My Scrabble Friend

I have a friend about whom I know nearly nothing. That is the state of affairs in this modern world. I don't even know whether to refer to this person as he or she, but I've been picturing a woman at her iPhone so I'm going with it. That's my first assumption.

I've been playing Scrabble Free with my anonymous guest for the last two months. We're in our third game and except for a few scant clues, I'm clueless about her.

I know she gets up at 7:00 am on Sundays. She has more time to play on the weekend and I thought I lost her a couple of weeks ago because she didn't play for more than fourteen days. I picture her as a working woman who had a big project to finish. That was my second assumption.

I also imagine her as my age or older and a little bookish. Who plays Scrabble that isn't? Still, that's my third and fourth guess about my friend.
I must not be far off though, because she comes up with words like noble, fungi, and coot.

She's tenacious because she's lost every game so far and is still playing. That makes her a better woman than I am too.

Plus, she has a thick enough skin to have tolerated when I used the words urine and poop successively. Oh, I might have quit over those words, assuming that was a little creepy. I only used them because I got triple word scores on both of them.

There's a little chat bubble at the top in the game, but it only works with people who aren't anonymous. Bummer! Wouldn't it be cool, like having a Scrabble/penpal? She could tell me what state she lives in and I could tell her I like quilting. I'll bet we both have white dogs. I'd like her to be from Maine. I like Maine and we'd be from opposite sides. There I am again, with presumptions five and six.

Shoot, I could put her in a novel, the bookish older woman who plays Scrabble with the librarian because her husband doesn't want to play. He's more of a poker man. Guesses! It can go on and on.

I have to tell you that I play this kind of game all the time, guessing things about people. Most of the time, it's too easy. Airports are great for this guessing game. You have lovers parting, adult children reluctantly returning home. You have evidence of divorce with kids flying alone. You even have trysts. Oh, tell me it isn't fun to see the couple who is determined to become members of the mile-high club. Even you can spot them!

I even imagine stories for the car I hear passing my house at 3:00 am. I picture people inside, in despair, in ecstasy, or even struggling to stay awake.

My Scrabble friend offers me so few real clues about her life. Even the words she chooses are sometimes predestined. I'm always a little sad when the teacher on the game offers the same word I've picked even though that means I actually thought of the word that gives me the highest score. Couldn't I be more original?

I'm going to keep playing with my anonymous friend. We get along so well and so far, she has no flaws, except that she gets up and plays Scrabble on Sunday at 7:00 in the morning.

Thank you for listening, jb