Some years ago, he started offering to run the kids in this game whenever they were in his way. For the kids, this was akin to the Easter morning I woke up to find out that my health food nut mother had bought me a chocolate rabbit…only to bite into it and discover it was carob. The kids love games, but a game that goes nowhere annoys them.
This time, Dave offered to run the bored Juss in this game and commented that last visit, he had asked Orville the theoretical question "Would you rather play in the Rolling Down A Hill Game or get spanked?" and Orville had been unable to decide which he would prefer.
The following ensued:
Juss: "Okay, I agree to on one condition: You have some different hills, and there is a reason as to why we are rolling down. And when we get to the bottom of each hill, we learn another piece of why we are there."
When he thought Dave had agreed, he said, "Okay, I’ll play."
This took Dave by surprise. Eventually, Dave recovered and said that everyone was rolling because they had nothing else to do.
Juss: "Even I could run a better game than that."
Dave: "I’ll remind you, this game has been going on for years."
Juss: "Yes, but no one ever plays it."
At this point, I, who had been listening and grinning while writing, lost it and started laughing out loud. (Guffawing would be a more accurate description.)
Juss then went on to run a Rolling Down the Hill game for about twenty minutes. In Juss’s version, the game started two days before the hill rolling event, during which you go to pick your equipment and the two pets you wished to roll with.
It also included fellow contestants for the roll, including people like: I Don’t Have A Name, and I Am Going To Roll Into A Tree — clear evidence of the influence of John’s reading of Bears on Wheels on Juss’s moderating style. (Only John can make a 20 page kids book with four words per page take an hour to read.)
