hemi culture
TRAVEL ESSAY
It’s not thatBostonwas abadplace tobe,but Imissed
home.Imissed theTV, themusic, the food, the friends.I
missedmymum,Tilly, andmy older sister,Gill, and the
Christmaseswe spent together.On this last score,at least,
I could satisfymy longing.EveryDecember, I’d fly back
to London and spend the holidays at Tilly’s, engaged
in an endless round of spiteful quarreling—otherwise
known asMonopoly.
Likemany families,mine has never viewedMonopoly
as a game somuch as a chance to air grievances. “That is
just so typical of you,”Gill would spit after I’dmade her
sell thehotels she’dworked sohard toacquire.“Nevercared
about anyonebut yourself.”Then,my sisterwould requisi-
tionTilly’s Utilities, and her own character flaws would
be exposed.Someone,at somepoint,would flip theboard.
This is not to say we didn’t have bright spots. I can
recall entireminutes whenwe got along quitewell.But
the dynamics ofmy familywere such that, if you put us
all together under one roof for more than a few hours,
one of us would end up storming out, often with the
imprecations of a ruined property developer in our ear:
“And you can take your precious ParkPlacewith you!”
And yet, year after year, I’d attend these roiling
family reunions, reinforcing Freud’s theories on
repetition compulsion.Ormaybe itwas something else.
Maybe Iwas simply clinging to thehope thatmy family
didn’t have to reenact the Battle of Blood River once a
year.Maybe one day I’d show up and we’d have a great
time.Maybe.
The family fights were inevitable, and so too were
thebouts of critical self-appraisal back inBoston.What
a horrible son I was, what a horrible brother, what a
fantasticMonopoly player. Every year I’d vow that the
next year would be better, and every year it wasn’t.And
then,duringoneparticularly rollicking row,Gill stormed
out and stayed out. I can still seeTilly andme,wearing
our paper crowns,waiting for theknock that never came.
That was the last game ofMonopolywe ever played.
“EVERYDECEMBER, I’DFLYBACK
TOLONDONANDSPENDTHE
HOLIDAYSENGAGED INAN
ENDLESSROUNDOFSPITEFUL
QUARRELING—OTHERWISE
KNOWNASMONOPOLY.”
