Othello

Two childhood friends play Othello (a labyrinth piece-flipping board-game) as they grow up to become government operatives!

Evan and Lee were friends since they were young boys growing up in Virginia. Their parents were neighbors and friends, and Evan and Lee grew up sharing very similar interests, such as Hot Wheels cars, chess, baseball, and video-games. However, what they liked best similarly was the offbeat strategy-based labyrinth oriented piece-flipping board-game Othello. This game, descended from a much more ancient board-game, involves placing flipping pieces by choosing positions adjacent or on the flipside of your opponent's piece to transform your opponent's pieces into your own; one side chooses white and the other black! Evan and Lee played Othello for ours while they were growing up together in Virginia, imagining elaborate scenarios in which trying to escape the traps of an enemy or creating your own gauntlets mirrored real-life political or knightly adventures, perhaps such as those witnessed in Medieval England or during the Cold War!

Evan and Lee were both admitted into the Ivy League, and Lee decided to pursue studies in computer science. He became a computer wizard and was recruited by the NSA to manage a new branch of its cyber-securities division. Evan meanwhile decided to study American political science and was recruited by the CIA to be part of a new operation in Syria. It was in Syria where Evan and Lee's paths crossed once more! Evan was drinking Arabian whiskey-tea in a Syrian nightclub when he realized Lee was in the same nightclub. Evan walked up to Lee and hugged his old childhood pal and within a short amount of conversation, the two lifelong friends discovered they were now both working for the American government. Evan and Lee told each other of their similar mission in Syria; Evan was working on an anti-terrorism outfit for the CIA, while Lee was developing terrorist-hacking algorithms in Syria for the NSA.

EVAN: It seems we're both symbolically playing Othello!

LEE: Yeah, we're constructing security highways for America.
EVAN: Syria is so convoluted now.

LEE: Remember how our Othello games reminded us of strategy gauntlets!
EVAN: Sure; the art of escaping and trapping is truly an art.

LEE: Yes, and we played Othello for hours on end.

EVAN: Maybe it was our Othello consciousness that made government work destined!

LEE: That's a positive thought.
EVAN: I wonder if terrorism will ever end...

LEE: We'll always have Othello.

As the two pals conversed that day in that quaint nightclub/bar in Syria, they realized their experience of playing Othello as youngsters was informing their modern consciousness regarding the stabilization of traffic highways in the Middle East for the American government! Othello, offering players/thinkers chances of conceiving escape routes and fortifications, inspired Evan and Lee to daydream about how political machinations in civilization could feel like an optimistic 'game' of sorts, even when that 'game' was rather complicated...or even dangerous. Evan was given the field-operations alias 'Storm-Shadow' by the CIA, while Lee was given the field-operations alias 'Snake-Eyes' by the NSA! As Storm-Shadow and Snake-Eyes mused about their love of Othello, anti-American terrorist forces brewed to keep our best thinkers/imagineers guessing about the scope and breadth of new age dioramas.

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