Chess and the Union (part 1)

I just sat there staring at her. It wasn’t just that she beat me; it was the way she did it. I had all these conflicting thoughts running through my head. I kept thinking how pretty she was and how so very cocky too. She was dazzling and then there was this stuff she did with her hands and how she would twirl her fingers when she got upset at herself. Watching her dancing brows, I would lose concentration; she was so intense and yet so fragile. She looked exactly like the best trophy on my shelf. Something you never ever wanted to lose. I had told her about the trophy thing and watched calmly as those beautiful brows popped into arcs.

“What? Trophy? Your trophy on a shelf!” I had grinned to myself and added, “Yup, so long as it’s priceless and something I’d never want to lose”

I still remember the look in her eyes when she said, “I’m not going to be your trophy or anybody’s else, not now, not ever!” and how she got up and floated away. I never saw her walk, not once; she would glide if she was in a hurry and float when she wasn’t eager. She still does till this very day.

I was thirteen and she was ten but I adored her so. Sixteen years later, my friend, Al, had called one cool Sunday afternoon to tell me, “Hey Ego, I need you to come over and give someone the whopping of a lifetime.” “You guys playing some chess?” I had asked. “Yeah and we’ve got a killer shark on board” I didn’t need prodding; I was home alone and bored silly. It was a sight I’ll never forget, I had walked through the door, expecting to see some guy with a sheepish grin lording it over my guys, and there she was, all fun of the sun and fully blown. “You didn’t tell me it was a she.” I muttered, “What difference would that have made?” Al asked but I just couldn’t get my eyes off her. She looked strangely familiar but I couldn’t place her. “Hi”, I offered staring down at her as she cocked her head sideways “Yeah… Hi! Al said he was fetching some help but I never thought it’d come in the form of a football player!” We all laughed, she was so very cute.

I sat across from her wondering what kind of chess she played. Without doubt, she was a very cool cat but there was something extra, lurking behind that golden smile, and I could tell. Written all over her were the word “Fox”, well yes, like in foxy mama and foxy ‘killer’. Suddenly, I wasn’t too sure of myself and I had this still distant feeling that my friends were in for a surprise. I was their local champ and the worst thing that could happen to me about then was get beat in front of them. That was how it was as we went to play. I played hard and fast and she responded in kind. All through play, I kept thinking, I’ve seen this pattern of play before. Who, where? There simply was no recall, and then it happened. She slipped and I grabbed a pun. I froze as I watched those brows pop…then her hands and those twirling fingers. I must have stared at her for a lifetime, drinking her up and grinning from cheek to cheek. “Well… ” The memories were flooding back, blocking off all thoughts and vision. “Well, are you going to make your move or not?” “What?” “It’s your turn to play” “Oh…that!” Then, she went and did that stuff with her brows again and that was when I knew I was never going to win the game.

I just couldn’t think chess and I was wondering how to tell her about our childhood grown apart and how so very much I missed her. I was still at it when she said “You know, I had a childhood friend who played like you do, fast and quick, but guess what?” “What?” “He would always lose because instead of staying focused on the game he kept staring at me. Just like you are doing now”, she added as she took my black knight out of play. “He must have really liked you” “Why do you think?” “Well, let me just speak for myself. It’ll take an event like you to break my concentration in chess” “Would that be an excuse for losing?” she asked as another pun of mine left play. “Could be, I guess” “And is that the same as saying every time we play you’d lose because you can’t quit staring?” My friends were simply beside themselves with laughter. “Well, let me put it this way. The only way you’re going to get a really good game out of me is if we get married” “What!” The room erupted in laughter but I kept a steady mien, looking her straight in the eyes. “Yeah right…in your dreams.” “So, this your childhood friend, does he still keep in touch?” “Nope, we sort of went our different ways but I know he’s at MIT, he always wanted to be an astronaut AND a Formula One driver” I kept thinking but I never told her that and yes, I did wish. “He’s that kind of guy that loves living dangerously but nice” It kept on echoing in my head “…but nice” She never said stuff like that to my face, heck, I didn’t even know she cared!

“Hmm…you must have made him feel pretty good about himself, telling him flattering stuff like that” “Nope, he was too full of himself already” I felt myself sink into the chair, you know, grow small. “How?” “He was good at so much stuff, he really had difficulties communicating” “Communicating? How long ago was this, I thought you said childhood friend?” “Yup! About fifteen, sixteen years ago” She remembered, I thought. “You must have been pretty young, kids do have problems communicating at that age you know” “Not him, he grew up really fast and only kept the company of adults. It was mutual, he was electric with figures and they just loved to have him best grown ups at mathematics. His best friends, he would always tell me, were his Dad and Mum and I really liked this guy but he was too distracted by stuff to even notice.” I was in a daze; my mind was spinning at shuttle speed. “… and I really liked this guy…and I really liked this guy…” The echo was haunting me. “Liked him? I’m sure you couldn’t tell, you were such kids!” “Maybe, but grown up enough to know when I liked a guy” Wow! I kept thinking, she really, really liked me. I didn’t even notice I had lost another pun. “Well, what if you met him now? Would he still stand a chance?” “Well, that depends” “On?” “On which direction he’s grown” “Let’s just pretend and say he makes out like the football player you say I am” “Are you asking if he were like you, would I approve?” “Just searching out some descriptive content” “And would it be the same as asking if I like men like you?” “Well, do you?” “Physically, perhaps. Content-wise, I wouldn’t know because I barely know you but if you are anything like your game then I must say you get easily distracted” For emphasis, she made her move to pin my queen in a precarious position.

Just about everyone had lost interest in the game, they all wanted to hear this conversation out. Onyechi couldn’t contain himself “Forget what he looks like, do you miss him? If he walked in the door and proposed would you marry him?” “Marry him? That’s a bit farfetched, he could be married or overdeveloped or floating in space with no time for family. I’d need to take a second look at him” Bayo chipped in “Is he Nigerian?” “Yep” “You’re at Harvard, how come you never bothered to look him up?” Al asked. “Oh, I’m pretty sure with his good looks he’d have found someone else by now” I felt the rush and then the burning sensation beneath my face. “You really miss this guy, I can tell. Those sparkles in your eyes tell the whole story. I think you’re just scared to find out if he’s married or not” Chris chipped in. “He’s too cool not to be” she added as I grabbed her knight and said “I think you are about as distracted in chess over him as he is you” I could barely hear her as she muttered “I think so” I was all jelly in the heart for her, I had missed her, so very much. I could feel her misery and longing, she had completely lost interest in our game and had this faraway look in her misty eyes. “He never said goodbye”, she whispered to nobody in particular. It was so quiet I could hear my heart throbbing. We all stared at her, feeling her in the silence. And I never saw anything quite as pretty.

To be continued…

Chess and the Union (concluded) 

Who is going to read all of this?