ATOMIC, benny watts

two- wannabe cowboy

Convincing Bob to come along had probably been the hardest thing I'd ever done, due to the fact he was the most antisocial man I'd ever met. And somehow, he let me crash in his New York home for free.

Well, the cost was me having to lay around, and occasionally try around to be some sort of writing inspiration for whatever he was working on.

To be honest, the only bad thing about living with him was the singing. To me, it sounded like insane screeching or intelligible lyrics, but at the right place and time, it was beautiful. Which was why so many people liked it I guess.

Besides, I knew I drove him crazy by entertaining guests/him by playing chess, or trying to get him to play at least. So it was fair.

"Are they music nuts? Because Viv. I do not want to hang out with a bunch of fans for the night." He groans, setting the acoustic he'd been fiddling with down, as I plop down onto the sofa.

"Arthur is not. But I don't know about the rest." I say, admitting that I knew absolutely nothing about anyone.

"How did you get invited then?"

"They want to see me play chess..With them?" 

This causes him to groan loudly as he then says "You didn't say they were chess crazies too."

"They're just people who play, you could probably join in." That was a lie. They'd have Bob knocked out in minutes.

"Don't lie. Besides, I wouldn't want to play anyways."

"Will you just go? I really don't want to go alone." I whine, starting to grow irritated with what he was saying.

He thinks about it, sits quietly for a few minutes and nods his head before saying "Fine. I'll hang out with you and the chess crazies. But there better be booze and some decent LSD."

"Deal. Only you're going to be the one in charge of the LSD bud." I pat him on the shoulder before standing up, satisfied and heading down to my bedroom, when I hear him call out once again.

"Wait a damn minute! Two days from now, you've gotta come with me to some club and do a bit of musing before then. Seem fair right?"

I sigh. "Fine. That's fair."

"Great." He sends a smile before immediately turning back to his guitar, so I take my cue to leave, heading to my room and pulling out the Chess Review magazine that Hilton had given me.

Flipping through the pages, I start to see a lot of changes from the last time I'd been in a competitive match. Finally, I dawned upon the girl that Hilton had mentioned to me earlier in the night.

Elizabeth, or Beth, Harmon.

Reading over the article that had been printed, I was thoroughly amazed by the ability she had and managed to keep throughout everything in her life. But mainly by how decisive and noteworthy her attacks were.

And now it seemed she was off to Paris, as she'd taken the title of the US CHAMPION from another familiar name, Benny Watts, the gambler that Arthur had me going to see with him tomorrow.

What a crowd.

I couldn't help but laugh thinking about how weird tomorrow might be.

A whole clan of raging chess players and Bob Dylan. Almost sounded like it could be some type of television program.  Either way I managed to fall asleep quickly, too excited at the thought of getting to spend hours playing chess with qualified opponents. People who weren't just bored on the road, and it was a miracle.