Conversations with a Rook

So tonight I had an interesting conversation with Katie, my queenside rook, while I was at the Royal Key. She is about 2 and a half hours north of me, so it was via text.

Me: Ironically last night after you told me not to hit on 18 year olds, the band started playing "Your Love" then when I hit the bar I walked in on that same song. As in "you know I like my girls a little bit older, I don't want to lose yout love tnight" a song about spending the night with a girl who is too young ;)

Katie: lol, that's funny

Me: My life is blessed with such ironies.

They just played that bloody song again!

Katie: It's your theme song I suppose

Me: Sure. Could be. but me and a younger woman? Never

Katie: Your sense of humor always makes me giggle

Me: Lol, oh come now! The last gir I was hitting on was 18!

Oh wait, how old am I again?

Katie: Not 18.

My life is just hillarious. These ironies do tend to follow me around and I swear that my life reads like a novel. This was comical because I do tend to date younger women, in fact the only woman I had ever dated, before I was married, that was older than me became my wife. And that worked out so well that I tend to avoid older women. although in the past couple years I have gone out with women much older than myself.

And while I was hitting on a woman that was 18 recently (the photographer) the last woman that I was deeply interested in was the youngest I have ever dated, twenty-one. Still plenty young for me, at thirty.

And the song is about him cheating on "Josie" with a young woman. It may very well be my theme song.

The Black Queen

This was a note I posted on Facebook that also works as my blog post. It is a joint memoir of myself and the character from my novel, Bayrd Anstal:

I hated her when I first met her.

It was nothing she did either... or well, part of it was, but mostly it was about who she was spending time with. I mistakenly thought he was her boyfriend. The fact that he wasn't didn't change the fact that she spent time with this guy. "Tell me who thy company is and I will tell thee who thou art."

So I came to the conclusion that she was a pompous, rude person. He was undeniably intelligent, and I could see that she was as well. I'm no idiot myself, I am drawn to intellectual people, but the arrogance and overweening personality of this guy repulsed me.

There was one major problem.

She was gorgeous. I disliked the girl, but couldn't help but keep an eye on her. And then she started showing up among my circle of friends, she was there in some of the same activities I did, she was in, what I would now call Black Territory, but I would have considered her little more than a white pawn, bishop at best.

Little did I know that she would undeniably become the Black Queen.

This is eternally significant. She was the Black Queen. Not at any point did Jennifer become the Black Queen. While that might sound harsh, keep in mind that in this game of chess (life) the King and Queen are not necessarily romantically involved. In Neville's books the Black Queen marries the Black Knight, the Black Bishop marries the White Queen, (a different) Black Queen marries (a different) White King... position on the board does not dictate a relationship between pieces.

Bayrd-- In a moment of personal tragedy she was the one that carried me through it all, the one that empathized and made herself available. In the strength of her love, love for someone that hated her, she changed my heart.

DXW-- I am not even sure when it happened or how. As I saw her more and more I began to see her distinctly for who she was and learned to not associate her with that pompoous, arrogant attitude I assumed she had. She was actually, intelligent, sweet, funny, and just fun to be with. And did I mention she was gorgeous?

Then one day she passed me a letter. I will never forget it because it said plainly, "I love you." In that moment I was transfigured. With those three words my heart melted.

Bayrd and DXW-- In the months that followed the relationship grew. She was amazing. There was no one I would have rather spent time with. Even now she is rarely far from thought or mind. She and I shared deep secrets and concerns, we beared our souls to each other. I may have never been so bluntly honest about my feelings and who I was with any other human being in my life. And the times that I held something back, she knew it all as if she could read my mind.

Then tragedy struck, and I didn't see her again. That was when my (our?) life (lives?) changed forever.


OK, joint memoir idea was a little odd. But I hope point made. Judging someone before getting to know them nearly cost me the strongest piece on my board, and poorly handling personal tragedy removed the piece.

The story is deliberately left hanging. Bayrd's story will be finished in the novel. The story of my life isn't written to completion yet.