Craftwerk

At any given moment in our house, there are at least 4 screens dedicated to the game “Minecraft.” While double-checking the spelling of “Minecraft,” I briefly went down a rabbit hole of Wikipedia about it and I still have no idea what the game is about.

“Minecraft allows players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D procedurally generated world.” What? Just reading that makes me want to shake my cane at these kids today.

Luca is currently building a massive mansion in his Minecraft world. It’s actually a stunning glass structure that brings to mind I.M. Pei. If I.M. Pei liked to surround his buildings with lava and roughly 2,000 pigs.

Within the assumingly stifling house, Luca constantly adds bedrooms for people he likes. Each is equipped with a single Spartan twin bed and if you are lucky, a window. My room does not have a window. Eli has a room. Cousins Rory and Finn have rooms. I may be mistaken, but I think Diana has her own room. Which speaks more to how much Luca loves her than it does my chronic snoring.

Anyway, last Friday night I invited a work pal over for our weekly basement meeting of the nerds. Me must have had some Star Wars trivia questions gnawing at him that needed answered.

You know how cats can sense when you are allergic to them? And then they get all in your business? Elijah and Luca have a sixth sense for people who don’t have kids. They immediately lay on the charm so you’ll fall in love with them and rush home to make babies with your spouse. That’s how they increase their friend population. Oddly, it’s a lot easier than asking kids to play at the park.

My work pal gave as good as he got, however. He is the former editor in chief of a well-known video game culture website and regaled my sons with his knowledge of things they love.  He even boasted an in person meeting with the creator of Minecraft. I’m sure Eli and Luca thought was talking about the blocky main character of Minecraft, Steve.

The next morning, I found Luca hard at work on his digital masterpiece. As he added a twin bed to a room, he said, “I am making a room for your friend. The one who knows about Minecraft.”

“He has a name, you know.”

“I don’t remember it,” he said.

“Do you want me to tell it to you?”

“No,” he said. And then he added a window to the room.