The sweet, orangey flavor of Cream Savers never fails to give me a craving for Smocka Dolls.Ê This is the name my mother gave to the fantasy board game Mage Knights upon our first introduction to it.

When I was eleven, Elder Smocka, one of the two LDS missionaries in the McCall area at the time, brought over his companion, Elder Willis, a box of his Mage Knight pieces, and a bag of strawberry Cream Savers. After the three of us convinced my mother to play, we seated ourselves around the antique kitchen table. While each of us sucked on a Cream Saver, we listened to Elder Smocka as he explained the rules of the game.Ê The object was simple: to be the player with the last army standing.Ê

He proceeded to empty the contents of his cardboard box, which was labeled Mage Knights, out onto the table.Ê Little plastic figures scattered in all directions. ÊElder Willis shot out his hand to prevent a female centaur from plummeting to the floor.Ê Tiny plastic warriors were everywhere.Ê I could not see the table through the goblins, robots, centaurs, and elementals.Ê They looked like they could have been plucked from a scene in The Lord of the Rings.Ê Elder Smocka interrupted his arranging of his beloved Mage Knights to offer us each another Cream Saver by holding out the bag and singing the old Cream Saver jingle:Ê"Ooo la la Cream! Cream, yum! Creamiest Creamiest Life Savers, yeah... Yummm!" Ê

After each of us had accepted another candy, Elder Smocka told us about the combat system and how to use it. ÊOn the back of each little warrior was a number that indicated how much the unit was worth.Ê Each player was allotted the same number of collective points.Ê In this way, one person could have two extremely powerful units, or seventeen weaklings.Ê The base of each figurine was a circular dial with an "L"-shaped hole, through which a player might view four numbers, some of which were highlighted with different colors to indicate special abilities.Ê These digits showed the unit's speed, (the number of inches it could move in a turn), its attack, its defense, and its special attack number. With each counterclockwise turn of the dial, the unit lost one hitpoint and usually some attack, defense, and/or special abilities. I giggled at the other missionary. Elder Willis had obviously lost interest in the rules.Ê He was animating an intense battle between a scantily-clad Blade Mistress and a goblin ranger behind SmockaÕs back.Ê Elder Smocka noticed, and then stopped his homily on how to play. He peered out over his nerdy, round glasses with mock anger at his playful companion.

When the game finally got going, Elder Willis's army seemed to be the strongest.Ê It took all of my pieces, and looked like it was about to do the same to Elder Smocka's when his turn came.Ê Smocka flew a seemingly harmless unit into the middle of the battle and with some special ability that he "forgot" to mention, killed most of Willis's regiment and rendered the few survivors innocuous.Ê

I began to wait all week for that one day when the missionaries were allowed to play games -- only, of course, after their weekly preparation of housecleaning and studying.Ê Tuesday afternoon always saw them at our house with their dirty laundry, Smocka Dolls, and a bag of Cream Savers.

"Of all the places IÕve traveled, I think the place that is most memorable was my trip to Africa in 1980," says Dr. Herald Nokes as we sit in his cozy basement facing each other across an ancient, teal card-table.Ê "This group of photographers organized this trip for a very small group to go.Ê They asked my good friend Scottie Glen to go because he had given them a few pictures in the past.Ê They asked him if he had any friends who would want to go, and he contacted me.Ê It didnÕt take me very long to say yes.Ê Of course I wanted to go to Africa.Ê Scottie and I were the only two who were not either a wildlife photographer or a wildlife artist."Ê My seventy-eight-year-old grandfather chuckles and says, "Off the record, my photos were just as good as any of theirs."

An air of thoughtful reminiscence flows over his face.Ê "The highlight of the trip was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.Ê After a very frightening air plane ride from Arusha, Tanzania, to the Kilimanjaro airport in a horrendous thunderstorm, we traveled by vehicle to Moshe town Ð a small town at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro."Ê Wanting to exclude no detail, Dr. Nokes describes the plane he and the rest of his party flew in.Ê "The plane was a brand new 737 with a painting of a giraffe on the tail."

In Moshe town the travelers acquired all the equipment they would need on their hike to the tallest point in Africa.Ê The next morning they set out. "It took us four days to reach the summit of Kilimanjaro," Dr. Nokes says. "It was interesting to see how the vegetation differed at various levels of elevation.Ê In the rain-forest type country we passed through on the first day, there were exotic flowers like gladiolas, the wild African violet, and the blood lily Ð a brilliant red, four-inch cluster of small flowers. At the end of each day we stayed at a bunkhouse-type structure built for mountain climbers.Ê The first night and second nights' lodges were made of wood, but the last was made of rock.Ê In each, there was usually a central stove for warmth and for drying clothes.Ê There were several simple wooden bunks around the inside of each building. The huts were fairly primitive."

"By the time we reached 18,000 feet I was experiencing high-altitude sickness."ÊÊ Dr. Nokes continues by scientifically describing his symptoms: "I was dizzy and having intermittent spells of nausea.Ê My bodyÕs response was very interesting.Ê I would start to climb and slowly take three or four steps at which point I was overcome by nausea.Ê I would sit down to rest, lean on my walking stick and immediately fall asleep."Ê He abruptly snaps his fingers. "Just like that." He continues:Ê "A minute or less later, I would wake up, stand up, climb another three or four steps, become nauseated, sit down, and go to sleep.Ê This occurred over and over again until I reached the summit."Ê Luckily for the climbers, altitude was not a problem until 1,000 feet from the top.

In order to remember his exact thoughts as he gazed out over Africa, he stands up, walks to his bookshelf, and pulls out one of many small, leather-bound books. The word Journal is engraved in the cover.Ê He begins to flip through pages.Ê They obviously spark his memory because he does not need the diary for long.Ê "I was up there when the sun rose.Ê It was really sunny when the sun came up.Ê When youÕre at 19,000 feet, the sky is almost black.Ê The higher you get, the darker the sky gets." He glances back at the open book in his hands.Ê "Another interesting thing was that from the ground, Mount Kilimanjaro looks like it just goes up to a point, but from the top you see that it goes down into a crater.Ê As I sat on the summit, I was enjoying the fact that I was able to get there at all."Ê Two of the artists in the party were forced to turn back because of the altitude.

"You always think about whether it's worth it or not but it's one of those things. You set a goal to get to the top and you just have to do it.Ê It wasn't easy.Ê It was a really difficult hike to the summit.Ê But it was worth it.Ê Oh my, yes.Ê It's always worth it to do those things." He pauses to grin and then he chuckles. "I've been bragging about it ever since."