When You Reach Me

The Winner’s Circle

Mom is getting very good at the speed round. She almost always gets seven words in thirty seconds now, no matter who is giving the clues and who is guessing.

The second part of The $20,000 Pyramid is called the Winner’s Circle because you have to win the speed round to get there. In the Winner’s Circle, the celebrity partner gives the clues and the contestant has to guess—not words, but categories. So if the celebrity says “tulip, daisy, rose,” the contestant would say “types of flowers.”

That’s an easy one. Some of the categories are harder to figure out, like “things you recite” (poetry, the Pledge of Allegiance) or “things you squeeze” (a tube of toothpaste, someone’s hand).

The last category is always incredibly hard to guess—maybe “things you prolong” or “things that are warped.” The last category is what stands between the contestants and the big money, and Mom says it doesn’t help that some of these celebrity partners are as dumb as a bag of hair.

If Mom wins her first speed round and correctly guesses all the categories in the Winner’s Circle, she’ll win ten thousand dollars. If she wins a second speed round, the Winner’s Circle is worth fifteen thousand dollars. And if she wins a third time, she’ll go for twenty thousand dollars. That’s what I mean by big money.

During the speed round, you can point or gesture all you want. If the word is “nose,” you can point to your nose. But the rules change in the Winner’s Circle. No hand movements of any kind are allowed, which is why I’m tying Richard’s arms to my desk chair. I’m using the clove hitch.

“You’ve got it reversed again,” Richard says, watching me. “That end should go through the loop…. That’s it—right!”

Mom is looking at us like we’re crazy. “Is this really necessary?”

“She has to practice,” he tells her. “For when you win the sailboat.”

Mom rolls her eyes.

I get my cards ready—I’ve written everything out in fat block letters so Richard can read them from a distance. I’m going to hold them up one at a time behind Mom’s head, where Richard can see them. In the real show, they have these big panels that spin around behind the contestant’s head to reveal the next category, but obviously we don’t have that kind of technology.

Louisa’s lunchtime notes are good—she’s even written down what Dick Clark says at the beginning of every Winner’s Circle. He always uses the same words: “Here is your first subject…. Go.”

We set the egg timer for one minute. Mom has to guess the names of six categories before it goes off. “Here is your first subject,” I say, trying to sound like Dick Clark. “Go.” I hold up the first card so Richard can see it.

The card says “things you climb.” Richard nods and starts giving Mom clues.

“A jungle gym, a mountain …”

“High things?” Mom guesses.

Richard shakes his head. “Um … stairs …”

“Things that go up!” she yells.

He shakes his head again. “… a ladder …”

“Things you climb!”

“Ding!” I say, and hold up the next card.

“Okay,” Richard says. “Paris, cheese, wine …”

“Fancy things!” Mom yells. “Romantic things!” … fries …

“French things!”

“Ding!” Next card.

“A pillow,” Richard says. “A kitten.”

“Soft things?”

“… a cotton ball…”

“Puffy things—fluffy things!”

“Ding!” Next card.

“A baby carriage, a shopping cart…”

“Things that carry things?” Mom guesses. “Things with wheels?”

Richard shakes his head, thinks, and says, “A button.”

“Things you push!”

“Ding!”

The egg timer goes off. We all look at each other—Mom has only guessed four of the six categories. No one says anything.

“It’s okay,” Mom says finally. “We still have two more weeks.”