What If . . . With a Twist

I just spent a day with my 10-year-old niece. She introduced me to a new game of "what if" that I've got to share.

We were driving along and she asked, "Would you rather die by drowning or falling off a cliff?"

I picked "death by cliff" because if you're going to die, the quicker the better. But then I thought, should I have asked if falling off a cliff meant tumbling down it. In that case, I wanted "death by drowning."

Too late. It was my turned.

I asked, "Would you rather have your house and possessions burned, or would you rather have your house flooded and all your possession wash away." She chose flooding.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I could just go down pick up all my stuff and bring it back."

Good answer — very optimistic. I had mentally chosen burned because I assumed my stuff was gone forever and it would be easier to build a new house than deal with an mud-soaked one.

Next question. "Would you rather have a pet snake or pet spider?" she asked. Both are bad, I chose spider because I figured it had a shorter life expectancy.

Next question: Would you rather lose a hand or a foot. "Hand," she said without hesitation.

"How can you pick hand?" I asked.

"Because I don't want to be in a wheelchair."

"But you could get a prosthetic," I said.

"You never told me that. Foot then."

And on the game went, taking weird turns as we discovered all kinds of things about ourselves.

It was a great game (in a creepy sort of way), but one I plan on not only playing again with my niece but with my characters. I don't just want to know the decisions they would make, but the unique and interesting reasoning behind them.

OK, I'm off to find out if my niece has other cools games to play.