Bismuth

The Brain snapped the fingers of her left hand across the hardtop table and took a bite of her messy sundae. She was either pissed off or concentrating intensely on that particular bite. Given the circumstances of the night, it was safe to say the former was most likely by far. And if she was angry, I couldn't blame her one bit. 

Listen, on this team we're all competitive people. There's a reason why one of our favorite social outlets is matching wits with perfect strangers. We all like to show off, and we all love to win. And the Brain may hate losing more than any of us. 

The category, "Medicine" seemed intimidating, but  question was straightforward enough: "What chemical element is the active ingredient in Pepto Bismol?" I thought I knew the answer and when another of my teammates said "Magnesium!" I thought we had it. It was rare for two of us to come to the same incorrect answer independently. When another teammate agreed, the answer seemed clear. 

"It's bismuth." the Brain seemed so sure. 

We all turned toward her, agape. For a moment no one said a word. We looked at each other through eyes slit in concentration. "Are you sure?" I asked, "I've never heard of that. Is it even an element." 

"Why do you think it's called Pepto-Bismol?" she asked, brushing her bangs away from her eyes. There was an absolute certainty in her voice. And a hint of disdain. 

"Okay" I hesitated, "Can you tell me where it is on the periodic table?" I was hoping to settle the dispute quickly. 

"I dunno... Somewhere on the right?" This was a tough situation. The Brain was our best player, but there was a flicker of doubt in her eyes.  Or there seemed to be. 

Let me explain my role on the team. I am not, by any stretch, the most intelligent nor do I specialize in any particular subject. Indeed the area I should be best at, literature, is one of the teams worst. No, my most important job is to resolve disputes. 

Inevitably in the course of any trivia contest, the team will put forth more than one reasonable answer. Deciding on one can be a delicate process. Obviously our number one objective is to find the best answer. Consensus is the best solution of course, but sometimes it's impossible to achieve amongst 4-7 team members in one minute. 

This was one of those times. Three of us were pretty sure the answer was magnesium. Moreover we were all pretty sure this thing called bismuth was not an element.  Still our best player thought the answer was bismuth. 

After thinking as long as we could think, we answered magnesium. I certainly had my reservations, but I thought it was the one that had the best chance to be correct. I knew without any doubt there would be consequences if the answer was bismuth. 

Sometimes The Host gives the answer right away. He needs to keep the game moving at a decent pace. Once in a while, however, he does his best impression of Regis from "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire". This was one of those times. 

It seems silly to say, but I could hardly breathe as he took a long pause then read the answer. Bismuth. In an earlier post I said one of the greatest joys in trivia is being right as the odd one out. The Brain, I could tell, did not find any joy in her victory. 

Despite our setback, we kept fighting. We knew the answer to "What does the symbol AR stand for on the periodic table" (Argon) and "Which cartoon dog was born and raised at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm" (Snoopy). And even though we didn't know who Mork's boss was on Mork and Mindy (Orson) or which NFL coach with two Super Bowl wins won the fewest regular season games (Jimmy Johnson), we were in third heading into the final question. 

Sometimes you know a question without having to think at all, and sometimes you can figure it out through deductive reasoning. This question fit neither definition: "Arrange these hit songs by when they came out from first to last: 

1. The Wallflowers, 6th Ave. Heartache 

2. Sting, Fortress around Your Heart

3. Paula Abdul, Cold Hearted

4. Genesis, Hold on My Heart"

I've lost our answer sheet so I cannot tell you what our answer was. I can tell you that we were not close to correct. The right answer was Sting, Paula Abdul, Genesis, Wallflowers. We started gathering out stuff and paying our check, another frustrating week down the drain. 

As The Host read the answers, I was only half listening. There were seven teams at the bar and The Host hadn't read our name, "Obama Care Bear Stare yet. This was a rare week. Every team got the question wrong and we had all bet the max. 

As things turned out we finished third. The same place in which we started the final round. Sometimes in trivia, you can play as badly as possible and things turn out okay. For third place we received a ten dollar gift card, and so we slunk into the night, ashamed but not empty handed. 

Halftime Question: 

"During the Cold War what did STAR between the US and the Soviet Union stand for."

1. 

2. 

3. 

4.