It's a hot day and I hate my girlfriend. We're playing Scrabble. It's so bad. I'm 24 years old, it's a scorching Sunday afternoon, and all I can think of doing with my life is playing Scrabble. I should go out, exercise, spend money, meet people. I don't think I've spoken to anyone except my girlfriend since Thursday morning. Thursday morning I spoke to the postman. My letters are terrible. I play BEGIN. With the N on the pink star. 22 points. It plays JINXED, with the J on a double letter score. 30 points. He's already hitting me. I start chewing the U. It's a bad habit, I know. All the letters are frayed. I play WARMER for 22 points, mainly so I can keep chewing on my U. While I get new letters from the bag. My rack reads MIHZPA. Plus the U in the mouth. Curse. The heat of the sun pushes against me through the window. Outside I hear the buzz of insects. I hope they aren't bees. My cousin Harold swallowed a bee when he was nine, his throat swelled and he died. Play SWEATIER, using all its letters. 24 points plus a bonus of 50 points. It's hot outside and I'm getting sweatier and sweatier. It needs to rain, to clean the air. As soon as this thought crosses my mind, I find a good word. WET on a double word score, using the D of JINXED. The U makes a little squirt of saliva when I put it down. Another 22 points. I hope he has some bad letters. He plays FAN, with F on a double letter, and gets up to fill the kettle and turn on the air conditioning. It's the hottest day in ten years and my girlfriend is putting the kettle on. I play ZAPS, with the Z doubled and get a static shock from the air conditioning unit. I find it remarkable. Then I sigh deeply and sit down in the chair. The ke... middle of the paper... and final. My girlfriend plays ATTENTION, using a blank tile for No. 18 points. My rack is AQWEUK, plus the B in the mouth. I am amazed by the power of letters and frustrated that I can't handle it. Maybe I should cheat again. Then it comes to mind. The perfect word. A powerful, dangerous, terrible word. I play QUAKE for 19 points. Who knows if the strength of the shock will be proportionate to how many points he has scored. I can feel the trembling energy of potential in my veins. I'm commanding destiny. I'm manipulating fate. My girl plays DEATH for 34 points, just as the room starts shaking. I gasped in surprise and the B I was chewing got stuck in my throat. I try to cough. My face turns red, then blue. My throat swells. I get blood clawing at my neck. The earthquake reaches its peak. I fall to the ground. My girlfriend just sits there, watching.