Tyger Tyger Burning Bright

"hello, everyone!" gavin cardigan called out as he entered Poor Yorick's Pub.

"happy new year, gavin!" danny blake greeted him from behind the bar as he pour an ale. "happy chinese new year, that is!"

"oh, thanks. year of the tiger, is it not?"

"indeed it is, my friend. may this year bring you easy prey!" danny handed gavin his glass. "and potstickers, and sauted chinese cabbage, and kung pau chicken, and maddog's indonesian spice cake."

"i love this place," gavin noted with satisfaction as he walked over to join his friends.

"hey, cardigan!" sierra charles waved him over. "we're playing mah-jongg."

"i call stones as trump!" marian elfman declared, laying down a tile with several brightly colored circles.

"fiddlesticks!" grumbled taylor young, who threw down a tile with a blue rectangle.

as marian pulled in her winnings, gavin commented, "i don't know how to play."

Mysterious Lurker lay down a tile with flowers. "your honor, i beseech thee to name three flowers beginning with the letter P."

judge st. bishop began to rub his stomach and pat his head as he recited. "petunia, pansy, and...and...peony!"

the Lurker swore under her breath and gave the judge three of her tiles.

"none of us know how to play," sierra explained. "so we're making it up as we go along." she played a tile with two sticks of bamboo on it. "if you don't play a tile with bamboo on it, you have to give me a potsticker!"

as each player lay down a tile with bamboo, sierra's emitted a "hmph!" of disgust.

danny walked over to deliver gavin's food, prompting sierra to snag a fresh potsticker in her chopsticks.

"hey!" cardigan glared, moving his plate further away from her.

"you didn't play a tile with bamboo," she winked, chewing happily.

"i'm not playing!"

"you should! here, gavin," marian handed him some tiles. "it can be your turn now."

"hmmm," gavin mused, looking at his tiles, then he placed one showing what looked to be a red box with a vertical line through the center of it. "this looks like a heart with an arrow in it. and since tomorrow is valentine's day, i require everyone who doesn't have this same tile to recite a love poem."

taylor sighed, lay down a different tile, then stood up and began to recite:

'twas brillig, and the slithy toves
did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
all mimsy were the borogoves,
and the mome raths outgrabe--

"um, taylor? that's the jobberwocky poem from lewis carroll's Through The Looking-Glass," cardigan pointed out. "not a love poem."

"that stanza is about love," taylor insisted. "give me proof that it isn't!"

marian rolled her eyes, threw down a random tile, and began to recite:

hear my heart's rhythm
watch the tide swell in the bay
know i am the one

"aw, that's sweet, ducky," taylor leaned over to kiss her cheek.

the Lurker tossed in a tile and, with a shake of her platinum locks, said:

roses are red
but sometimes they're
pink or white or yellow or even black.
so are sheets.
what're we waiting for?

"woo-hoo!" sierra high-fived the Lurker. "now that's poetry!"

the judge cleared his throat, turned over a tile, and began:

behold the sun!
its golden hues and radiance
reach down to pat your head in assurance
that your feelings are true and just!
and no man shall ever put asunder
those true and just feelings
that are reassured by the mighty sun!

behold the moon!
its silver hues and reflections--

"um, i think that's enough, your honor," cardigan broke in hastily. "charles? you're up!"

grinning, sierra threw down her tile, a bright red box with a vertical line drawn crudely over the circle in the middle.

"what is that--lipstick?"

"nail polish," sierra admitted.

"you can't do that--it's cheating!"

"no, it's not! we're making the rules up as we go, remember?"

"hmph."