Missing Link An Embarrassment To The Fossil Record!

Have You Seen The Missing Link?

Events took a surprising turn while I was away on my hols in February. A game was played, the only game of the month, but the scoresheet went missing.

It was a rum do, the first missing link in our evolution, and an embarrassment to the fossil record of the 3-Player Mahjong Club.

The word was that this was a game which had seen Noda lose.

Apparently, Jaime racked up the biggest loss so far this year (which is not saying much, with so few games having been played), and Kenyon emerged as the big winner.

But, if a scoresheet is not handed in to the Central Committee...

Anyway, we met up last Friday for a few beers to set ourselves up for the-only-game-in-March and Jaime offered up his mia culpa, which had something to do with rubbish and bins and vacuum cleaners and swiftly descended (or was cunningly diverted) into a debate that hinged upon the semantics of whether a thing (such as a scoresheet) could be said to have been got (or gotten) rid of if the personage last known to have had it in his possession had not intentionally, or knowingly, or in his right mind, binned it.

We moved on for a final "quick snifter before the game" in the front parlour of an izakaya right opposite the Kodama mahjong club, a small joint where the drinkers congregate around a sort of glass-topped crate on top of an ancient Japanese Paulonia tree trunk and have their beers or whatevers passed to them over the izakaya back corridor counter.

I can see that place becoming a regular Friday evening "quick snifter" haunt...

As we entered Kodama, the state of play was as it had been back at the end of January, which favoured Ray (who remained top) and Jaime (who stayed in the black). It helped Noda, was indifferent to Hide and David, and hindered Kenyon by a hundred-and-something points.

The evening turned out to favour Jaime, who turned out to be the only winner overall. David managed his best result of the year by finished second, on a modest -12, and Kenyon and Noda were also down, in double figures, but nothing major.

Then, yesterday, I received an e-mail from Jaime: The Missing Link had been discovered and the fossil record was complete!

Jaime's e-mail:

i found the missing score sheet... id never taken it out of my wallet...

...have no memory of putting it in my wallet...

And here it jolly well is!



So, at a stroke, Kenyon jumped to the top of the table, and Jaime sunk into the red.

Here is the table as it stands, this April 3rd, in the Year of Grace 2009:

Kenyon +125
Ray +83
Hide +25
Jaime -25
Noda -36
Jezz -44
David -128

David H