Solitaire (January 10)

Granny’s great gift was her capacity to recognize what really mattered…, also she understood that the most useful insights could be the best fun to master. And she did not underestimate the value of superficially trifling pursuits. She was, for example, an expert at double solitaire. Her father had introduced her to the game. As soon as she could, she taught me, too. The two-handed rules suited her perfectly. They gave wily players access to cooperative as well as competitive strategies. When building a shared Ace-to-King ladder, reciprocity need not be altruistic. One opponent’s ostensible generosity might a few moves later guarantee the other’s downfall. Thus, collaboration tended to come at a price. The analogy to real life was impossible to miss. But Granny was not given to moralizing. Ostensibly, we played only for amusement. We never mentioned parallels with the ins and outs of family affairs. (pp. 10-11)

No doubt that subliminal relationship between playful competition and real-world rivalry will ring a bell for many readers. Have you detected comparable reflections of manoeuvres from sport or less physical showdowns in daily life? If so, feel free to share an example in a Comment.

(Illustration generated by AI)