If you’ve been playing solitaire for the past year, even a single game, you’ve wasted no time. Take it from me: I have played many hands of the game and have nothing to show for the effort. Granted, I had no Zoom school sessions to enforce, no kids for my parents, no job to perform remotely. I did work, however, in a studio with strictly enforced Covid-19 protocols, along with a large crew that was bubbling during the pandemic.
During a time of lockdown, quarantines and social distance, solitaire seemed like a harmless undertaking, an ointment for the mind and hands, a safety valve that means something to do. The pack of cards was just there on the table, and without thinking, my hands would pick up the file of 52 to move and move and cut. A game would be dealt by myself, to myself, in a row of seven cards with a growing pile face-down. The cards in my hand are exposed in tries, and the blacks are played on the red, and so on, and an hour or so will pass. I would play more solitaire later that day or the next morning.
I never cheated to win; winning was not the point. Getting close was good enough, and there was always another game, so why not hand it out? I might win this time. And what else was there to do?
Actually, there was plenty to do! Damn! There was a sink to clean and a dishwasher to empty. Laundry to sort. Rice to put in the oven with the timer set for breakfast. Letters I could write and the typewriter and stationery to do so. Books I packed in a suitcase were read on a stack of reads, unread, even though I always read them at one time or another. There were floor exercises and yoga stretches to do. I have kids to talk to if they are available. I have business partners to contact. I have friends who are hilarious and interesting. I have scenes to study and to prepare. I have stories in my head – and I tell stories for my bread – that could be sketched, noticed and explained. I could have watched “Chernobyl” on HBO again!
I could do a lot of those things though. I fulfilled most of my responsibilities and explored some creative recesses in my thick head. But the hands of the solitaire were just wasted a few minutes hoping that a red six would come up or a king would turn so I could fill an empty column. What do not have I would rather?