Annique and Lila lay in the grass, a chessboard resting between them. They were as silent as the sun as they concentrated, eyes fixed on the board. "Checkmate!" called Annique, after moving the queen two squares away from the empty edge. Lila searched out her king. She found it prone in the grass, stoically tickled by the green blades. She placed it on the vacated square in direct line of the queen. The king was surrounded now by fatal fields that dared not be touched. In response Lila allowed one of her pawns to take a diagonal retreat. Annique added a bishop directly in that square, and Lila backed the pawn away a further space. This time Annique slid the queen a few squares down, with Lila placing a rook in the regal woman's wake. Back and forth, more and more pieces appearing. With each turn, the population on the board increased - the pawns, rooks, bishops and knights falling back into their original constellation, like an explosion seen in reverse. Finally the pieces rested on two opposite sides of the chessboard, in two solid rows each. "We won!" Annique and Lila exclaimed together. "Now let's play again!" Lila suggested in a delighted tone. "Yes, let's" Annique agreed, as she turned the board 180 degrees. "But this time," Lila continued, "I will be white, and you will be black."
Story #419
Thanks Tabita for sharing your drawing with us! And thanks everyone for contributing stories! Tabita is a new friend I made at Redbubble where I reposted some of my older stories. I saw some of her drawings in a style I really liked and asked her if she would post more. A few hours later she posted a new drawing, this one you see above, with the comment that she didn't have more, so she had to draw one first. There's an enchanting charm to Tabita's sketches that I can't help liking.
7 comments:
At first, Ilse and Emily were enchanted by the little black and white people, but the ritualized slaughter on the chess board dismayed the girls.
FRIED LIVER ATTACK
“Ah, the Fried Liver Attack,” said JJ, showing off.
Janet giggled. “There’s no such thing, silly.”
“Course there is,” he replied. “It’s in the book Uncle George gave me. I’ll show you.”
He reached for his leather school satchel, retrieved the chess book, and opened to the page which he’d dog-eared in the top right corner. “See, says here that most of the lines are OK for black, but great for white. So you’re on a losing streak, right from the start!”
“You’re just saying that cos you can’t bear that a girl could beat you,” said Janet, moving her queen pawn forward.
“Huh, why would I care,” said JJ, “chess is for girls. And it says here that in eight moves I can put you in ‘...zugzwang...’” he said, struggling to pronounce the German word.
“That’s just rubbish. You made it it up!”
”No I didn’t, I’ll prove it to ya!” Brow furrowed, JJ paged through the book until he reached the index. It took him a while, and much concentration, but eventually he found what he was looking for. “Here it is, ...zugswang. It’s when it’s your turn to move, but every legal move you can make puts you into more trouble.”
A mischievous expression flickered across Janet’s face. Suddenly she reached out and tipped the board over. Then she flung her arms around JJ’s neck and kissed him full and wet upon the mouth. Unfamiliar sensations rippled through his nerve endings. Scary, but wickedly delicious. Then his boyhood kicked in, and he disengaged.
“What you do that for?” he spluttered, "Can't believe you making a move on me!"
“Just putting you in zugzwang,” said Janet, smiling sweetly.
cosmic rapture
Those long, languid Sunday afternoons when Maggie and I would evaporate the day playing chess in her backyard. It all seems so far away now, as in a dream. The years passed and Maggie left while I stayed close to home, married and had three children. She wanted to do something romantic with her life she told me. I never knew what she did with her life. I never saw her again, but her memory is embedded deep in my consciousness and on some Sunday afternoons I think about her and wonder where she is and if she ever really did something "romantic" with her life.
Hi Indie!
Very nice drawing that of your friend Tabita :) I love the way they have their hands on their mouths thinking :)
I'm afraid I can't come up with any stories based on the drawing:( My creativity today is more or less zero :(
Hope you had a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Weirsdo: Such innocent girls and such slaughter! I'm glad they did not enjoy it.
Master Mistery: Your story was so delightful. It made me want to be a boy again, and playing chess with a girl. Zugzwang really is a word, too!
Lorena: That's so true, playing chess, and reminiscing. Such a nice lazy thing to do on Sunday afternoons.
La delirante: It's nice if you stop by and read, there's no need to feel any "zugzwang"!
"Just wait till Izzie finds the squashed bug under the rook," smirked Eugenia. "She's going to freak and run away screaming. And then I'll win by forfeit. She's such a wuss!"
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