Dominoes Ornament

Game night gifts usually mean another box for the shelf, and this one hangs instead: a pair of glass dominoes, pips raised and painted, tiles set at the angle of a match just decided. Each tile is blown flat and true, the pips are dotted by hand in a count the studio triple-checks, and both faces are glossed so the spots read from a full table's length away. The cap sits where the tiles meet, preserving the angle permanently, the game forever one move from over. My grandfather Barnaby has presided over a weekly game for thirty years, keeps score in a ledger nobody is permitted to audit, and regards a forfeited match as a character reference. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame reserves case space for side projects — the record made between the famous records, argued over hardest by the people who love the band most — and every serious game night is a side project of exactly that kind. This one finally gets its display.