Point of View: Only Connect
My brother-in-law, presider over an annual Kentucky Derby party, couldn’t pronounce the horse’s name, and so, of course, I went for it — Mubtaahij. You can’t get more exotic than that, and, besides, the Post’s handicapper had thought he’d win. I bet $100 on Mubtaahij, and then $120 in reply to a counter bid, before my wife could jab me in the ribs.
Frankly, I was quite sure Mubtaahij would win, even though it had been said horses shipped in to the Derby from afar never did. I was wrong, of course, and not for the first time. Mubtaahij finished eighth in the field of 21, not bad, his jockey said. He’ll skip the Preakness for the Belmont Stakes — a mile and a half vis-a-vis the Derby’s mile and a quarter. Maybe things will go better in Elmont.
Not long after the Derby letdown, I found myself feeling singularly confident again, rolling the dice in a backgammon game with Mary. I just liked the way they were coming out of my hand. I was so confident, in fact, that, oblivious to the fact that she’d bumped me late in the first game, I doubled.
Even though I had to play catch-up, I won going away, continuing to blithely roll doubles as I went. I won the second game too, though she won the third, and raked in $3.25 (from my coin jar) for having done so, a serendipitous conclusion inasmuch as while I’d won two of three, she had won more money. So we each retained our self-esteem, which, in each of our cases, can be shaky at times.
Speaking for myself, it’s not so bad to let off some esteem now and then, for it helps you connect more, and connecting is really all there is.
Of course I especially like to connect — yea, cling — to her. Usually at the Derby party we end up horsing around out on the driveway’s basketball court. Full-contact basketball with a low net is our game, and, I must admit, it is wildly fun until something falls amiss, or until a miss falls.
We agreed with a friend as we left to bandage Mary up that we probably should rein it in a bit, that we should hereafter limit our bumping to backgammon. It’s a good thing we have a gravel driveway.