My favorite game.

My favorite game of late is a guessing game. Guests at my restaurant invite me to play it quite often. I always see it coming by the looks on their faces; their eyes squint a little bit when I feel my accent slip or when I say something just slightly awkward and I can see their wheels turning. They're wondering. And waiting. I never initiate the game, and it takes different customers varying amounts of time to summon up the guts to make the first move.

Most are shy, and exaggeratedly polite, but if they want to play, if they really want to know the answer to their confusion, they timidly ask one or more of a series of questions, which I will literally translate into English for you and your humor buds' enjoyment:

Du, er du svensk? You, are you Swedish?

Du er ikke fra Hamar eller? You are not from Hamar or?

Jeg hører at du har litt av en aksent. Du er ikke herfra? I hear you have little of an accent. You are not here from?

Unnskyld, men dialekten din...mulig du ikke er norsk? Excuse me, but the dialect yours...possible you not are Norwegian?

All of these questions are always answered the same--No I am not Swedish, not from Hamar, not from around here...No, I am not Norwegian! And then the real fun starts, the guessing game gains speed, more questions are hurled at me and I answer them all, playing along (it is my favorite game after all): No I'm not Scandinavian. No, not Polish either. Or German. Or Swiss. No, keep guessing...coffee's on me if you guess correctly, I tease. No, actually no one has guessed it correctly before. No, not from Iceland either. Serbia? No. No, no, I'm not from Brasil or Australia or England or Ireland or Scotland or France. Not from Spain or Italy either. Not Eastern Europe, not even Europe no. New Zealand? Nope, never been there. Would like to visit though. Canada? Nope, but you're getting closer...

And then my favorite part of all, the climax of the game: Well, it can't be the US right? Because you don't have that rrrrr in your accent, so...gosh, I just don't know where!

JO! Actually it is the US folks. That's where I'm from. If I remember correctly that is. I do believe I was born there. Yep, pretty sure I grew up there and lived there for 23ish years.

Then the game peters out...the questions keep on coming but it's not as exciting any more. Jack is out of the box liksom. Fun for me is over. But luckily, I know, sometime soon, I will get to play again. Who knows where I will be from next.

Game over.