Bernie Sanders, in a Mansion, with a Subaru Forrester • Trinity Tibe

HANDWRITTEN BY TRINITY TIBE

My fifth grade year, I was addicted to the game of MASH.  Every day before school and at lunchtime, my friends and I would huddle around our spiral notebooks, trying our hands at rudimentary divination. Who would we marry? How many children would we have? What car would we drive?  Would we end up living in mansions or shacks?

Back then, I solidly believed in the institution of marriage, and probably wanted to marry Jonathan Taylor Thomas or Elijah Wood. I wanted 2 or 3 children, though I always left that third slot open for my friend to play a wild card.  More than once it was predicted that I would have 1,000 children.  Wow. I'm thirty, unmarried, and childless. Better get on it. 

Oh, the MASH days, before I paid attention to gas prices or the idea of keeping my privilege in check. At first I wanted a simple convertible, but the game made me greedy.  Soon I was writing "Hummer stretch limo with a hot tub and a personal chef" in tiny letters on the game board. Meanwhile a friend would write in "Clown Car" as my third option. Thank you, whoever you were, for keeping it real.

I loved drawing the game board, perfectly-shaped, filling in the spaces.  I loved saying "Stop!" as my friend spiraled her pencil in the middle box, sealing my fate.  Maybe what I loved most of all was that, no matter what the outcome was, there was always a chance to play again, to keep playing until the perfect future appeared.  

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Trinity Tibe is a co-founder of Say Yes Electric Collective, an art community in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, that creates space for diverse artists and encourages collaboration.  She is working on her MFA in Poetry at The New School, and she also loves to draw, paint, and puppeteer. Find her at TrinityTibe.com or @trinitytibe

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