Elementary

Four women helpless with laughter without the aid of alcohol is a sight to behold. I was on the floor (I'd twisted my ankle); our Previous Winner sat on her very comfortable armchair; Clever Clogs had the couch and Miss Marple, who had obviously spend much of her youth playing charades, graced a Victorian corner-piece. PW is a stickler for the rules; MM aint; CC isn’t bothered; and me, well I’m here for a good laugh and I don’t care who wins. Once a month or so the four of us get together for a game of Trivial Pursuits; it’s always such fun. I even won, once, but that was with a little help from my friends.

"What is the largest island?"

"Greenland", boomed PW. "We’ve had that one before, I’m sure of it." It wasn’t even her turn but then no one noticed.

Another Sherlock Holmes question: CC rolled her eyes. "I don’t know anything about the sleuth apart from the fact that he wore a funny hat", she moaned. "A deerstalker", we chimed in unison. CC seemed to know an awful lot about film, history and even science, answering question after question like a walking encyclopaedia, until we got to the creator of The Hound of the Baskervilles (the answer to an earlier question), that is.

"What instrument did Sherlock Holmes play?"

"You’ll get it, just think hard, I’m sure you know it." I looked across at PW and she looked at me and then, out of the blue a voice from the couch cried out: "the violin"! "Well done", said I. "There you are", said PW, while hilarious giggles emanated from the Victorian corner. "I knew you do it", says I, all innocent like. "So did I", says PW. "Well I didn’t, actually", says CC, and nodded in the direction of MM. "It was her", she said, and we looked again at MM who this time was mimicking Yehudi Menuhin, drawing an imaginary bow across imaginary strings.

I’ll never grow old with CC for company, and PW to make sure I don’t cheat (too often) and MM, who can have us all in a fit of giggles at the drop of a deerstalker. They’re definitely worth their combined weight in gold!