Around the Couch

Tonight, we tried another game on For the Drama as part of our pandemic inspired online experiment, this time a silly bit of modern everyday life called Around the Couch by (I believe) Matthieu Bé, who runs the site. We play a diverse group of house mates who have been living with a monstrously large old stained couch in dark green pleather with a landscape painting with a unicorn on its wall side. Now, one of our number has gathered us together to decide whether to keep the couch or get rid of it. As we gather together, we remember various episodes from our history with the couch.

The couch had come with the house, perhaps predating the extended family that had lived here before us. It dominated our living room, forming a giant L-shape covering two walls and sat across from the communal television and was frequently covered in snacks. We often fought over the cupholders built into the arms, one of which we repaired with bright orange, thick thread. We have a rotation of which games take place on the couch so we’re all satisfied: video, board, role-playing, and story. A pillow with a cartoonish image of Darth Vader poorly cross-stitched upon it always sits on the couch, offering solace, kitsch, and humor.

We’ve had on this couch geek sleepovers with all night gaming, watched Blair Witch from its deep cushions, and fights over who should or shouldn’t be allowed to join the house. We sat around after two of our numbers married to remember how their relationship had developed in this house and on this couch, while the two exhausted newlyweds slept between us on the couch. We’ve prepped our costumes for ComiCon cosplay dropped on this couch, and left them out to embarrass each other when our parents came. When the viral epidemic broke out, our married mates argued about whether to go out, and she shook him awake after he’d fallen asleep on the couch, waking him from the strange dreams of another reality that seem to come to whoever sleeps with their head resting in the couch’s corner.

After all these remembrances, we go around and agree that we have to keep the couch. It’s too comfortable and resilient, full of sentiment and memories, and magical.