AAOOOSC! Mini Stories!

On one fine autumn day, a game is being played in the Monarossabergie House. Yet it is not a video game, it is not a game even related to sports. It’s…

"Story cubes!" Max Friberg dumps nine dice from a small orange pouch.

The cubes rolls out onto the wooden floor, clattering and tumbling around the circle of hockey players, who are sitting on the floor with their legs criss-crossed. The cubes finally come to a halt, showing their sides: Each side has a different image ranging from a bridge to a tree to a sad face.

"So, how does this game go, Maxi?" Brandon Montour asks his roommate.

Max reaches over the circle and pulls the nine cubes to himself. "We are going to make a story with these cubes!" He begins to pass one cube to each hockey player. "So everyone has one cube and with that cube, shake it and drop it to get a picture. With that picture, you will have to put in the story we’re gonna make together."

Bryan Moore picks up his cube and gazes at it. "Oh yes!" He then tosses the cube with a thrilling expression.

"Oh, uh, not yet, Bryan," Max tells him sweetly. "We’re gonna do it in order."

Bryan frowns at the settled cube. "Darn it. I like this picture!"

Max peers at everyone else. "Everyone has a cube?"

Joseph Cramarossa holds his up at him. "Got one, Maxi."

"I have mine," Nick Ritchie says sleepily, slowly raising his in the air.

"Yeah, I have mine," Stu Bickel answers, pressing Bryan’s hands against his lap in to cease him from rolling the cube again.

"Yuper-doos!" Joe Piskula exclaims ebulliently.

"Same here!" Matt Hackett shouts.

Ryan Faragher raises his up coolly.

"Oh, very good!" Max smiles. "Before we do our story, we need to set a theme to it with one of our cubes."

"So, who’s gonna roll the cube for the theme of the story?" Stu asks, now tossing his cube between his hands.

With chill, Joseph nods to his best friend. "Maxi will."

"Very well!" Max then promptly rolls his cube.

The cube spins on the ground before landing on a side. The side facing upward displays an outline of a crescent moon.

Brandon peers at it with confusion. "What’s that suppose to mean?"

"That the theme is about cheese?" Bryan guesses with delight.

"It’s a moon, not cheese, you idiot!" Joseph snaps at him with his sharp mint green eyes.

"But the moon IS made out of cheese!" Bryan shoots back at him.

"No, it’s not!"

"Yes it is! I saw it in the cartoons! The characters eat the moon that is made out of cheese!"

"What type of cheese is it?" Nick pipes in with soft enthusiasm. "Cheddar, Swiss, gouda, brie, blue cheese…?"

"Bryan…!" Stu hisses at him between gritted teeth.

Joseph rolls his eyes at the small skater. "That’s a cartoon, how can you believe in a cartoon—?"

Max pats his best friend’s shoulder, calming him down. "Now now, Joseph, that’s enough…" He then faces Brandon. "Brandon, you’re first."

Brandon rolls his cube. The image that comes up is a man on a parachute. He peers up at the others. "What’s the theme again?"

"It’s nighttime, guys," Ryan states with his fists holding his head.

Stu shrugs. "Fair enough."

Bryan snaps his fingers with a slight frown. "Darn it."

"Uh okay…" Brandon darts his eyes in wariness, landing them on the cube. "So one night, a guy was parachuting at night." He looks back up at them.

Max slightly frowns at him. "That’s it?"

"BOOOR-ING!" Bryan bellows with two thumbs down.

"Bryan!" Stu scolds at him.

"It was a cold night," Brandon adds on with a shrug.

A warm smile appears on Max’s face. "That’s better!" He then cheerfully turns to his best friend. "Alright, Joseph, your turn!"

Joseph turns to him. "You don’t wanna go first, Maxi?"

"No, no, you go!" He makes a sweeping motion with the flick of his wrists, signalling him to go.

"Okay, if you say so." Joseph then tosses his cube onto the floor. It lands, showing a happy face as its picture.

Bryan snorts, covering his mouth and nose with his hands.

Joseph glares at him. "Shut it."

"Happy?" Bryan squeaks out through his hands. "Since when is Crammer happy…?"

"He can be happy!" Matt tells him.

"Yeah, especially around Maxi!" Ryan nods toward the two best friends.

Max chuckles before turning back to his best friend. "Okay, Joseph, go ahead."

Joseph looks down at his happy cube and states apathetically, "And the parachuting man is happy."

Bryan bursts in laughter. "HAHAHAHAAA!!!" He leans backward, tears coming out from his eyes with his hand on his forehead.

Joseph scowls at him. "WHAT?"

"WHO ON EARTH IS HAPPY PARACHUTING IN A COLD NIGHT?!" Bryan bawls hysterically.

"I can’t do mad or sad!" he tells him brusquely.

"Maybe a hamster by the cliff can be happy…," Matt suggests timidly, twiddling his fingers.

"But there’s no mention of a hamster or a cliff…," Brandon tells him warily.

"The parachuting man is happy!" Joseph barks, slamming his hand against the floor. "That’s it!"

"Alright, alright, boys, settle down, settle down," Max tells the others calmly, signalling them to do so.

Joe nods toward the Swede. "Listen to your alternate captain here, boys."

The others then calm down and revert their attention to their alternate captain.

"Okay, my turn." Max scoops up his cube and begins shaking it in his two cupped hands.

Joseph glowers at his teammates. "Yeah, it’s Maxi’s turn, so shut it." He darts his eyes at Bryan.

Bryan returns to him a mischievous smile.

Max then rolls the cube.

The cube shows a picture of a wand surrounded by sparkles.

"Ooo!" Max’s light green eyes light up. "Like Harry Potter!"

"Lu-ckyyy! Bryan shouts.

"That’s a good one." Joseph nods toward the cube with a smug smile at his friend. "You deserve it."

Maxi then straightens up and interlaces his hands. "Then the happy parachuting man gets apparated to Hogwarts!"

Joseph beams at him, his rounded cheeks becoming more apparent. "That’s the way to do it."

"My turn, my turn!" Bryan yells, snatching his cube from the ground.

Brandon points to his sleeping friend. "Wait, Nicky’s next!"

Next to him, Nick has his head dipped with his eyes closed. Snores are coming out from him.

Bryan reaches over to him and waves his hand in front of his face. "Wakey wakey, pizzaface!"

Nick jolts up before fluttering his small, brown eyes open. "Huh?" He peers at the others, instantly getting the message. "Oh okay… " He then rolls the cube.

The cube lands on an picture of a hand. "Oh, um…" He peers at his friend for help.

"A happy parachuting man at night gets appar-whatever to Hogwarts," Brandon tells him.

"Apparated," Max corrects him matter-of-factly.

Brandon nods at the alternate captain. "Yeah, that."

Nick’s eyebrows shoot up. "Oh." He nods his head. "And he uses magic with his hands."

"Noooo!" Max cries out with a frown. "He needs a wand! Wizards use wands!"

"I got a hand though." Nick points to his cube.

Max lets out a huff as he crosses his arms and shoots him a scowl. Joseph puts a hand of comfort on his shoulder.

"Is it my turn yet?!" Bryan exclaims.

Stu sighs and looks at his friend. "Yes, Bryan, it’s your turn."

Bryan pumps his fist in the air with thrilled eyes. "YES!!!" He excitedly tosses the cube onto the floor.

The cube shows a picture of a speech bubble.

Bryan rubs his hands together feverishly. "Oooo!!!"

"That’s perfect for you, squirrel," Joseph points out flatly.

Bryan turns to him with a massive grin. "I know, that’s why it rolled to that!" He then gazes at the rest of his teammates. "Okay, so this parachuting magical happy guy at night does magic with his hands, which makes EVERYBODY talk! I would like to be there, then I can make a lot of friends and we can talk about all of this stuff and—"

"Okay, okay, Mooresy." Stu pats his shoulder, ceasing his bubbling.

"Wooo! This is great!" Bryan whirls to his friend and points to him. "Your turn, Pickle Stew!"

"Alright!" Stu rolls his cube.

The cube lands after bouncing a bit, showing a picture of a bow and arrow.

Matt lets out a horrified gasp.

Brandon gawks at it. "Uh oh."

Stu peers down at his cube. "And then while everyone is chattering, the parachute magical happy man finds a bow and arrow and makes it magical with his magical hands."

"How does he make it magical?" Max asks with curiosity.

Stu peers at him with an unsure expression. "Um, he makes it float."

Max shrugs. "Well, the bow and arrow could—"

"Shoot arrows of fire!!!" Bryan cuts in loudly, throwing his hands in the air.

Max turns to him. "Actually, I was—"

"Yeah, it can make a bunch of magical energy and—"

"Let Maxi speak, squirrel!" Joseph snarls at Bryan with his eyes flashing.

Max rubs his friend’s back, soothing him. "It’s okay, Joseph, it’s okay…"

Joseph leans back, softening his features.

"Alright, so the parachuting man got a bow and arrow and made it magical," Stu says, summarizing the story so far. "Who’s next?"

Matt turns to the captain. "Joe can go!"

Joe beams at him. "Aw, thanks, Matty Hack!" He happily tosses his cube onto the floor.

The cube clatters on the floor, showing a picture of a card.

Bryan’s eyes light up at the picture. "Oooo, more magic!"

"Oh, I have a great idea for that one!" Max exclaims, throwing an index finger in the air.

Joe begins saying his part of the story: "And then with his bow and arrow, he finds a group of men playing cards, so he joins in!"

Everyone lets out a series of groans.

"But there’s no men…," Brandon tells him slowly.

Joe raises his index finger. "But there’s cards! So now they’re all happily playing cards!" He finishes off with a might big grin.

Joseph rolls his eyes and mutters, "There goes the story…"

Joe turns to the starting goalie. "Okay, Matty Hack, your turn!"

Matt claps happily. "Oh yay!" He rolls the cube.

The cube spins on the ground. It lands with a picture of a tepee facing upward. "Oh!" Matt’s broad eyebrows shoot up. "Aaand all the guys were playing cards in a tepee!" He shoots the others a sweet smile.

Everyone else returns to him another groan.

Matt turns to his best friend. "Your turn, Ryan!"

Ryan scoops up his cube and begins shaking it in his hands. "Alright, last one."

Joseph has cold eyes on him. "Better make it good.”

Ryan throws the cube onto the floor. The picture on the top is a sheep.

"We’re done," Joseph huffs out.

"And the man tried out his magical bow and arrow and turned everyone into sheep." Ryan purses his lips. "The end."

Bryan responses by letting out a series of laughter.

The others gawk and gape at the other goalie with different degrees of horror.

"Maybe you could’ve let the man conjure sheep near the tepee…?" Max suggests with a shrug.

"I was trying to be as Harry Potter-ish as possible…," Ryan tells him with uncertainty.

Max lets out a sad sigh. "Oh dear…"

Joseph has raised eyebrows at the fallen cube. "And this is why none of us write stories."

"I thought this was a great story!" Joe exclaims with a hook of his arm across his chest.

"I like the tepee!" Matt says merrily.

Nick frowns at the cube. "There was no food in the story… "

Max peers at his teammates. "Do you want to play another around—?"

"NO," the majority of the others reply.

"Okay." Max darts his eyes in deep thought. "So what do you wanna do next?"

Brandon gives him a small smile. "Do what we do best."


The End.

Notes