How to play: everyone holds a gift. Read the story out loud. Pass one seat left on every LEFT and one seat right on every RIGHT. When the story ends, keep what you're holding.
Nobody could remember who brought the gift. It just sat right in the middle of the table, wrapped in paper that had clearly been left over from something else, with a bow on the left corner and a tag on the right that said, in very small letters, "For you." Nobody knew who "you" was.
The first person picked it up and passed it left right away, because holding a gift that everyone is staring at is harder than it looks. The second person passed it right. The third person held on a second too long, then passed it left, and looked like they regretted it.
It went right around the circle. Then left, all the way back. Then right again, but only halfway, because somebody's phone rang and the whole thing stalled out on the left side of the room while they said, "I can't talk, I'm passing a gift."
Somebody shook it. Something rattled on the left side. Somebody else shook it. Now it rattled on the right side. Somebody held it up to the light, which told them nothing, and passed it right along, fast, like it had gotten warm.
Guesses were made. A mug. A candle. Something from a store that closed years ago. Somebody on the right said it was a gift card. Gift cards don't rattle. Somebody else was absolutely sure it was socks and passed it left with the confidence of a person who does not want socks.
It went left past the youngest person in the room, who wanted it more than anyone. It went right past the oldest, who did not want it at all and said so. It went left, right, left, right, and back to the left, and by now nobody was keeping track except the person on your right, who has been keeping track the whole time.
Then somebody said, "Wait, is it my turn?" It was not their turn. There are no turns. There is only left. And right. And sometimes left twice. Left.
So: one pass to the left. One to the right. One more to the right. And hold still. Hold it. Don't pass. Somebody always passes.
The story stops here, and the gift stops with it, and whoever is holding it right now can finally find out whether it was socks.
The Any-Occasion Left Right Story · playcouchful.com/left-right-game/story/any-occasion-left-right/