Keith, Nikki and Bonnie play backgammon Part II

Last Time: My cousin Nikki started a remembrance of a Backgammon tutorial between Keith, Herself and my sister Bonnie.

As the idea of playing Backgammon was formally broached, two consecutive conversations about the game started to take place: the one that I was having with myself in my own head and the sales pitch a very optimistic and enthusiastic Keith was giving me about the game. I don’t remember the exact words of these conversations, but I’m pretty sure they went something like this: ME: What if I make a mistake?

KEITH: “It’s real easy.”

ME: But the game board looks so cool.

KEITH: “All you’ve got to do is …”

ME: What if I can’t do it?

KEITH: “You roll the dice…”

ME: But those fancy checkers are neato. They make a ‘tink, tink, tink’ sound. I’m not sure I want to play this game, but boy do I want to play **with** this game.

KEITH: “The white checkers move this way … the brown checkers move that way…”

ME: Oh God. What if they make fun of me when I make a mistake…

To be Concluded

Keith, Nikki and Bonnie play Backgammon Part I

The next 3 remembrances come from my cousin Nikki



My earliest memory of Keith is actually my earliest memory of the David Roller branch of the family, who had come to my parents’ house in Bristol for a visit – I’m not sure if it was part of a bigger occasion, or just a casual get-together. I think I was in grade school at the time. Maybe junior high. At any rate, on this day Keith and Bonnie tried to teach me how to play Backgammon. I believe we also may have been eating brownies.

I was pretty shy as a kid. I was skeptical of everyone and everything, and absolutely terrified of embarrassing myself in anyway. So, the whole prospect of playing a new game to me seemed dubious at best, mortifying at worst.

To be continued ...