Rook Guard
by
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ONE SUNDAY AFTER SUNDAY SCHOOL TODD AND MARTIN WENT STRAIGHT TO THE TWIN RIVERS WITH FISHING POLES IN HAND AND STARTED BOUNCING IDEAS OFF OF EACH OTHER AS THEY DID SO MANY TIMES BEFORE. THIS TIME IT WAS DIFFERENT THOUGH, MARTIN STARTED TAKING A LEADING ROLL IN PUTTING SOME REAL PLANS TOGETHER FOR SOMETHING HE THOUGHT WOULD BE OUTRAGEOUSLY AWESOME. MAYBE IT WAS THE GENIUS PART OF MARTIN THAT WANTED TO DO SOMETHING NOW BECAUSE THEY WERE TAKING TOO LONG TO EVEN START ANYTHING THAT THEY HAD ALREADY TALKED ABOUT. THEY WERE FIFTEEN BY THIS TIME AND MARTIN WAS IN SOME TYPE OF HURRY TO GET THIS PROJECT COMPLETED. MARTIN HAD A PAD OF PAPER AND STARTED DRAWING A PICTURE OF A QUEEN THAT WAS IN THE SHADOW OF A GIANT CASTLE. THE QUEEN HAD A SWORD ON EACH HIP AS SHE WAS RIDING A SOLDIER DRAWN CHARIOT AND A VEILED SOLDIER ON EITHER SIDE OF HER, RIDING UPON TWO BLACK STALLIONS. JUST BEHIND THE QUEEN WAS A SMALL FACE WITH X’s ON IT’S EYES. TODD’S EYES WERE WIDE OPEN, WONDERING WHAT THIS COULD BE. HE ASKED, “WHAT KIND OF COOL IDEA IS THIS?” “IT IS A NEW WAY OF ENJOYING SOMETHING THAT EVERYBODY IN THE WORLD HAS EITHER EXPERIENCED OR HEARD OF ALREADY.” MARTIN EXCLAIMED WITH PRIDE. “WHAT? “HOW TO GET THE GIRL?” “NO!” “THIS IS A DEVASTATING PICTURE OF WHAT HAPPENS TO PEOPLE WHEN THEY ARE NOT THINKING OF THE TEACHER I LIKE TO CALL, THE PAST.” TODD LOOKED AT THE PICTURE AGAIN AND SAID, “OK … WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?” “THIS IS PART OF A CHESS BOARD SILLY.” MARTIN WENT THROUGH SOME OF THE RULES OF CHESS FOR TODD BECAUSE HE HAD NEVER PLAYED THE GAME. SOME OF HIS FAMILY PLAYED BUT JUST THOUGHT IT WAS A GAME FOR GROWN UPS. MARTIN PROCEEDED TO TELL TODD HOW SOME PIECES WERE OF A HIGHER VALUE BECAUSE THEY COULD MOVE MORE FREELY THAN OTHERS. STARTING WITH THE PAWNS AND ENDING UP WITH THE MOVEMENT OF THE KING, TODD STARTED TO SEE HOW THIS COULD BE BOTH A FUN AND CONFUSING GAME TO PLAY. WHEN MARTIN FINISHED EXPLAINING HIS VERSION OF “CHESS 101.” HE SMILED AND ASKED, “NOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE PICTURE I DREW?” “Aaaah NOPE!” MARTIN SHOOK HIS HEAD AND SAID, “HOPELESS.” AS THEY WERE GETTING CLOSER TO THEIR HOMES, MARTIN RAN INTO HIS HOUSE AND GOTA SLIM, OLD LOOKING BOOK FOR TODD THAT WAS TITLED, “CHESS PUZZLES.” AND GAVE IT TO TODD AND SAID, “READ THIS AND MAYBE IT WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND THE PICTURE I DREW.” “OK.” TODD SAID AS THEY BOTH SAID THEIR GOODBYES FOR THE DAY.
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About the Book
In the growing city of Stonehaven, where the twin rivers meet, young Todd and his wife, Cassie, set out to make a family and a home in the place they grew up. Todd worked at highway corndog and Cassie worked from home while taking care of her sick mom. Both were hard workers but struggled to make ends meet. Todd was offered a promotion, at which point everything he and Cassie loved and had worked for started taking strange and stressful turns. Then Todd’s boss took him downtown on a ride that hopefully, would change his life forever. All seemed fine until changes began taking place that only Todd could see. Life resembles chess, in that many choices be made. In chess, we make sacrifices to get better positions or set traps for our opponent, but in life, our sacrifices and traps can come back to bite us. In chess, players can win, lose or draw In life, we only win or lose. Todd and Cassie will taste both victory and defeat.
About the Author
Danny Eugene Sams Danny has been a minister / evangelist for the past thirty-two years. He lives in Bentonville Arkansas and had been married to his lovely wife Ladonna for twenty-eight years. His primary focus of this, his first science fiction novel, is to put real people into a not so real world. Knowing the ending as he started chapter one, Danny mimicked all of his characters to favor real people in his life. Now as a minister and lover of the game of chess, Danny has combined both visions to protect those that he loves.