Chess Players: Atlantis and the Mockingbird by DeVaughn A.P

Author:DeVaughn, A.P. [DeVaughn, A.P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: A.P. DeVaughn
Published: 2016-02-25T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 19: Exodus, Part 1

The next day, I decide to give Bill a visit for some much-needed advice after my recent episodes at school and at the Rose. Maybe he can settle my conflict between self-preservation and saving my friends, too. Plus, I’ll get detention for skipping a few classes, which isn’t so bad anymore.

“Ah, Dwight. How’s it going?” he says as he opens the door. We make small talk as I enter and sit in our usual spots.

“Have you ever been in love?” I ask him.

“Yes,” he replies. “I’ve been in love a few times. Each time was different. No love is the same, you know. The love you have for your mother is not the same as for a woman you fall in love with, or the next woman you fall in love with after that. Love will make you do things you’ve never done before. It turns you into a different man. I remember my first time. Turned me into a walking idiot,” he says, laughing.

“Why do you ask? Are you interested in a young girl?” he asks.

“Sort of,” I say. “It’s complicated. She’s older than me. I’m having that feeling of being an idiot as well.”

“Well, what I have learned is that the idiot that you’ve turned into is going to turn her away. The person that she likes was the person you were before you turned into the idiot. Be a man first and a lover second, and as a man, you must take care of priorities first.”

Bill was right, even though I was stupefied by what happened with Biel and me, I still had to save my friends and myself. With what I know now about my father’s unfinished business, Biel would be a huge help in completing the task.

“Besides girl problems, what else seems to be bothering you? Seems like you may have something else on your mind.”

“When you were in the military, were you ever afraid of killing your enemy?” I ask.

“Yes, I’d say so. I can remember my first time heading into combat. It was a beautiful morning, that is until the bombs and mortars started to walk their way up to our position. That feeling of imminent death, knowing that the guy you had lunch with earlier may not be having breakfast with you in the morning. It was long ago, but I can still feel myself shaking like a leaf in the wind. A real greenhorn I was. But with fear comes respect. Never underestimate your enemy. If you do not respect your enemy, then your arrogance will cause you to be defeated.”

“I think I’ll take some of that tea that you always drink,” I say.

“Well now, I knew you would give in one of these days. Okay, give an old man a few minutes.”

While Bill was busy making that skunk piss, I was ruffling through his large wooden chest where he kept the chess set, looking for the revolver that I had seen the first time I came here.

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