Jesse and I have been talking about my buying out Jesse’s half of the house. Last night we completed negotiations.
The negotiations were a perfect mirror of the excitement that is the House of Rock. Jesse and I were going back and forth, each of us trying to be fair but at the same time looking out for our own financial stability. It got down to an $800 difference in our prices. This may not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things, but 800 is 800. And both Jesse and I are cheap.
I offered to split our difference at the half-way point: 400. Jesse said 500. Neither of us would budge.
We stared each other down and then… sat down for a $100 game of backgammon.
An eerie silence fell across the table. We set the doubling cube aside and positioned our pieces on the board. Jesse and I play very different games of backgammon. I’m aggressive and take chances, Jesse tends to be calculative and more conservative. I think I have an advantage on him in the main play, but his end game is flawless. Recently, most of the games have gone to Jesse. His end game is too good.
The starting roll went down. Jesse would start with a 5-2.
Game play continued from there. Jesse had an unlucky streak of rolls with consecutive 5-2’s for three turns. I followed with consecutive 1-2’s (not quite as bad considering the layout). But the critical point came halfway through.
I had five points covered, split half way through by an empty spot. Jesse was on the leading edge of my potential prime and had a single piece on that dividing point. I rolled a roll that gave me the opportunity to hit his guy. But at the same time it left me open to a risky coup by Jesse’s leading piece. If Jesse could knock my guy back, the potential for a prime would be lost and Jesse, whose home row was locked down tighter than Fort Knox, could surely capitalize on his superior end game. But if the dice fell in favor of the D… a prime would be one roll away and with it victory would be all but certain.
I went for it.
Jesse rolled…
.
.
.
Some say that as the dice dashed across the backgammon board guitar distortion could be heard throughout the Appalachian mountains. Others report that the clouds above Connecticut parted and a haunting figure of Jimi Hendrix could be seen walking down Plumb avenue, Stratocaster in hand. What can be certain is that when those dice came to rest an epic era of the House of Rock ended and two fiends started their journeys down diverging paths.
Here’s to good times, good friends, and great rock. Jesse will be missed greatly.
