The Game of Cans

It’s been raining out so Walter and I invented a game so all the apartmentites can do something in lieu of going out because of the rains. Yes, we know that even if it does not rain we are still not allowed to go out but we’d like to think that we have the option to go out and play like everyone else.

The game is called Cans. Mainly because the players are mostly cans- Corned Beef, SPAM, Pork and Beans, Tuna, Milk, Chicken Hotdogs, Vienna Sausage, Potted Meat, and Cat Food. Walter has some misgivings with having some cat food on his teams but I assured him that they would be impartial. Just like I was assured that all the other cans, who are in his care in the pantry, would also play fair.

Walter and I formed two teams with the cans. We have five cans playing at a time with the other cans on standby. The playing space is five spaces wide and five steps from each other. Five can are in a line on each side. Then Walter’s team turn away while I hide one of Ursula’s coins under one can then we can form any formation two cans thick and three cans wide. Then our team faces the back while Walter team does the same. The object of the game is to guess where the other team hid the treasure.

The captains of each team- namely Walter and I- may command a member of their team or command a can from the other team to move one space at a time. In the beginning, one prioritizes to move cans of the other team so they break their formation and maybe during the movement reveal who is hiding the coin. It is also essential to move them away from each other so that they cannot pass on the coin to another can.

At any time during game play, you may interrogate a can to find out if he or she has the coin. Interrogation is considered a move.

During game time, the cans are allowed to move the coin from one can to another. But, they have to do it discretely.  SPAM cans are very good at covering line of sight. They are also good hiders. SPAM cans work very well with low lying Tuna Cans.

Moving the coin is risky but sometimes it is the only way to protect your treasure. The Corned Beef guys are very good at this. They have very good poker faces and can pass a coin like nothing happened. They are very serious at Cans. They hate losing.

If one is definitely sure which can is hiding the treasure you can challenge a can. The can steps forward to your side of the playing field then reveals if he or she has the can. If you are successful in making you challenge. You win the game! If not, the challenged can stacks another can from your standby team. Once this stack reaches back home base, they may unstacked and then you have 6 cans playing on your team during gametime.

Stacking is also allowed anytime during gameplay. But, there is a danger that the stack be brought to the other team’s side so that can becomes their player. A stack may be challenged at anytime so stacks of 5-6 may happen.

Pork and Beans are very boisterous players. They like it when the stacks get to an unreasonable height. They like to tease the cans till they topple over. Which looks dangerouns and some cans may get dented. But it's all in good fun.

The smaller cans- Potted Meat and Vienna Sausage- are giddy they can't stand in one spot too long but they are very good bluffers. We have a particularly excellent Vienna Sausage Can who can act as if he has the the coin or the the coin has just been passed onto him but is trying his best not to show it. Such a classic. We have to watch out for him.

One time Walter and I kept on challenging so that the other team could not gain possession of the stack. We ended up with two stacks 10 cans high. That's when Walter and I realized that we have to figure this game out further. 

The Hot Chicks, Tini and Gras

The master caught me behind the curtains. I was talking with Tini and Gras. The two chicks who live just outside our window.  They sit outside the window raising the eye candy factor of the apartment’s window. The Master put birdhouse in between them hoping that birds would come near our apartment for us to stare at, but it does not seem to be working. The outside plants are much more effecting in doing that.

 Tini and Gras are very talkative. You’d think the birdhouse would stop them from chatting and getting to know each other more intimately but you’d be wrong. It is what strengthened their friendship I guess. Maybe it’s their chatter that scares the birds away. It’s okay though. They are cool chicks.

Some people think they are sisters, twins even. Both of them will object to this pointing out their differences that no one else can see but them. Only the bestest of friends can do this. Which is what they are. Really, really, really, good friends. So much the same and alike at the same time that only they can tell the difference.

Tini is the more talkative of the two, and Gras is the listener. Even after the three of us have just spoken. Tini will repeat the story and Gras will listen as if she heard it for the very first time. She is very respectful that way. She likes hearing things from different perspectives.

At night Tini tells Gras bedtime stories to help her sleep. Even if a birdhouse divides them them Tini’s beautiful stories lulls Gras to sleep taking her far far away in a world where they both of them live in their very own chicken coop and tell stories side by side, maybe even sharing a warm cup of tea together.

Water Talk

Having a rest after Water Lessons. Me on top of the cabinet.
Walter on top of the water container. The fishies in the water tank. 

Walter is standing by the fish tank making faces at the fishies. If it had a sound it would sound like this...

“Wawawawawa.Popopo. Wa ew pop”

I told him that the master forbids teasing the fishies.

He told me he was not teasing the fish. He’s talking to them. I did not know he could talk fish. It was such a pleasant surprise. I always wanted to play with the fishies. Not I am much closer to doing that if only Walter could teach me how to communicate with them.

This is so exciting. Walter can teach me fish.

Walter told me that he talked water not fish. That explained a lot, he is a watermelon after all. I later found out all water creatures be it from fresh or salt water, living in, or made of talk water. Since Walter is partially made of water it is a language that was passed onto him along with speaking melon.

Talking water is strange but it makes no sound. It is a visual language based on the movement and shape of the lips and mouth. It’s very smart actually. Convenient for fishies to communicate without being heard by predators since sound is carried longer and at least 5 times faster in water. Water also magnifies up to 33 percent so you can talk to someone from afar without really being heard. Water creatures are so intelligent.

“Baba” is Hello. “Popop” is “How do you do?”

I am having a hard time speaking Water. My teeth are getting in the way. It reminds the fishies so much of the sharp teeth of Baracudas and Sharks that they get scared. I’m lucky that I have Walter to explain things to them.