F U T U R E B A R R I E R
( The 2nd Novel )
Secret Technology, Unrequited Love, Absolute Vengeance
© July 2015 Written by David Wicker
Please do not reprint without permission
CHAPTER 44 - "Light Speed Chess"
[ CHOOSE A DIFFERENT CHAPTER TO READ ]
* * *
This chapter is Rated: EVERYONE
Whether I was ready or not, my Dad set down his newspaper to go to the living room to retrieve the chess set and a special timer he made at work for me, specifically designed to train me in Speed Chess.
It ran just a hair faster than 10 seconds so it actually counted only 9 seconds though it counted down from 10 to 0. He did that to give me an edge over the 10-second standard limit.
He headed to the living room to retrieve the chess set and then we went into the dining room and set it on the table. Mom pulled up a couple of chairs and poured out some drinks. A beer for Dad, Kool-Aid for me, and a cherry soda for Lilly.
Dad stood up taking a single black and white pawn from the board to hold behind his back.
"Choose carefully." he said and then put his arms behind him.
I pointed to his left hand. He quickly shuffled his hands to change pieces as I smirked at him. "You always do that so I get the black piece !" I complained.
My Dad was unapologetic, "Dev, you learn a better game of chess if you start off at a disadvantage. You know that. Now remember, Speed Chess means you make a move every 10-seconds or you forfeit that move ! Ready ? C'mon champ ! You can do it ! Begin !"
We started. As I played I kept both hands in my lap and darted out only my right hand to make moves, and I always favored my knights. They were the most powerful piece on the board in my opinion. Even more powerful than the Queen, though some might argue the point with me on that.
Dad tried some classic textbook maneuvers which I quickly worked around. The clock ran down to 4-seconds on me per move but my brain was as fast and sharp as ever.
But then I saw Lilly sipping at her cherry soda when it was my Dad's turn and he was running down the 10-seconds thinking of a move for himself. For a moment all the sounds around me got quiet. I heard her sip softly on the can again. She licked her lips at the savory cherry flavor. She looked to me and smiled. I saw a bit of red on her lips.
My brain froze up as my vision zoomed to the red around her mouth.
Soda. Red stain. Red. Lips. Cherry. Lollipop. Lipgloss. Tyr's lipgloss. Tyr's cherry lipgloss. Tyr's cherry lollipop flavored lipgloss. Tyr... Tyr. Tyr !
"Tyr !" I suddenly cried out and started bawling out loud nearly falling out of my chair from grief in her absence.
Lilly bounced out of her chair in an instant and reached over to comfort me. Mom was there too. Dad tapped the pause on the chess clock. He didn't say anything but humphed, disappointedly and got up to get another beer.
Lilly was the first to speak. "Ohgod, Dev, you're not gonna be uppin for the chess tonite if you keep thinking of Tyr ! She gone to be okay huh ?" and she hugged me. Mom hugged me too.
"Baby." My Mom said, "We're going to do EVERYTHING we can to get Tyr back. It's very nice of you to have your party at your friend's house so we can concentrate on talking to the police about her. That is when the call is supposed to come in to the station. But right now you need to concentrate on your chess !"
She looked to the board and had a confused expression, "While I don't entirely understand the game, I know it's important to your Father, and you've had 10 straight wins. I'm afraid it would break his own heart more than yours if you lost this time. Concentrate. You can do it ! I have faith in you, Do it for your Father, Dev !"
And she kissed me on my forehead stroking my hair lovingly.
Dad returned, "Are we ready to play a game here ?" he asked gruffly.
Well, was I ? I adjusted myself in my chair as we sat back down. There was a moment of silence. Then Dad reached for the clock but Lilly spoke, interrupting his movements in her quiet and timid voice, "Ms. Borne, can I set a little closer to Dev please ?"
She smiled, "Sure, sweetie. You think you can give him some support for the game ?"
"You betcha." she said sincerely.
"Awright." she said slowly, not entirely understanding what Lilly was up to.
They both got up and changed places. Lilly scooted her chair even closer to me. I could smell the cinnamon on her lipgloss now. Dad watched the both of us, as if there was some secret going on between us. I looked at Lilly. She had something in mind, but I didn't know what.
"Are we ready now ?" he asked. There was no reply. "Here we go." he added and then he hit the 10-second timer to make his last move. After he picked up his finger to show its permanence, he hit the timer again and it was 10-seconds. It way my move now.
All at once Lilly darted her hand to my free left hand under the table and held it. The warm comfortable feeling of my hand being held again by a girl at once entered my brain. She squeezed it comfortingly. For a moment I envisioned the terrible scene with the girls playing with me in the bathroom, but that faded quickly.
At once my brain went to the all-comforting feeling. A girl was holding my hand ! And this time she cared about me ! It wasn't just to hold me in place for a stupid bathroom game. LILLY cared about me ! I looked to her for a moment and she returned a shy smile.
Right then my brain solved the board ! I'm not kidding. When she did that my brain darted ahead so fast that I saw the entire ending to the game no matter what moves Dad would make at this point.
Dad stood by and sweated watching me not even bother to hit the 10-second timer as after every move he made I was already lifting up my free right hand to pick up a piece and move it. Lilly giggled and tickled her fingers playfully along my wrist. I shuddered in pleasure myself feeling my throat tickle, like I was swallowing melted cinnamon.
I coughed at the unusual pleasure there. I would also get that if someone stroked my hair but that wasn't happening right now so I was surprised it was happening now.
After several minutes and Dad not even getting a chance to get back at his beer cause there was no time between my moves, the game was over, checkmate, I had won. And I had won with a knight ! OMIGOD I had always wanted to do that and never could do it before today ! Usually I won with a lousy Queen, which I regarded as a cheap win in my book.
Lilly tickled the inside of my palm with her finger as a reward for winning carefully watching the expression in my face, and then with great reluctance, let it go as I pulled away, a little distractedly.
There was a moment of silence as Dad was speaking under his breath. "4th level, King's Knight, Kasparov's maneuver, Kramnik's trap from ... checkmate." Dad stood up from his chair to look incredulously at me.
Lilly took her cherry soda with both hands and slurped it loudly enjoying my moment of victory. Easily won it certainly appeared to him.
Finally Dad added angrily, not really loud and more muttering in an exhausted tone but an aggravate one at the same time, "Where the HELL did you learn that, Dev ?"
"Harold ?" my Mom asked concerned that Dad was raising his voice to me.
He ignored her and rose from his chair continuing to point an accusing finger at me, "Dev. I'm waiting for an answer."
He was clearly upset that he just got the crap beat out of him, by his own son who didn't even bother to hit the timer for his moves he was so efficient at chess.
Light-speed chess at it's best.
My own throat tickled in delight again. I coughed in laughter touching it with my fingers. What brought that on ?
Dad stood up fully, completely threatening now, "Don't you laugh at me, young man. Explain yourself GODDAMMIT !"
I took on a serious expression. What did happen ? I wasn't supposed to be that smart. Wow ! No-one's that smart ! Maybe SIM was finally plugged in the right way ?
I looked down at the board. Most chess games weren't supposed to be over as quickly as we played this one. I swallowed hard, "Dad, ahhm, I guess I just finally got my game face on."
There was a moment of tense silence which my Mom suddenly laughed at to break the tension. Lilly did too. Dad lowered his head staring at me with a hangdog look. Finally he shook his head back and forth, bewildered at what he saw and the game he played. He finally laughed too.
He laughed out loud. "Omigod !" he chortled, "You really beat the stuffing outta me !" and he got up to pat me hard on my back. "Well done, well done, tiger !" And then it was smiles all around now.
"And to think," he added trying to get a bit of credit for himself which I didn't mind at this point, "I taught him everything he knows !"
Just then we heard an alarm go off. It was the kitchen timer. My Mom set it to remind us of the tournament tonight.
* * *
"I wanna wear my lucky shirt !" I said suddenly.
My Mom smiled at me. I had always worn it for tournaments.
I think in a way it distracted my opponent. It was a solid black shirt and showed an almost sinister version of the knight.
It was all in silver with a glowing red eye and then text beneath it in spidery print, "Never Underestimate The Knight !" and then a smaller chessboard showing every square filled on the chessboard with the possible moves a knight could make, changing color when one appeared beside the other.
It appeared like random colors on the board but to a true chess player it was showing every possible move, showing that the Knight could indeed touch every square on the board, something a lot of people, at first glance, would not believe. I always imagined that, the better you were at chess, the more distracting it was for my shirt to look at it.
It was my ace-in-the-hole, but now I had a new advantage. Lilly's touch ! I had hoped she could hold my hand during the tournament but I didn't know if that would happen.
"Hurry up, honey !" she called at my door. I was staring at the shirt and was losing track of the time. I flomped it on, changed into some comfortable shorts, also black. Originally they were for smaller kids and had a picture of a pirate's treasure chest with a little gold spilled out the top.
I didn't wear them anymore when I was accused on the internet onetime of being a software pirate by Marty, my best friend there. I hated that ! Since the shorts reminded me of that, I threw them away.
But My Mom retrieved them and took it with her sewing machine and added text above it that said in gold print, "Treasure Chess" and then sewed in a little machine-washable 8x8 chessboard at a 45 degree angle minus the pieces, sitting on top of the chest of gold.
She then gave it to me for my Birthday last year. I thought it was terribly clever gesture what she did, and I wore them for the last opponent I beat, "Scott The Rock." So they were definitely my lucky chess shorts like my T-shirt. I snugged them around my waist, popping the waistband for good measure and got everything else ready.
Mom, Dad, and Lilly were all waiting at the bottom of the staircase for me. I stepped out and whirled down the steps when Lilly smiled at me.
"Wow, Dev ! You really do like chess, huh ?" Then she reached and fingered my shorts where the chessboard was. I knew Mom & Dad would think that was an innocent gesture as she was curious about the design, but it was ticklish as she kept probing it, so I pulled away. She gave me a wide smile at that. Something she would clearly remember.
I was ticklish around my hips and I was certain she'd try to get me there again later.
"Yep, I love chess !" I said proudly trying to change the uncomfortable mood and rubbing my side to take away the tickly feeling.
Dad reached out and tousled my hair a bit before adding, "And don't forget, I taught him everything he knows."
I nodded in agreement and then we all piled into the car and were on our way. The school wasn't far. I looked up into the sky and saw the pretty stars with the crescent moon. The little town of Wanabee emphasized the importance of clean air so all within our district, if you wanted to see the stars, Wanabee was the place to be !
We had a little pennant at Central Downtown that showed a silhouette of a boy with a telescope looking up at the stars with his Father at his right shoulder. that was our city logo for Wanabee and I thought it looked great.
We had a hard time finding a parking place ! It seemed like everyone in the city had shown up for the event. I grumbled a bit to myself thinking they should save a parking place for us, after all, I was the reason they were coming to see !
I curbed that thought for a moment. Once SIM was fully active, I would need to watch what I thought and not get too big a head with ideas about how important I was. That would be my downfall.
"Pride goeth before a fall." I told myself silently.
We finally found a parking place and I saw Marty and a bunch of my other friends from the library and my classes greet me warmly. I shook hands with Marty and we piled into the school.
It always was kind of odd to see the school at night.
((
I remembered last Halloween getting spooked and had to go home early
because the costumes the kids were wearing were awful looking. Not awful
like bad quality but awful cause they were so scary to me.
My Mom put a
supportive hand around my back and we got back home. I stayed to watch a children's Halloween film as she went out to buy a bag of mixed candy to put in
a Halloween bag for me to enjoy.
Tyr was pissed that I wasn't at
school for the Halloween festivities, because of, her words, "I was
sucha little crybaby, scared of the booboo masks !" and kicked me in my
shin when I saw her the next day at school to show her anger )).
But now I was older, and soon going to be 18-years old ! I knew Halloween was coming up. My Birthday was first. Then we entered the gym. Everything was put away, all the other exercise equipment, and the rotatable lights were focused in the center.
They had color tints on them as well, purple and light blue, to add to the mood of the tournament.
In the center was a square table with large chess pieces, already in place. Little placards were on the sides, showing where I sat and my opponent sat. There were 3 chairs, one for me, for my opponent, and one for the person controlling the clock to countdown 10-seconds per move.
There was a camera crew there too. It was the Wanabee news team to film the event. Because it was difficult for others to see the chessboard up in the stands, a special camera hung from the ceiling which showed zoomed in on the board and pieces on huge screens hanging at all 4 corners of the gym.
More cameras were hung so they could see the players faces and expressions as they moved.
There was definitely not any room for cheating !
There were many interesting rules of the tournament that I was aware of.
[1] You must make a move every 10-seconds. If you fail, you forfeited that turn.
[2] Once you lift a piece you you must move it, you cannot replace it and pick another. If you cannot move it, you forfeit a turn.
[3] Special moves like Castling and even En Passant were permitted.
[4] Any pawn reaching the other side became a Queen and they had 16 extra Queen pieces.
[5] There was no stalemate. Pieces were counted as points to determine a victory then.
[6] If you set down a piece and were still in check afterwards, your opponent automatically won !
And there was that chess move I hated, En Passant ! That chess move was a joke, made by someone angry cause he lost at chess I know. But my Dad worked with me all last year till I became familiar with it so I could work it into my strategy. I was surprised to know that Scott The Rock made that one of his opening moves.
I also honed my skills on movements of the Knight, my favorite piece. As I stepped up to my chair there was thunderous applause, I was, after all, the leading champion for the past 10 tournaments which appeared three times a year.
The cameras always made me a little nervous. I smiled to them and the applause continued. Finally I sat down in my chair, realizing it wasn't terribly comfortable. My opponent wasn't there yet. I looked around to see a chair on the side and scooted it up not telling anyone else that I was going to have Lilly sit to the left of me at the square table.
Then I heard a wolf whistle from Marty who motioned his finger to look behind me. I did and suddenly saw her. A pretty little girl with lemon-colored hair.
She was wearing a flattering black and red short checkered skirt that revealed judge the the edge of her panties when she walked by. The smug look on her face showed me she believed she looked totally hot.
I thought I recognized her for a moment as she breezed on by me, not even acknowledging me, but then I dismissed it as a coincidence.
She even had the audacity to be wearing a little crystal tiara that appeared to be the queen's crown from the chess game. That was really stupid of her, I thought to myself. If she loses this game, her disgrace will be even greater since she had dressed in royalty like she had won the game already.
As she approached I kept my words to myself. However she shocked me by addressing me directly the answer to my unspoken question, "But I'm not GOING to lose this game, Dev, I'm going to WIN !" she said which shocked me. Did she read my mind ?
The cameras gave her a nice closeup as she waved to all her friends out in TV Land and there was sparse applause, which she sneered at, not getting as much as I did. I swallowed hard forcing myself to relax, now that her eyes were off of me to concentrate on the game ahead.
END OF CHAPTER 44
Return back HOME
prev chapter
Share This
Email
Facebook
Twitter
Read Request
My Library
Subscribe
Flag Writing
