When You Win On Jeopardy

When you win at Jeopardy

Your older sister calls first

To say she watched

And she loved it

And how did you know that?
About that book?

How did you know

Who invaded that county

And when

And what the General’s name was?

You kept it a secret

From your sister

From your sister, Laura

That you were going on the show

And then you told yourself

You had to

Because you signed a contract

Saying you wouldn’t discuss the show

Or being on the show

Or how you did

And certainly not 

If you won

You know Laura is upset

But you also know Laura

Handles being upset

By telling you

How happy she is for you

And there it is

Her saying ‘I’m happy for you’

And you finish the phone call

And then you go back

To responding to messages

And emails on your computer

From well-wishers

And people asking

What you’ll do

With the money you won

Then the phone rings

And it’s Laura

And you think

She must have been

Calling back

By accident

And you still have so much to do

So you send her to voicemail

Saying that if it’s important

She’ll leave a message

And you’ll call her back later

As predicted, a voicemail comes

After answering a message

From your boss

About how he’d like to promote you

Being on the game show

To get more customers at the restaurant

Where you’re the head chef

You were hesitant

To do a viewing party at the restaurant

But you know

There are going to be seven more nights

Of you on Jeopardy

And it only makes financial sense

To capitalize off of it

At least it’s a Friday

And you have the weekend

To decide

Although you should start

Marketing it

Sometime tomorrow afternoon

And all of that

Is going through your mind

As you listen to the voicemail

From your sister

Telling you

That she doesn’t want

To talk to you anymore

That’s it

It’s a short message

And you don’t bother

Listening to it

Again

When your sister was ten

Your parents got you a dress

For your thirteenth birthday

And your sister was furious

Because the dress was her favorite color

And she went in your room

With a pair of scissors

And destroyed the dress

For that action

Your mother made her stand out

In the backyard

Not speaking

For three hours

In the heat of July

Inside, you sat with a book

Not all that sad

About the dress

But most disturbed

By how your mother hummed

While she put a pie together

And let one of her two daughters

Nearly pass out

Because she had been baited

Because your mother knew

That the dress

Was your sister’s favorite color

And that’s why

She bought it for you

Something was put

Between you and your sister

A long time ago

And you’ve never been able

To lift it out of the way

So you could get to her

The voicemail will sit on your phone

For a year

Before you delete it

And around that same time

They’ll rerun your episode of Jeopardy

And your phone will ring

And it will be your sister

To say she saw the episode

And she forgot how well you did

How did you know

What the national flag

Of that country looks like?

How did you know

Who wrote that book

And what their daughter’s name was?

How did you know?
How did you know

So much

And you tell her

You don’t know

You don’t know

How you know

What you know