SUNGLASSES AND ROCKETS Part 1 : New Moon

CHESS

We left the silo at three-thirty in the morning and got the hotel at foury-twenty.

When I woke up, I felt more tired than I had been when I had gone to bed. It was a quarter to six. Darwin was snoring resoundingly. I switched on the light on my headboard. My clothes, which were ingrained with dirt, were shining. They were still wet. My arms and legs looked like they were stained with mud. I touched my face and hair. The same. I thought about showering, but almost immediately I discarded the thought: I had to get my energy back. I had to eat. So I chose to quickly change my t-shirt, which was the only garment that I had a change of clothes for. I tried to rub off the stains and the mud with a towel, but with little success.

My modest hygiene ritual complete, I went over to Darwin.

"Darwin!" I said, giving him a pat on the shoulder, "It's time! Wake up!"

"Just one more minute..." he complained.

"We have to get our energy back."

He rubbed his face with his hands and stretched his arms. He yawned.

"One more day and we'll be free..."

I turned on the light on his headboard. My friend resembled a homeless person, from the ragged look of his clothes and the dirt on his face.

"By the way," he yawned again, "what happened with Vanessa?"

"Not much," I lamented. "She didn't give me her phone number..."

Darwin got up in one jump.

"What?" he exclaimed. "But if last night you two looked so..."

"Yes," I interrupted half-heartedly, "That's what I thought too..."

"Well then?" he said, getting to his feet. "What's going on?"

I shrugged. It didn't make sense; the night before, Vanessa and I had been about to kiss, and later, when I asked for her number, she simply wouldn't give it to me.

"Well," my friend exhaled, "at least we know that the doctor is her uncle..."

"Sure," I acknowledged. I had the alternative of asking the doctor.

That would be my last resort to contact her, although I would have preferred that my beloved make things easier for me.

Darwin wrinkled his forehead.

"Gordo," he said, in that tone of his that meant he was deep in thought, "Vanessa knows that you are hopelessly in love with her. Isn't that right?"

I let out a sigh.

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

"And her? Has she told you anything? Has she told you how she feels?"

I sighed again and made a negative gesture with my head.

"No. Nothing."

"That's the crux of the matter," he said as he cleaned his glasses.

"What do you mean?"

"Vanessa knows that you're madly in love with her; but you don't know a thing about her feelings for you. Do you know what that's like?" he continued, while he put his glasses back on. "It's like a game of poker...you can't show what cards you have...or like a game of chess...you can't reveal your next play or you'll lose."

That gave me something to think about.

"You should be careful," he pointed out. "Let her show her cards, make her next move, talk."

I kept quiet. It was one of those moments in which Darwin spoke words of wisdom.

"Resist," he continued, showing me his fist. "Resist, my good friend, until she shows herself. Resist and Vanessa will be yours." He smiled maliciously and repeated, "She'll be yours, Gordo. All yours..."

There was absolute certainty in his words. Beyond a shadow of a doubt. I nodded my head.

"I think you're right," I agreed. "So later on..."

I suddenly remembered our trip. I had forgotten it! I looked at my watch: 5:57.

"Let's have breakfast! We've got eight minutes!"