Summary: It\u2019s all a matter of perspective.
\nWritten for day 5 of the 2021 Advent Calendar.
\nRating: G
\nWord Count:\u00a0 979<\/p>\n
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Bonanza Checker\u2019s Mate<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s been months since I\u2019ve played checkers, the game Homer and Plato wrote about thousands of years ago.\u00a0\u00a0Chess may be the game of kings, but checkers belongs to the people and the 64 square board has been ubiquitous on the Ponderosa not only at the house but in the bunkhouse and line shacks.<\/p>\n I taught Adam to play when he was four and by the time we left Missouri to head west he was an old hat. I\u2019d stained alternate squares brown on a salvaged piece of lumber and crosscut a fallen limb from a fir tree for the checkers, painting those red and black. Inger fashioned a bag for the pieces out of a feed sack and Adam carried the set from wagon to wagon looking for someone to play.\u00a0\u00a0He never lacked opponents because adults as well as children on the wagon train, regardless of native language, were familiar with the game\u2019s rules, although some called it Draughts.<\/p>\n After his brothers grew up, Adam tried to get them to play chess but only Joe showed any interest. Naturally, it turned out that he just liked the horse pieces. Nevertheless, Adam taught him the rules and was at first pleasantly surprised at his youngest brother\u2019s grasp of the game.\u00a0\u00a0He willingly shared opening gambits and middle- and end-game strategies, however, he became infuriated when Joe would sacrifice his queen to save a horse. Ultimately he realized Joe was playing for pieces rather than trying to capture the king which resulted in checkers once again reigning supreme as an after-dinner activity.<\/p>\n As usual, Joseph delighted in upsetting the apple cart. He would bedevil Hoss by hiding a checker or crowning a king when he wasn\u2019t looking. At first dismayed by the prospect of cheating, I soon came to realize that they were merely adding another layer of intrigue to the pastime, kind of like Hide the Pickle our German friends, the Grubers, played at Christmas to keep their children occupied and out of mischief.<\/p>\n Joe would often wiggle his eyebrows at me as he waited to see if Hoss would realize he had moved a checker on or off the board. If he did notice, Hoss would feign righteous indignation while Joe collapsed in a fit of giggles, and then they would resume playing. On occasion it was Hoss who would wink at me when he removed a crown from one of Joe\u2019s pieces.<\/p>\n As they grew older, the sleight of hand and diversions became more elaborate. Joe\u2019s favorite ruse was to sniff the air and say,\u00a0\u201cIs that apple pie I smell?\u201d<\/i>\u00a0Hoss was apt to throw a query to Adam or me.\u00a0\u201cWho was that redhead you were talking to at the Mercantile today?\u201d<\/i>\u2014knowing, of course, that Joe would look away from the board to one or the other of us to catch our answer.<\/p>\n Checkers became a bellwether for Adam and me.\u00a0\u00a0If Hoss and Joe\u2019s nightly matches lasted less than half an hour or worse, were skipped altogether, we quickly learned there was trouble brewing either between them or separately. The possibilities were three:\u00a0\u00a0animals, women, or money. God help us if it was all three! But sometimes a more serious philosophical or moral question had one or both stymied and it was left to Adam or me to help sort it out.<\/p>\n Occasionally, silly disagreements or outright arguments would color the evening and a few rounds of checkers would often help put them aside, especially when I would rotate the board and say,\u00a0\u201cLook at it from his perspective.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Perspective. Mine has certainly changed and not by a rotation of the board but by time itself.\u00a0\u00a0For one thing, the people have changed.\u00a0\u00a0Now it\u2019s Jamie who plays checkers with Griff and Candy or Joe who offer advice.<\/p>\n Me? When weather permits, I ride into Virginia City for an afternoon of checkers with my longtime friends Roy Coffee and Paul Martin. Neither of them are able to make the journey out to the Ponderosa any longer due to declining health. I only get to town by acquiescing to Joe\u2019s wishes that I let a ranch hand drive me.\u00a0\u00a0Truth be told, I couldn\u2019t mount a horse now if my life depended on it due to a bad hip. Now that winter is here, even those trips are few and far between. That\u2019s the trouble living on a ranch the size of the Ponderosa\u2026no neighbors close by.<\/p>\n I always bring the inlaid rosewood board Hoss made for me the Christmas before he passed. Roy and Paul love to reminisce and the conversation inevitably turns to our memories of him. I\u2019m familiar with most of the tales, but every once in a while they surprise me with an anecdote I haven\u2019t heard or an insight into the man he was.<\/p>\n Thankfully, I still have my eyesight and can read. Books have sustained me all of my life\u2014as a boy, while at sea, on the journey west, and on long, cold snowbound winter nights here at the ranch. But as much as books can draw you in and transport you to another time and place, it is the sometimes inane and often profound discourse with a mate over a checkerboard that I miss the most.<\/p>\n Sparks fly up the chimney when I drive the poker into a log to reposition it. I almost don\u2019t hear Joe\u2019s footfalls as he enters from the kitchen and stands beside me, placing an arm around my shoulder. We linger there inhaling the scent of the pine boughs decorating the mantel, basking in the fire\u2019s glow, comforted by each other\u2019s presence and the shared touch.<\/p>\n \u201cHow about a game of checkers, Pa?\u201d<\/p>\n He reads me pretty well, this mate of mine.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Character:\u00a0\u00a0Ben <\/p>\n
\n~*~*~ Advent Calendar ~*~*~
\n* Day 5 *<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
\nActivity:\u00a0\u00a0playing checkers<\/p>\n