Fragments - Flash Anthology

Twenty-Two

When I was seven, I went to my school's chess club. Somehow, I did well in the club to the point that when we all went to the state tournament in San Antonio, Texas, I was asked by all the other parents and the coach to do well so our team could do well (we shared points to get a team ranking).

But that's not what I remember. This is:

A long trip in the car, hours of blurry streetlamps passing by the cool back seat window. The seat was rough and uncomfortable, but I still slept a little while my dad drove us from Dallas to the middle of the state. One of the last things I saw was a long, bending bridge of concrete going around in a wide loop--a series of highway ramps. Then, I had to have slept until the morning because I remember the inside of our hotel room next. The room felt huge at the time, like at least twice as big as my room back home--and I remember cereal for some reason. There was a long wall in our room with white and red wallpaper with long lines going across, and that's when my dad brought out the leather chessboard he had rolled up, and then he handed me the leather bag with the heavy plastic chess pieces that smelled of coffee on the felt bottoms. We played for hours I think, and then I don't remember much until we went out and I had to play in the first round of the tournament. There were hundreds of tables and maybe a thousand kids and adults all around the massive room where the games were being played. I'd never been around so many people before--I felt lost and unsure, but I made it to the right table with my pencil and note-paper for writing moves down.

The first game, the second game, the third--the day sped right by as I played all three rounds. Each time, the games had a soft buzz of hundred of children making small sounds and saying "check" to each other. And, of course, the clicks and thuds of check pieces being moved and removed about and off the leather boards. It was cramped and close sitting in one of a dozen rows with a hundred kids lined up along the tables in the chairs. Even though I was small for the chairs, I had to look at the board or my note-pad, otherwise, I couldn't stand looking around and taking in all the sounds.