Part 12 (1/2)
”It's called Checkers. This is the checkerboard. It's supposed to be made with black and red squares, but we have to make do with what we have.”
J'Qhir nodded, hanging onto her every word.
Leith pointed to the stones. ”These are checkers.”
”I thought you sssaid the game isss called Checkersss.”
”Yes, but each playing piece is called a checker. The brown ones are yours and the white ones are mine. You move the pieces in a certain way, diagonally forward only. The object of the game is to move your pieces across to the other side while capturing as many of your opponent's as you can.” Leith took one of her stones and placed it upside down on the far side to demonstrate. ”When a piece gets to the last row, it's considered a king and can now be moved forward or backward, but still only diagonally.”
She then prepared a simple jump position and demonstrated how to capture.
”I'l go first,” she said as she replaced the stones in their original positions. ”There is little action during the first few moves, but it gets better.”
Leith thought they would be evenly matched because of her familiarity with the game and his quick grasp of strategy, but she was wrong. He obviously planned out moves far in advance, and she didn't stand a chance. As the game came to a close, she had never even reached the edge row on his side. He had kings all over the board and a pile of white pebbles beside him.
”I concede,” she said rather than give up her lone piece.
”A very interesssting game,” J'Qhir said as he gathered up all twenty-four stones.
”Well, yes, you would think so.” Leith wiped out the board in one stroke and sifted out the bark chips. ”Since you won.”
”You are angry.”
”No.” She shrugged. ”I never cared for the game anyway.”
”You sssound angry that I have won your game.”
”I'm tired, that's all. I'm going to bed. Good night, J'Qhir.”
”Good night, Leith.”
”No games tonight,” Leith announced when they'd finished tidying up after dinner the next evening. She sat cross-legged on her solar film pallet, and J'Qhir did likewise on his beast blanket. They had taken the skin to the pool and scrubbed it clean of vermin and matted mud and blood. It had finally dried out enough to use. J'Qhir wanted her to use it since it was her kill, but she explained that he would feel warmer next to the fur. In truth, she had no desire to have it as a trophy. ”Tonight we sing.”
J'Qhir seemed to brighten. Leith knew she had lost patience with him the past few nights. She had chosen elemental games to pa.s.s the time, but they were too simple for J'Qhir's a.n.a.lytical mind. He was too good at them. What she planned for this evening was a child's song, but she didn't know what else to do. She couldn't face many more evenings of having nothing to exercise her mind.
”I like musssic. My mother could play the ohsiroh exquisssitely.”
”I don't play any musical instruments and I'm not much of a singer, but this is an easy song.” Leith taught him the words to ”Row, Row, Row Your Boat”, then the melody. J'Qhir's voice was rich and deep, and he picked up the tune and carried it easily. Leith joined in and their voices blended well, her higher pitch a nice contrast to his baritone.
Leith urged him to sing alone one more time. In the cla.s.sic rendition, Leith started in with ”Row, row, row your boat” as J'Qhir began the ”Merrily” line. J'Qhir stopped abruptly.
”You ssstarted too late.”
”I was supposed to. It's the way the song is sung.”
”You ssshould have told me.”
”I wanted to sssurprissse you,” Leith said then clamped her lips together. She hoped he hadn't noticed. It was too easy to mimic his long, drawn-out s's. She caught herself doing it from time to time. She was afraid he might think she mocked him and take offense. ”Shall we try again?”
J'Qhir nodded and started the song. Leith joined in at the appropriate time. They went through the ditty several times and finally Leith flubbed it. Suddenly, she found herself singing along with J'Qhir, word for word. He cut off in mid-sentence, and his crest furrowed.
”But now you are sssinging the sssame wordsss with me.”
”That's the point. To see how long we can keep it going before someone loses their concentration and makes a mistake.” Leith sighed. ”It's usually sung by a group around a campfire. Maybe we just don 't have enough people to make it fun.”
J'Qhir shook his head. ”The wordsss do not make sssenssse to me. Perhapsss if the sssong had meaning it would be ea.s.ssier to sssing.”
Leith stood and straightened her blanket. ”Some songs aren't meant to make sense. They're sung for the way the words flow together. Do all Zi songs make sense?”
”Yesss. They tell ssstoriesss and confirm truthsss about the nature of our people.”
”We have those too. We have an entire industry devoted to music, its creation and performance. There are individuals and groups who make a very good living with their music.” Leith lay down, curled on her side, an arm beneath her head. ”Not from songs like 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat', but longer, more complicated pieces. We have more sophisticated games than the ones I've shown you. These things are mostly children's games, just to pa.s.s the time.”
”I sssee. It isss ssso with usss alssso.” He was quiet a few moments. ”Life isss not a dream.”
”Oh, I agree considering our lives have turned into a nightmare.” Leith closed her eyes. ”Tomorrow night is your turn. Good night, J'Qhir.”
”Good night, Leith.”
J'Qhir used the checkers Leith had made and set the white stones in a pile in front of her, keeping the brown ones for himself. He had drawn three concentric semi-circles in the dirt, the ends connecting to the wall of the cave. With his forefinger, he marked a dot in the middle of the center s.p.a.ce. At two meters he had drawn another semi-circle. At four meters, a straight line which they crouched behind.
”We take turnsss tosssing a ssstone againssst the wall.” He demonstrated. The stone banked off the wall and landed in the second band, but very close to the innermost line. ”Now, it isss your turn. The object isss to land your ssstone a.s.ss clossse to the center mark a.s.ss posssible.”
Leith had never played pitching pennies, so she had no idea how hard to throw the stone. She tried to gauge the distance and the heft and let it go. The stone careened off the wall and sailed several centimeters past the outer band.
J'Qhir said nothing, but moved to the two-meter arc. Leith knelt beside him.
”Now, you choossse whether to try to move your ssstone clossser or an opponent'sss farther away by propelling another ssstone and trying to hit whichever you choossse.”
He positioned his hand so that the bent knuckle of his index finger rested close to the line. The stone nestled in the crook of his finger, his thumb pressed hard against the underside of his finger ready to release and shoot the stone. Like playing marbles, Leith realized, although she had only played a few times during childhood. At first she was amazed that his people and hers had developed the same shooting technique, but then she realized it wasn't too remarkable. There were only so many ways to manipulate a humanoid hand.
J'Qhir let go and the stone shot toward his, pus.h.i.+ng it closer to the center. He sat back on his heels.
”My turn?” Leith asked, picking up a stone, and J'Qhir nodded. Leith positioned herself, fixed the stone in her hand and shot. The stone arced up and over J'Qhir's and landed past the other side of the third ring.
She could have sworn she heard a snort from J'Qhir. He made some barely audible sound, but whether it was suppressed amus.e.m.e.nt or disapproval, she didn't know.
”This is very similar to a game called marbles. It's been ages since I've played,” she defended herself. ”More than fifteen years.”
”The la.s.sst time I played thisss game was the sssea.s.sson my mother died. That wa.s.ss...ninety-eight yearsss ago.”
”In Zi years,” Leith guessed. ”Do we continue playing or do you get my stones now?”
”We clear the playing field now.” J'Qhir reached for his stones. ”I alwaysss ussse Terran Ssstandard. Othersss ssseem to have trouble making the conversssion.”
As he spoke, Leith leaned over to pick up her widely distributed stones, but froze as his words sank in. Ninety-eight Terran Standard years- ”Leith, ssstop!” J'Qhir shouted.
She s.n.a.t.c.hed her hand back and looked the floor over, expecting to see a snake or bug or something, but she didn't see anything. ”What's wrong?”