Chapter 14: Opening Moves

October 1977

The school year was progressing. I was doing OK in all my classes, except Spanish, where nothing I did seemed to bring my grade above a ‘C’. That was the only low spot, though. The school newspaper was keeping me busy, as was Chess Club. And of course, working at the deli. I was finding time to hang out with Jennifer and Larry, and was doing my best to flirt with all the cute girls in my class. There were a couple of super cute 8th graders who were on my radar as well.

We had our first chess meet of the year in the middle of October. We were going up against Loveland. I liked our chances because Larry was one of the best players in the area. He had joined an outside chess club, something I would have done if I didn’t have my other commitments, and had won a ‘Class C’ tournament in Cincinnati the previous week. I was barely a ‘Class C’ player but was slowly improving. Jennifer was improving faster and she actually had a slightly higher rating than I did.

The tournament went pretty well at first. Of course, Larry won every single one of his games, and our team won most of the first-round games. But then things went badly. I managed to get my queen forked and resigned and Jennifer got down a rook fairly early. The rest of the team didn’t do much better. After two rounds, Loveland was ahead on points. Larry would go on to win the tournament, but as a team, we ended up getting beat pretty badly. Our chess coach told us afterwards that we all needed more work. The problem was that I didn’t have a ton of time to study or practice. Something would have to give.

Jennifer met me for lunch as usual on Saturday at the deli. This had become a regular thing, I wondered what she’d do during the Winter, but for now, I was happy. We talked about life. She asked about my weekend away. I told her what had happened. She was getting more comfortable with talking about sex.

“Wow, cuddling her was really sweet. I wish I could do that sometime.”

“Someday, Jennifer, you’ll find the right guy.”

At ‘someday’ she had started to smile but then her look grew cloudy.

“What?”

“The right guy, that’s the problem.”

Was something up with Ted? That subject was strictly off-limits, so I didn’t ask. I was pretty sure she kept that private because she didn’t want me to know if and when they actually had sex. Maybe that was it. How to help her?

“Jennifer, you seem a bit down about that. Anything I can do or anything you want to talk about?”

“No, not right now. I’m fine, really. I just hear your stories and wonder about me.”

“Don’t worry. You’re 14. You’ll be 15 in December. There’s no rush. I’m probably ahead of schedule for most guys. But the only schedule that matters to you is yours. Of course, you need a willing partner, but you have to be ready. Don’t do anything you aren’t ready for. If the thought of a blowjob or having your pussy licked bothers you, then don’t do those things. It’s really that simple.”

“Simple for you, you’ve done them.”

Ah, there was my clue. She hasn’t done it yet.

“Jennifer, listen to me. Don’t get fixated on this. You might do something you regret.”

“I know, I know,” she said, “it just sounds so wonderful for you.”

“Maybe that’s the problem. I haven’t had a bad experience. Would you mind if I asked Melanie to talk to you? Since you figured it out, it’s not like I’m bound to keep it a secret.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because her experience doesn’t match mine. Because she’s a girl. And even when I tell you her experiences weren’t good, it’s coming from a guy, a guy who has had sex with her. I might be biased in thinking I’m some sort of sex god.”

She laughed and said, “Well, from the way you tell it, you might be. Or maybe it’s just we’re both inexperienced in life and love.”

I loved my smart female friends. She nailed it.

“I have to get back to work.”

“I know. Can we meet for chess this week?”

Oh crap. Chess.

“I haven’t figured out what to do yet. With all the stuff that’s going on, I just can’t find the time. Something has to give.”

“Well, call me, please.”

“Absolutely,” and I headed back inside.

Andreas waved me over and brought me into his little office. He motioned me to sit. “Don Joseph said you were ready for some new tasks. How do you feel about running the register? Think you can do it?”

“Yes, Andreas. I’ll need to learn of course, but I can do that.”

“Good. Now, here are some addresses. They all have things for me. Please go get them.”

I got up and went to my bike.

The first two stops were envelopes just like before. The third stop was a house on a wooded hill overlooking downtown, though not the same one that I lived on. It was a fairly nice house. I walked up to the door and rang the bell. I heard someone on the other side of the door, obviously checking the peephole.

“Andreas sent me.”

The door opened and a guy about 6’2” with huge muscles and wearing a t-shirt appeared. I saw a holster on his hip. That gave me a bit of pause. He said, “Wait here.” He went back into the house, I heard some voices and he returned with a small satchel. He handed it to me and started to show me out. As I was leaving, I saw a man with a woman who was wearing some really thin nightgown-like thing walk past the end of the hallway where he had gone.

I left and pedaled back to the shop. I didn’t look. I knew for sure I was being used as a courier for Don Joseph. Was he really in the mob? In Cincinnati? Was there such a thing here? And did I really want to do this? Was that last house a place where prostitutes worked? I knew about that from TV. I was getting into something that might be dangerous. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do this. When I handed the things to Andreas, he put them in the office, came back out, and said, “You’re getting a raise.” He handed me two $20 bills. “Keep up the good work.” I finished my shift and headed home.

I was in my room considering what my next move was. I had to figure out the deli. I had to figure out chess. I had to fix my Spanish grade. Damn. Things had seemed like they were rolling along. That weekend at the lake was a high point, but it looked like I was heading for a low. I decided the first thing to do was call Larry.

He answered on the first ring. We chatted for a bit and then I said, “Your grandpa told Andreas to give me some new duties. And they gave me a raise. And $40. Is this what I think it is?”

Larry waited a second before he answered.

“He likes you. You aren’t Italian, but you impressed him by playing bocce and by being respectful and polite to his friends. Yeah, it is what you think it is. You can’t be part of the family because you aren’t Italian, but you can certainly work for him. And people who work for him make a lot of money.”

I asked, “What about your dad?”

“He turned him down. He makes pretty good money at IBM and he doesn’t want anything to do with their thing. Neither does my mom. And grandpa won’t even ask me to do stuff because of that. But, he’s going to pay for me to go to college, and after that, I’ll decide what to do. Right now, I don’t think so. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. I’m not sure what to do.”

“Well, just keep working there for now, then. Trust me, you can say no to anything. You’re only 14, so he’ll understand.” He switched subjects, “What about chess?”

“I don’t know. I’m going to call Jennifer and talk to her. She’s always got good advice for me. Besides, she’s better than I am now.”

He laughed, “So am I. And so are Ralph and Ken.”

“Don’t rub it in.”

“Practice man, practice.”

“Yeah.”

We said goodbye and hung up.

I dialed Jennifer’s number. When she came to the phone I said, “About chess; what can I do?”

“Practice.”

Smart Aleck, I thought. “Yeah, that’s what Larry said. You beat me most of the time. That sucks. I used to beat you regularly.”

“I practice and study. Like you used to. Well, before you decided that sex was more important than chess!”

“What?”

“Yeah, once you had sex, you mostly quit studying and you didn’t practice as much.”

I hadn’t even thought of that. But I didn’t see giving up sex, or girls. Something else had to give.

She read my mind and said, “Something has to give. Why don’t you quit the school newspaper? You don’t plan a journalism career and you don’t really fit in with the journalism crowd at the High School.”

She was right about that. I found most of the High School reporters to be too full of themselves and too unwilling to have fun. I knew the Reflector didn’t have silly headlines like the JR Journal did. They took themselves far too seriously to do that.

“Well,” she continued with a slight laugh, “unless you want to combine sex and chess somehow, maybe that’s the way to get more time.”

Sex and chess? Chess teams were mostly guys. Ours was an outlier with two girls, one of whom was Jennifer. No cheerleaders. My newly developing snarky nature kicked in.

“Is that an offer? Strip chess? Loser has to perform oral sex on the winner? I could see how my game could improve.”

She laughed and said, “That would sure make it interesting, wouldn’t it? Of course, that wouldn’t work at the Chess Club!”

“You’re right. The teachers would freak out. And we’d probably get expelled. So I guess I’ll go see Mrs. Toepfer tomorrow.”

“Good plan. Are you free tomorrow to practice? You could bike over after church.”

“Sure. Invite Larry. I’ll check with Mom, but I think once I explain she’ll be OK with it. I’ll call you back if I can’t come.”

I hung up and went to ask mom. After I explained she said she was worried about my Spanish grade. Well, so was I.

“Mom, I’ll ask Melanie if she can tutor me. She’s a straight-A Spanish student. She’s a Sophomore and lives by the school.”

“I know Mrs. Spencer,” Mom said, “remember?”

“Oh yeah.”

What an idiot I could be at times. Mom said she’d call Mrs. Spencer to set it up. Of course, I knew Mrs. Spencer wouldn’t give away my secret.

Sunday after church I rode my bike over to Jennifer’s house. She let me in. I asked where Larry was. He hadn’t been at church today.

“Sick,” she said.

“I just talked to him last night. Oh well.”

She led me to the kitchen table where she had a chessboard, a clock, and a couple of books waiting, as well as a couple of Cokes.

We sat down and she said, “You take white. Let’s practice Queen’s Gambit.”

I played the standard 1 d4 and the game was off. She accepted the gambit and I played carefully. She managed to trap my bishop, but I saw that I could take a knight of hers in exchange two moves later.

She took my bishop off the board, smirked, and in the calmest voice possible, said, “OK. Take off one piece of clothing.”

“What?!” I gasped. “What are you talking about?”

She smirked, “You suggested strip chess. I’m just taking your suggestion.”

“Jennifer, what are you doing?”

“Helping you get better. If you lose clothes when you lose pieces, you have an incentive. And even better, you have an incentive to take my pieces.”

I was stunned. I didn’t know what to say or do. This was out of the blue. My guard was seriously up. But then again, so was my dick. Damn that little head!

I delayed.

“Wait, what about your parents?”

It just dawned on me I hadn’t seen them.

“Out for the afternoon. Well, go on. One piece of clothing.”

I delayed further. “Wait, was Larry really sick?”

She laughed hard “Yes, actually. He called this morning and told me he wasn’t going to church. That’s when I decided to do this.”

Oh, God. She planned it. It wasn’t just a silly comment. More stalling on my part.

“Jennifer, we’re friends. We aren’t, like, doing anything together, if you know what I mean.”

Jennifer laughed again. “Too funny. You can’t even say ‘have sex’. I thought you were the big talker! Yeah, we’re friends. Notice, I didn’t say I was going to have sex with you. Or even imply it. You are the one who instantly went from strip chess to sex.”

Busted. She was right. And she wasn’t going to let me off the hook, either.

“For all your talk about feelings and being sensitive and taking what a girl wants into account, you are still just a guy!”

She was right. “Jennifer, I’m sorry. I really am. You’re right, I did go there. Instantly. Forgive me?”

“Yes, but you still aren’t getting out of taking off a piece of clothing.”

“Damn it!” I said softly.