Pie

Pie: It's a Game

For some reason I am sitting here in 115 degrees in Iraq and thinking of a game I played as a child in the winter time in Michigan. Perhaps I am delusional or whatever the psychological condition would be that brings me back to childhood.

Pie is a strange game that kids used to play in Michigan in the 50's and 60's. Perhaps they still play it. It is only played in the winter time, because you need snow to play it. Here's how you play: After a fresh snowfall you pick an open area and make a huge circle in the snow by shuffling your feet (kinda like pretending to be a train on the ground). The size of the circle does not matter but my guess would be that a circle with a diameter of at least 30 feet would suffice. Once the circle is made, you bisect it by shuffling a path right down the middle. Then you walk along the path to the middle of one of the half circles you have just made and shuffle a path to bisect the circle again. Lastly, you bisect each of the four quarter circles you have made moving from the center of the circle to the outer path. You have made a big "pie", hence the name of the game.

You cannot play pie alone. You need at least one other person and several makes it more fun. It is essentially a game of "tag". Each person starts in the outer circle, away from a path to the center, except the the one who is "it", he or she stands in the center "safe spot" and declares the game has begun. The safe spot (or "home") is the center of the circle. If you stand on the center of the circle you cannot be "it". But if you are caught anywhere in the circle away from the center, you, my friend are "it" and the chased now has to be the chaser. You must stay on the path at all times.

Now Tag is a fun game but for some reason the restrictions of the circle and the fact that everyone must stay on the path makes this game more exhilirating. I taught my daughter, Charity, how to play the game. She and I have this great sense of competition and we hate being "it" - so we both have this near-terror feeling when we play Pie - terror of being caught. The game is cheap (free) and it can last as long as you have energy to burn.

Why I am thinking of this game now is a little weird but maybe not. I am missing home and normal things. Pie is a normal thing. There is no grave danger in playing pie, if you step out of the lines, you are "it". Compared to where I am now - well, if you step out of the "lines" here - you could be dead. Perhaps that sense of danger brings the memories back - it is similar to the near-terror thrill I felt when I played Pie. I don't mean to compare the two in any real way. It's just that last night as I walked along our perimeter in Iraq, I sensed how vulnerable I was to being shot or blown up - and, for some reason today I am thinking of Pie. I think it's more of an escape mechanism - because I know I long for normalcy. When I get home (although snow in Georgia is rare) I'm going to call my daughter up and say, "How about a game of Pie?" She'll take a deep breath (anticipating the "terror" she will feel playing it) and come running over to the house. Of course, Karen (my beautiful wife, all the kids, and grandkids will be there too). We'd better make a big pie!

Addendum: I did a search on the Internet and found a link to a game website that described the game I know as Pie. Apparently in Montana the game is known as Fox and Geese.

~GJH~ (14 May 2006)