Candy land

Crestone, CO. April 21, 2016.

The other day my son, 3 years old, pulled out the Candy Land game from its home on a shelf. Thinking he might be ready to play the game “for real”, I prepared myself to teach him the basics. I organized the cards in a neat pile and we chose our guys. He was green guy, I was red guy, and blue guy was a stand in for his dad. I explained to him that he could draw the first card, and we’d see what it said. It had one red square, so I demonstrated for him how to move his green guy to the first red square on the board.

“But I’m GREEEEEEN! I need a green square!” He proceeded to go through the cards until he found a green square, and then exclaimed that a storm was coming and we needed to get all the guys into his toy rickshaw to whisk them to safety.

“QUICK, mom! NO! The red guy rides in the FRONT seat, the green guy rides in the back! The blue guy is in the front too! [Note, the guys do not actually fit in the rickshaw unless they’re stuffed in sideways and all in the same seat]. QUICK! HURRY! The storm! Wheeeeeeee-ooooooo”…the rickshaw is off like an appropriately-sirened vehicle for this cause. We are bound for the pink frosting house at the top of the board, where we will be safe from storms and coyotes.

“Mom, pick a card!”. I pick a double-blue. “NO, you’re the red guy!” and he rifles through the pile for the picture of the gingerbread man, which I think is supposed to be brown, but does look reddish. Apparently the red guy can only draw this card.

And so we play Candy Land, achieving salvation from weather and wildlife. Despite my slight disappointment to not play “for real”, I appreciate the splendor before me.

Originally published at https://www.tumblr.com on April 21, 2016.