Advancing to Boardwalk

Jason Williams got in his car and drove to McDonald’s to play the Monopoly game.  This was his 15th year in the row of playing this game.  Every time he played it, he always tried to get both of the two elusive blue pieces: Boardwalk and Park Place.  In the more recent years, the rare piece was Boardwalk.

Every year, Jason has manged to get every single common piece.  The only pieces he lacked were the winning pieces.  There was one rare piece for each color group, and for 15 years, he could not get any of them.

This year was going to be different.  I’m getting Boardwalk, he said to himself.  Why?  Jason had it all figured out.  He had a system.  He went to every single McDonald’s around him and around the suburbs.  This was a total of 45 McDonald’s in all.  Jason has already had every common piece there was.

He went to the McDonald’s on Warren and Vine Avenue.  He felt lucky about this one.

He went in and ordered the next meal that contained all the game pieces: A 20 piece McNugget, a large fry and a medium drink.   This too, was part of his system.  He rotated through every single food item that had the game pieces, incorporating them in his meal.  After getting his food, he tore them off, one by one.  Pacific Avenue, St. James Place, Atlantic Avenue, a free medium fry, Baltic Avenue, Reading Railroad, Pacific Avenue, B&O Railroad,  Park Place and a free McFlurry.  Boardwalk was not there.

Jason was a little frustrated, but he wasn’t about to admit defeat.  Sometimes, people throw away game pieces, so he went and checked the trash.  In the trash, pretty much every cup and container he checked already had the game pieces removed.  Except for one.  It was a large drink cup, with the game pieces still on it.

Jason picked up the cup and took a deep breath.  He closed his eyes and peeled off those last two game pieces.  Marvin Gardens and Boardwalk.

“What?” Jason gasped.  He looked at the game piece again and shot a double take.  It WAS Boardwalk, without a doubt.  Of the over 600 million game pieces, he had it.  Like the golden ticket in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, he concealed his hands so no one could see it, and ran out of the restaurant as quick as he could.

Jason got in his car and drove off, full of excitement.  Of the 15 years that he’s been playing Monopoly at McDonald’s, he was now finally able to advance to Boardwalk.

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©2012  K. L. Walker