“Y..yes…!”

Duncan quickly swallowed any further words he was about to blurt out triumphantly. I have to stop, he said to himself, otherwise his younger brother would’ve started crying, yelling and screaming at him, he was such a bad loser. It was not worth egging him on as Daniel had a knack of making his older brother’s life miserable.

“Hey, well played.”

Duncan’s little brother fought back his tears as he stammered.

“B.. but I lost..”

“I think I was a bit lucky Daniel. It happens. You played really well.”

Duncan had to tread carefully here. One wrong move and Duncan would be deemed a vicious criminal.

< I was just keeping him company with a game of Monopoly, why do I have to act as if I’m treading through a mine field in an attempt not to trigger anything? >

Duncan was exhausted.

< Wouldn’t it feel so good if I could declare game over, I won, you lost, big deal and walk away?! >

How Duncan wished his younger brother had the maturity to handle that.

Daniel was now like a wasp’s nest, dangling by a thread. Or teetering as if he was on a branch above Duncan’s head.. the similes he came up with made him cringe.

< I should have cheated to lose. >

When entertaining his younger brother, it was often worth loosing on purpose, just to keep the peace. Just so that Duncan didn’t have to handle his younger brother spit the dummy and have an epic tantrum, you see, no amount of “wins” were worth it.