16 January 2026, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2984: referee in the game of life

“Now that's a job I would never sign up for – I have seven siblings and five of them are younger than me and my big sisters and I have our hands full. Being a referee in the game of life would be cool if life was a game, but it's not.”

Ten-year-old Andrew Ludlow was talking with nine-year-old Vertran Stepforth as they were playing Go Fish in the house of Andrew's big Lee cousins, and Mrs. Maggie Lee was quietly observing their reacting to a book on the Lee coffee table: The Referee in the Game of Life: Negotiating the End of Major Wars In the Age of the Nuclear Bomb. Andrew and Vertran's minds had focused on the first part of the title.

“Well, the thing is, let's just talk about life around here,” Vertran said. “In order to have a referee, folks have to agree on the rules to the game, but my uncle's home has Gracie and Milton and I don't need to tell you about your house.”

Andrew sighed.

“Look, I have a baby brother whose attitude is that if the word he wants to use is not in the dictionary, we can just take a red crayon and write it in on the blank pages at the end – and the one next to him has his white crayons and blue construction paper and is saying, 'If we don't have it, we'll just build it.'”

“He just needs a few more Lego sets,” Vertran said.

“So if I just had Robert and Grayson, that would be one thing, and then there's Edwina,” Andrew said. “She squared up on a sticking door this morning and told the door, 'I'mma need you to act like you have some sense before I have Papa take you down and turn you into firewood!' Turns out George just wanted to know if Silly Putty would work for extra security!”

“Oh, wow,” Vertran said. “Well, at least Amanda is – oh, never mind – I forgot about Glittapocalypse.”

“I love my siblings but Grandma and my family therapist always remind me to be a kid and do stuff like playing cards with friends,” Andrew said, “so, I'm working on it.”