Being Alive: A The Queen's Gambit Story

Chapter Seven

Without Benny, Beth finds herself with free time. Her entire days had been filled with him before. There was playing chess. Talking about chess. And then just him. She misses him, but in his absence, she starts to think about ways to fill her time not only outside of him, but outside of chess.

It's central on her mind when she goes to the grocery store to get a fresh carton of milk. As she's trying to decide between two cartons, a familiar voice goes, "Beth?"

She turns around, grinning wide when she sees Harry Beltik.

"Harry, hi. How are you?"

"I'm doing good. How are you?"

"Good."

"Is Benny around her somewhere?" Harry asks, briefly glancing around.

"No, he's actually in New York."

Harry frowns. "I'm really sorry to hear that, Beth."

"We're still together," she says quickly.

"Oh, good," Harry says. He rubs the back of his neck, clearly embarrassed by the gaffe. "I'm glad to hear that. I read about your win in Santa Fe last month. Is it true that you left Hennesey in tears?"

Beth smiles slightly. "He says it was allergies."

"Likely story."

After a pause, Beth asks him, "You took classes down at the community college, right?"

Harry blinks and nods with surprise. "Yeah, I did. Are you interested?"

She shrugs. "I might be. I don't know. It wouldn't be for now, since I'm going back and forth between New York."

"I never thought the day would come where you would show interest in something that isn't chess."

"I'm interested in a lot of things that aren't chess," Beth says.

Harry nods, but she can tell he doesn't quite believe her. "Sure, you are. Well, when you're ready, I can recommend some classes for you."

"I'd like that. Thank you."

"I should get back to work. But, it was really nice seeing you, Beth."

"You too, Harry."

*****

"I have interests outside of chess, right?" Beth asks Benny that night.

"Sure, you're interested in me."

"That's not what I mean," she says with a slight grin. Besides, Benny and chess had always been intertwined in her mind. "I think I may want to start taking some classes at the community college here."

"Really?" he asks, and he sounds just like Harry when she mentioned it back at the grocery store.

"Why do you sound so surprised? Harry was like that, too."

"You saw Beltik? How's he doing?"

"He's fine," Beth says off-handedly. "Why is it so surprising that I want to take classes? I can have things outside of chess."

"Of course, you can," Benny says.

And she can, can't she? She doesn't just have to be one thing. There's space enough for her to explore.