Cool. Yup. I can handle hopping “Sunday Service.” Yup, I can.

He led us around a corner and down a longish hallway toward a door. I thought I could hear a mishmash of muffled sounds like cheers and beeps and crashes and even some colorful language coming from behind the door. Shanti tugged at my short ponytail and said, “Get ready” in a low voice.

For what? And why would Shanti bring me to something I had to ‘get ready’ for? Hadn’t we had enough to deal with these past few days?

When Oumar opened the door with a flourish, what unfolded in front of us was, perhaps, best described as “elder games.” Everything from shuffleboard to card games to pool to some kind of bowling game I’d never seen before to jumbo Jenga extended out in every direction, filling up every available inch of a recreation space. There were even two old-school arcade games in the corner—Pac-Man and Dig Dug—the sources of the beeping, I realized.

Oumar flung open his arms, almost belting an older woman to his right with his cane, and announced, “Sunday Service, mesdemoiselles!”

I turned to Shanti, who shrugged and said, “You think roller derby folks are competitive?” She nodded to a corner of the room, where a group of people were huddled around some kind of amusement. When I looked to Shanti again with a thousand questions on my face, she just laughed and took my hand. “I promise this is the kind of ridiculous you’ll like. Trust me.”

“Okay…” I took a breath and decided to believe her.

Dragging me over to the cluster of white-haired onlookers, she tapped on a couple of shoulders and was greeted by a number of familiar and enthusiastic “Shantis” and “My dears.” The circle broke open a little to allow us in, and sitting at a card table at the nucleus of the gathering was Yolanda, serious as ever and arm-wrestling another woman who looked to be about her age. Bee stood behind Yolanda, barking all kinds of encouragements like a boxing coach.

The other woman wrestling Yolanda was twice as thick in every portion of her body than Yolanda, but somehow their entwined fists were perfectly poised midway, tensely vibrating with both women’s efforts.

After a few seconds wherein my mouth drifted wide open and my eyes darted from each woman to their blue-veined fists to their plump little biceps, I couldn’t help but let loose a “Woo!” I didn’t even know was coming. Watching these two tough old ladies duke it out stirred up a kind of excitement in me that felt simple and easy. I didn’t even care who won. I think we were all winning at the moment.

Shanti let out a “Woo” of her own, and when Bee caught sight of us, she followed with a howling “Gooooo Yoooooo!” which made me laugh.