Next she asked if we could pick the games and spread them amongst the various tables.  Some of the games on offer were ‘Cluedo’, ‘Yatzee’, ‘Domino’s’ and ‘Uno’, besides playing cards.  Once we did that, Rosie encouraged us to pick a game and start playing. 

Cluedo: Ended before it began

I asked one of her brothers, Emmett, if he wanted to play the murder mystery game, ‘Cluedo’, and he was willing, though none of us knew how to play.  We tried to lay out the game pieces, which included a board with different rooms, the murder weapons, and characters.  However, the problem was that this required more than two people and upon realizing it, we decided to move on to something else.  I wish I had learned how to play ‘Cluedo’, since I remember watching the TV show as a kid.  It used to play on Sunday afternoons and I would look forward to it, since I considered myself an amateur detective.  In fact back the school days, me and a few buddies would plan elaborate detective games where we would plant clues, make up stories and spend the lunch hour combing the school playground trying to solve the mystery.  Does that make us nerds?  Perhaps yes, but I would give anything to experience  that thrill again; of unraveling a mystery with my mates.

By this time the residents had arrived and started taking their places at various tables to play the game of their choice.  Emmett and I asked a group of ladies who were about to start a game of ‘Uno’ if we could join them.  I sat next to a woman named Marjori and on my other side was Mindy, who did not speak a word of English.  Rounding off the group was Bianca.  Marjori was the most mischievous and free-spirited woman that I have encountered through Chicago Cares.  I told her that it had been quite some time since I had played the game and she explained the rules to me.  We started playing and little was I to know that Marjori was going to tease me throughout the evening. 

Uno!

Every time she wanted to play a ‘penalty card’ on me, Marjori would start singing the national anthem with great relish.  I did not even have to look up. Hearing her say “Oh, say can you see", was an indication of impending doom.  In the days gone by, I would probably have been mad at this constant teasing, but I was actually laughing hard and having a friendly banter with her.  When the direction of play switched, I would do the same to her, minus the singing.  But she never stopped her singing and I had plenty of opportunity to hear it throughout the evening.  Never has the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ caused so much trouble! 

While Marjori was doing her best impression of a pesky buddy, Mindi and Bianca were having their own ‘game-within-a-game’.  Bianca takes her gaming seriously and pointed out that Mindi had forgotten to call “Uno” with one card left.  She mentioned that, but Mindi just nodded.  The next time it happened, Bianca did not let it slide and forced a 2 card penalty on Mindi. This happened couple of times and fortunately never got ugly.  Marjori did not bother with it since she was having enough fun at my expense.  I asked her why the national anthem and she said she was still working on ‘Les Marseilles”!  Well, what can I say!

A kid came in with his mom and it was his 5^th birthday.  He was handing out cupcakes to the residents and all of us joined in singing “Happy Birthday” to him.  Coupled with the popcorn, this was a real game night environment.  During the game, Bianca gave me $20 and asked if I could deliver it to another resident.  As I was doing that, Rosie and Amy – a Chicago Cares staff member whom I had met during MLK project – joked if we were playing for money.  It was that kind of evening.

At the end of it all, everyone had won except me, mostly thanks to Marjori.  When Rosie bought a sign-up sheet for the residents, Marjori signed as ‘John Hancock’.  I said that is not appropriate since ‘Star Spangled Banner’ was after his time.  She asked if I would come back and I said I had to, in order to get back at her for all the games she had cost me.  I walked back to the train station with Amy and I told her how much I had enjoyed this evening, as well as some of the other projects.  Then we talked about Wilson, well because everyone knows Wilson.  As I came home, the opening words of the national anthem were stuck in my head. I knew that from now onward every time I hear it, I will think of Marjori - waving a card and looking at me mischievously. 


*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy