The Passion of Frankenstein by Marvin Kaye

Author:Marvin Kaye
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Monster, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, horror, adventure
ISBN: 9781479408481
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
Published: 2014-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

The Power of the Press

Hugh and I had talked about Eve for a little while, but now we just sat there in silence in Doctor Knox’s office. I thought that the afternoon would never end. The tedium grew so intolerable that at last, for want of anything better to say, I asked Hugh if he knew how to play chess.

Lost in thought, chin resting midway between his shoulders, at first he did not seem to me hear me. But then he raised his head and looked at me sharply. I was afraid that, under the circumstances, he might find my suggestion insensitive, but when he spoke, his tone was not unfriendly. “You know how to play chess? Who taught you?”

“Doctor Knox…but only a few hours ago. I’m afraid I am a total novice.”

He grinned at me in a crafty manner. “I don’t suppose that you would like to wager a bit, then?”

“I have hardly any money.”

“A pity.” The light in his eyes dimmed, but then he gave a good-natured shrug. “Still, it will pass the time. You’re on!” He set up the board, and took a black piece in one hand, a white in the other, and mixed them so neither of us could see. “Reach in and take one.”

I did so and chose black. He swiveled the board so the black pieces were next to me, and we began our chess match in earnest.

We played three games, and Hugh beat me every time. He was even better than Doctor Knox.

Heredity? I wondered.

The third time, I nearly tied him, but I missed one crucial detail, which he was swift to point out. “Still,” he said, “you have got a fair instinct for chess, I think.”

I thanked him as I set up the board in Doctor Knox’s mate-in-one problem and challenged Hugh to solve it.

“Mate in one?” Hugh laughed. “You must be joking! Anyone could determine the answer in an instant! All right, let us just take a look …” He glanced at the set-up, which I noted was not nearly so long as it took me to reach the same conclusion. “It can not be done.”

“I think so, too. But Doctor Knox showed this to me, and assured me that it is possible.”

Hugh looked down again at the board. This time, he took a good long moment to think it over, during which his eyes went in and out of focus. Suddenly, he broke into mirth both raucous and aggrieved. Choking back tears, he said, “Someone murders my mother, and here I am, laughing. What a heartless rogue I must seem!”

“No, Hugh! Sometimes I think that the only way to conquer grief is to veer off in the opposite direction.”

Forcing himself to breathe deeply, he let his emotions down a notch. “That is a bit o’ wisdom,” he said. “Where did you learn it, I wonder?”

“That is something that you do not want to know. But what started you laughing?”

He pointed at the chess board. “I saw that there is

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