The children are finally nestled all snug in their beds, and as the adults in the house you make yourselves congratulatory cups of hot cocoa with a shot (or two) of the Kahlua you discovered earlier in the topmost kitchen cabinet when putting away the gravy boat from the previous day's meal. You have an idea: "Let's play strip Trivial Pursuit!" you say in reference to your favorite board game, a new version of which was sitting under your stocking on Christmas morning (not because you don't already own several editions of that game but because Santa had seen it on sale for $5 earlier in the month). Though your husband looks at you strangely, he agrees because - after all - in the end you'll still be stripped down to nothing, which is always his goal.
And what you'd thought would be a fast game - given that it's 10:30 at night, you were only wearing pajamas to begin with, and you've both just consumed more alcohol in ten minutes than you generally do in an entire month's time - ends up lasting far after you've both lost all your clothes. Your now-birthday-suited husband*, who was oh-so-skeptical about this game to begin with, is sitting on the bed, reading question after question from your favorite Science and Nature category, until he gets to this one, the hardest question on this particular card from this version of the game:
"What method was first used to send a message across the U.S.A. in March 1955?"**
Your answer: "The pony express?"***
And thus endeth that game.
~~~~~
*I apologize now to all of you who will no longer be able to see Tony and not have this mental picture in your heads. And to Tony, as well, for putting it there. **I'm sure my mother is happy to know that I've just aged her by about 100 years.
***The answer was actually Fax (Facsimile), in case you were wondering.
