Plays for Two by Eric Lane

Author:Eric Lane [Lane, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-345-80455-6
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2014-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

(WILL is silent.)

So if chess was never that big a thing for you, why teach it to the children? What’s the point of that?

WILL: It’s an excellent pastime for young and old alike.

ARON: But, but, really, all it is—it isn’t even about chess at all. Is it. You’re just …

WILL: Planting the flag. In their turf. Yeah.

ARON: You don’t even like them.

WILL: They’re mine! Even if you hate something, it’s hard to give it up. Isn’t it? When it’s all you’ve got?

(Beat.)

ARON: Dad. The kids. They have no strategy. It’s beautiful, they just … Fourth of July. Oh my God, running all over, soaking each other with water, jumping in the pool, out of the pool, running with fiery things in their hands … I’m sitting on the sofa in my suit, watching the cars go round and round on TV. Just quiet. A pack of kids go screaming through. Walker comes barreling into my knees, he grabs my hand, he goes, “You wanna play with us? Come on, come play with us.”

WILL: Is this what’s behind all this? You want little friends, little childhood friends, you want—

ARON: I’m telling you about your grandchildren! People are supposed to love to hear about their grandchildren! The kids weren’t playing anything. They were just … playing! Like at one point one bunch of cousins took all the sofa cushions and dining room chairs and built this fort. And the other bunch of cousins got a bunch of pillows and stuffed animals. This was my team. And they were just going to all run in and attack this fort, but I said, I said if we send the littlest ones in first, like three toddlers, boom boom boom, then you guys slant in from the dining room and pile on, and then I’ll charge in with the beanbag chair and wipe ’em out. We creamed ’em. I haven’t had that much fun …

WILL: So they played the Sicilian Dragon Defense and you used a Yugoslav Attack.

ARON: What?

WILL: Black set up a fortress, right, on the kingside, and you, the white pieces, you sent a pawn storm up the kingside, that’s the toddlers, then a Bishop exchange across the middle, slantways, and then you brought up the heavy pieces, Queen and Rooks, that’s you. Classic attacking strategy. Way to go. You taught them chess.

ARON: No.

WILL: You taught them chess! Ha! Ha!! I’m proud of you, son. You haven’t made me this proud in years and years.

ARON: I haven’t—Dad. I just brought you the trophy—I’m the Champion of the United States of America.

WILL: Oh please.

ARON: What.

WILL: Do I have to say this to you? You won the U.S. Championship. And you’re proud of that.

ARON: Shouldn’t I be?

WILL: Oh please! While you were doing that, the cream of international chess was in Linares, and nobody even worried about the scheduling conflict because the championship of the United States is not considered by international chess to be a major tournament. And you know that. And still you

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