Everyone in the room, except for Naomi and me, kind of exchanged looks as my kid sat there with her hand outstretched, patiently waiting.
Jagger shrugged and reached into the open box.“Fill your boots.”He handed Mabel the instructions and she proceeded to study them like it was a brand-new book on birds she’d never heard of before.
“Shall we divide into teams?”Raina asked.“We can have as few as two, or as many as four.There are fifteen of us—” She glanced into the kitchen where Sam and Tom still stood with the osprey.“Sam, Tom, you’re playing right?”
“Si,si,” Tom said, urging Sam to bring the bird in the box with her.
She set it next to Mabel.“Can you watch it?”
Mabel nodded, but kept focused on reading the instructions.
Sam went to the table to get some pizza.Tom was there as well.
Once all fifteen of us were in the living room, there wasn’t a ton of room to move.
“I say we have three teams of five,” Raina said.“That way it’s even.”
Mabel’s head bobbed.“Even is good.Even is good.”Then her gaze shot up.“But the teams still won’t be even.We can’t have three girls and two boys on each team.One team will have to have two girls and three boys.That’s not fair.That’s not even.”Her head shook a little more fervently.“There’s no way we can make it even.There’s no way we can make it perfect.”
Eyes shifted around the room, locking in on each other and silently questioning what was going on with my kid and why she was being so weird.
Naomi smiled at Mabel.“You’re right, Mabel.We’re an odd number of people, with one more girl than boy.So in order to make it even, I’m happy to sit out.Would that work for you?”
“Mom, you don’t—” Honor started, but Naomi just shook her head at her kid.“It’s okay.We’ll need a referee and someone to keep an eye on the bird, and also to top up refreshments.”
Mabel shook her head.“But then we won’t have three teams of five.That’s not even either.You’d need two teams of seven for it to be even.Three teams of five, or two teams of seven.That’s how it has to work.But three teams of five won’t have an even number of boys and girls.I don’t know how we can fix this.”
“It’s not a big deal,” Laurel said slowly, giving Mabel a weird look.
“Yes, it is,” Mabel growled out.She gave me a pleading look.“Dad, can we go?I’m not having fun anymore.”
“Mabes, let’s, um—”
“Mabel, you’re right,” Naomi said quickly.“It won’t be even.However, I happen to know that we’re all pretty evenly matched.And I don’t know about you, but in this family, it doesn’t really matter if you’re a boy or girl.Boys can do everything girls can do—”
“Besides giving birth and carrying a baby,” Mabel said.“Boys can’t do that.Not people born biologically male, I mean.If you were born with gonads and a penis, but no uterus, ovaries, or fallopian tubes, you are unable to give birth or carry a child.”
Naomi nodded.“That’s true.But this game—nor do any of the games we have—involve carrying a baby or delivering one.Craniumis all skill, knowledge, and hunch based.Now Laurel and Honor are very artistic.Laurel also reads a lot.But if there are any sports questions—”
“I will fail miserably,” Laurel said with an exaggerated pout.
“Exactly,” Naomi went on.“We’re all pretty worldly when we’re together.Some of us have traveled more than others, but some of us are sportier than others.I think that as a family, we’re really well-rounded.And it doesn’t matter if we’re a girl or boy.It just matters that we play the game by the rules and we do our very best.Would you like to pick the team you’re on first?”
“I don’t know anybody.”Mabel snapped.
“Mabes,” I said gently.“Tone.”
“Well, I don’t,” she insisted.
“Would you like me to put you on a team that I think you would gel well with?”
Mabel nodded hesitantly.“Okay …”
Naomi grinned.“Perfect.I think you would match well with your dad, Honor, me, and Austin.What do you think?”
Honor offered Mabel a small, encouraging smile.
Mabel’s head bobbed slowly.“Okay.”
