Being Alive: A The Queen's Gambit Story

Chapter 12

"That's it. Big smiles, both of you. Perfect. Now, Benny, why don't you put your hand on her stomach?"

Benny acquiesces, folding his palm over his wife's large belly. He figures the more he complies, the sooner this will all be over. Beth thinks along the same line, which is why she smiles wide and tilts her head just so. While both had been partial to media coverage when they were younger, the stress of impending parenthood and looking after Benny's mother made them both forget about the interview with Chess Review they scheduled months ago, and fervently wish for its end. They weren't even in the home stretch. The photographer was up first, the journalist politely poring over her notes as she waited. Beth spotted at least five pages of questions. It was going to be a long afternoon.

"Beth, look over at him now," the photographer instructs, clicking away at the camera. "Just like he's the greatest trophy you've ever won. There it is.

Beth stares somewhere just above Benny's eye, knowing that if they were to actually make eye contact they both would start laughing from the sheer absurdity of it all. When the photographer finished, Benny says in a low voice, "Did I hear him right, or did he compare me to a trophy?"

"The greatest trophy I've ever won," Beth corrects, tucking his hair behind his ear. "He's clearly never seen the one from Russia."

Benny laughs, and it reminds her very much of how she would rather have been spending this time with just him, instead of with a photographer and journalist. Since their return to New York, it had dawned on her just how little time they had before the baby came. They had so little time to just be them, and she hates giving it up like this. But, a scheduled interview is a scheduled interview.

"So, how are you both feeling? It's an exciting time, isn't it?" the journalist asks, sitting across from them. Her name is Poppy and both Benny and Beth are familiar with her from their previous articles in Chess Review.

"The most exciting," Benny says.

"Absolutely," Beth echoes.

Maybe if they just agree with everything she says, they can be done in under a half-hour.

"Beth, you look absolutely radiant. Being pregnant definitely suits you."

"I guess it does."

"So, tell me, how is it being pregnant at tournaments?"

Beth feels her normal flare of indignation at such a gendered question, but she supposes this time it is a bit different. A female competitor had been rare, but a pregnant one was non-existent. She heard the chatter when people first learned about her pregnancy and their base assumption that she would retire, as if the concept of a woman playing chess and growing a child at the same were somehow incongruent.

"I use the bathroom a lot more," Beth says.

Poppy smiles blandly, clearly not impressed by the answer, and asks more pointedly, "Do you feel you are treated differently?"

Beth presses her lips together. She forgot how good Poppy was.

"I think sometimes people think they should treat me differently," Beth says. "Or that I am somehow different. But then it all turns out the same."

Poppy is looking down at her notebook when she asks, "And how is that?"

"I still win."

Poppy looks up with an appraising grin. "That you do. So, what are your plans for after the baby is born?"

"We'll have to take some time off the circuit," Benny says reasonably. "But, we don't plan to be gone for long."