onegoodmove

Saturday night, Mr. Bill, and a bridge game provided the ingredients for a very amusing for most, somewhat embarrassing for some, evening. The entire cast consists of my wife Gail, my oldest son Tim, Chris a rowdy thirteen year old, two dogs, Buff a cockapuff or some such, a mongrel named Mr. Bill, and my sister Janna along with her husband Bill. Our regular (irregular is closer to the truth) bridge game takes place whenever Bill, an incurable workaholic, falls off the wagon and allows himself some leisure time. It was just such a night, Bill wasn't working and a game was arranged. We had been playing for several hours when the goodies ( the typical salty variety) began to run low. Bill needed a drink of water, and Janna noticing his plight asked Chris who was standing near the sink, if he would get Bill some water. Chris, who spends a good part of his time on the computer slaying dragons, said sure. Janna said put some ice in it please, Chris looked puzzled but said okay. The game continued, Bill making four hearts on a nicely played hand. Several minutes passed, when Bill said, "Hey what happened to that water?" Janna turned to Chris and said, "Aren't you going to get Bill his water?" Chris said "I did." We all turned toward Chris and there across the room on the floor was Mr. Bill's dog dish filled with fresh water, the ice cubes bobbing on top. The roar was tremendous and the laughter lingered most of the night. Bill was really embarrassed realizing he had lost his water to the dog. An unconvincing laugh was his response. Chris was bewildered, but pleased with his unintentional joke. The incident has been a source of amusement ever since, seldom do we see Bill and Janna without the boys asking Bill whether he would like a drink of water, or one of them taunting him with, here Bill, here Bill, good boy Bill, or simply calling his name and then pretending they meant the dog.