Tatum's War

Walking through the front door was like walking into a spice shop. Various odors assaulted his nose in pleasant and unpleasant ways. He sneezed.

Mr. Chance moved through the house and into a room, leaving Tatum at the front door. Shadow walked over, curled up on some bedding, which looked to be too small for her, but fit her perfectly, next to a plush lounge chair.

“Tell your tale young man!” Mr. Chance’s voice floated in from the back room.

Tatum told his story as he took a moment to survey the house. From the outside the house didn’t look very large. The front door opened into a spacious living room decorated with numerous items that should have made it appear messy, but every item fit neatly in each place like it was a part of the living room. An open kitchen attached to the living room; copper pots and pans hung above an island which encased a stove made of cast iron. The stove pipe disappeared into the ceiling. Black soot stained the ceiling around the pipe. The gray granite countertops were full of highly ornate herb boxes full of leafy greens, grays, browns, and a rather peculiar purple plant.

Mr. Chance came back into the living room carrying a box while Tatum finished his story.

He plopped down into the plush chair, placed the box on the coffee table, and motioned for Tatum to sit opposite of him. “A very telling tale. You value your friends.”

Tatum shrugged. “I don’t like bullies.”

Tatum grabbed a chair sitting next to a book table. On the table laid several black books inscribed with gold inlaid lettering, which spelt words that Tatum had no idea of the language or the meaning they conveyed. The shape of the lettering reminded him of Latin he’d seen in his biology class, but he still couldn’t read them. Mr. Chance placed the box opposite of Tatum.

“A good quality. Don’t become the bully.” He cautioned.

“I don’t like people enough to bully them.” Tatum answered.

Mr. Chance chuckled. “I know that feeling.”

“You don’t seem upset or offended at what I did.”

Mr. Chance looked surprised. “I am not qualified to judge other people. People do what people do. They make their choices, as you did, and it sounds like you have accepted the responsibility that comes with that choice. I don’t need to judge you, besides, you shouldn’t let the opinions of other decide what’s best for you. In the end, most people will do what they feel is right, where it is right or wrong.”

The leather covered box was engraved with two Chinese dragons circling one another. Varying indecipherable patters were etched in the cover to highlight the dragons, but what stood out most was the color of the eyes of each dragon. The left dragon had red eyes like the coal burning embers left over from a raging bone fire and the right dragon had cool blue/white eyes that would have made a virgin snow field envious.

Mr. Chance smiled warmly as he ran his hands lovingly over the box. “Ever heard of the Japanese game, GO?”

Tatum shook his head.

This didn’t deter the smile upon Mr. Chance’s face. “A beautifully simplistic game that taxes even the most geniuses of minds. Two basic rules govern a multitude of strategic strategies that can give an opponent the upper hand at any time.” He stopped and leaned back in his chair.

Tatum, captivated by the dragons still, waited patiently for him to continue. After a few moments when Mr. Chance didn’t speak, Tatum relaxed in his chair.

“Okay. What now? What am I supposed to do for you?” Tatum frowned.

Mr. Chance waved away his question, then rubbed his hands together. “We’ll get to your punishment for your transgression against my castle later, but now, I want to see if you have skills.”

Mr. Chance leaned forward again and opened the box. Inside were two sets of stones: black and white. Each group of stones were packed neatly into rose colored glass cases that sat on top of a black board. Mr. Chance gingerly reached in and loving pulled each glass case from the leather box. He held each case like a father would hold a new born child before gently placing them down on the table. Mr. Chance picked up the game board, placed it on his lap, and put the leather box on the floor, before returning the board to the table top. He opened it; light colored patterns, drawn in white, connected other patterns like rivers etching the boundaries of states that surrounded the edges and middle. Within each territory, gold script letters that Tatum couldn’t read, but appeared to be the same as the lettering on the books over on the book table, stood out against the black board. Underneath it all, red, straight lines made up a grid that connected the territories to the board.

Mr. Chance waved his hand over the board. “This is a GO board. The grid pattern is where we will place each stone.”

“Like checkers?” Tatum studied the territories.

Mr. Chance laughed. “No. Nothing so restrictive. On this board you can play anywhere. The objective is to gain as much territory as you can by capturing the stones of the opponent.”

“There is no starting area?”

“No. As I said, you can start anywhere.” Mr. Chance moved the white stones in front of Tatum. Then Mr. Chance picked up the glass case with the blacks stones and removed the cover. He picked up a black stone and placed it on his index finger and held it there with his middle finger before skillfully placing it down on the board. He motioned for Tatum to place a white stone on the board.

“Usually, the white stones go first, but I just wanted to show you how to place the stone.” He explained.

Tatum picked up a white stone and began to place it on the board when Mr. Chance stopped him.

“No. You can’t just grab the stone between your thumb and index finger. You have to place it down like I did.” Mr. Chance told him.

“Why?” Tatum tried to imitate what Mr. Chance had done before, but the stone kept slipping out and falling onto the board.

“Tradition. It’s considered very impolite to place a stone in an incorrect way.” He leaned forward. “People have killed their opponents over it. It is a very grievous affront.”

Tatum eyed him suspiciously, but tried to keep the stone from falling. Upon a successful placement of the stone, Tatum listened carefully as Mr. Chance explained the rules and the objectives over the next ten minutes.

“Seriously? That’s it?” Tatum peered questioningly at him. “No gambits, weird names for offence or defense.”

“No. Well, there are certainly advance moves and countermoves with legendary names, but it’s just a game of conquest. Take as much territory, by taking your opponent’s stones as possible.” Mr. Chance leaned back in his chair and smiled disarmingly.

Tatum eyed the board again, and frowned. Several lines denoting territories had changed. One grew and one shrank, making the board look different. He pointed at them. “How did those lines move?”

“What?” Mr. Chance leaned forward; his eyes grew wide then narrowed. His usual smile turned into a grimace, before returning to a calming smile. “Oh, your eyes are playing tricks on you. The movement of the sunlight can causes the eye to see something it didn’t.”

“I know what I saw. The lines moved. It wasn’t the sunlight.” Tatum said.

“Uh, huh. Then how did it move….magic?” Mr. Chance laughed.

Tatum narrowed his eyes. He didn’t like being made fun of, and he knew when he was being baited. But the calm smile on Mr. Chance’s face, and the fact he didn’t know how the lines could move on their own made him refrain from commenting further.

“Ok. Let’s play. I’m really good at strategy games.”

Mr. Chance’s smile increased, and Tatum could have sworn that Shadow snorted.

Tatum leaned forward as did Mr. Chance.

“Let’s play.” They said in unison.

The door closed behind him with the contempt of a cell door sealing the fate of a condemned man. Tatum stretched his back, cracked his neck, and licked his lips, savoring the last bit of BBQ Mr. Chance had ordered from Mike’s BBQ. He breathed deeply of the night’s air, filling his lungs with renewed vigor, before setting off towards home. He walked towards the gate, before looking back for Shadow’s red eyes of death; he opened then closed the gate. He strolled up the short distance to his house wondering how he could have gotten beaten so badly. And not just beaten, but thoroughly shellacked in the most humiliating way possible.

He understood he had started out slowly. He expected to lose the first two or three games as he watched and leaned, but the shear brilliance of Mr. Chance had made Tatum wonder if he was really any good at any strategy games. But over the next six hours, which included an hour’s break to clean up the egg residue from yesterday, he had made slow progress with his understanding of the game. He shook his head. Not really progress when you gain only one or two extra squares of territories. Breathing deep again; the familiar tingling tickled the back of his head at those times when he got really excited about something. He knew he had found a game where he could explore all his skill and strategies that he had honed over the years playing games. A smile began at the middle of his mouth and finished in a large grin when he walked up the front porch. His dad and Gabriella were sitting on the porch swing eating ice cream in the fall night air.

“Never seen such a huge smile on someone in so much trouble.” His dad commented.

“Dad, he’s a hero!” Gabriella jumped off the porch swing and ran up to him. In her hand was a DQ Blizzard. “Here. Reese’s and Heath. With a splash of fudge. Just the way you like it.”

“Thanks.” He took a big bite of the Blizzard. He grabbed his head. “AH! Brain freeze.”

Gabriella laughed and returned to the swing. “You’re not going to punish him, are you Dad?”

“Gabriella, he did some mean things today.” His Dad told her. “I can’t just let him off.”

“But that jerk was going to lick her face!” Gabriella shivered. “That is so disgusting!”

“How did you hear about it?” Tatum continued eating his ice cream.

“Molly’s little sister Jenny told us, she’s on my soccer team.” She proudly announced. “You are a hero! Plus you are my brother. I’m proud that you are!” She giggled.

Tatum snorted a laugh. “Gabby, I really hurt Jackson today. That’s nothing to be proud of. Even if I did help Molly, sending him to the hospital wasn’t my intension. I just wanted him to leave her alone. It wasn’t right.” He contemplated his ice cream.

“But you saved her, Tatum. Doesn’t that count for something? There are so many mean people in the world. Shouldn’t you try and help those that you can?” Gabriella pleaded. “It just isn’t fair.”

Tatum sat down on the front porch. “Come here.” He told her.

Gabriella slid off the swing, walked slowly over to him and sat down with a thump. The ice cream forgotten in her hands. Her brown eyes appeared sad and confused.

“Look. You are right. There are mean people in the world and sometimes you have to defend yourself. But, look, hurting someone shouldn’t be your first option. I don’t regret defending Molly, and I might have been a little over zealous in my reaction, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have to face the consequences of my actions. If I were to get away with it, what’s to stop me from becoming like Jackson?”

“You aren’t mean.” Gabriella yelled. “You saved her!”

“You’re right. But I can be, can’t I.”

Gabriella reluctantly nodded. “But you were sad.”

“But that doesn’t give me the right to hurt someone, sad or not. I don’t get to beat up someone because I defended someone else. Like it or not, bullies have rights too.”

Tears appeared in her eyes.

“Don’t cry. That is just the way things are. Protect your friends as best you can, but just understand, you have to answer for what you chose to do. I chose violence over talking. Right or wrong, I have to answer for that decision. Okay?” Tatum smiled and rubbed her head. “Understand?”

She sniffed. “I think so. I still think you did the right thing.”

He hugged her. “Of course you do. You’re my sister, but don’t let that stop you from telling me when I’m a meat head.”

“Or if I’m being a bitch.” Gabriella countered.

Surprised, Tatum laughed. “Where did you learn that?”

“T.V.” She laughed.

“Deal.” He scooped some Blizzard out and rubbed it on her nose.

“NO!” Gabriella ran off the porch towards Alexa, who had just appeared on the sidewalk. She hid around her, talking animatedly and wiping ice cream off her nose.

Tatum waved. A sniff made him turn around.

His Dad stared at him, pride glowing upon his face. “How am I supposed to punish you after that? Your Mom would be so proud.”

Tatum turned away, face flushed with embarrassment. “I can still take her to see the movie?”

His Dad laughed. “Deal. How did your day with Mr. Chance go? I hope he was more upset than I am.”

Tatum turned around with the same smile he had when he first arrived.

“That doesn’t look encouraging.” He sighed followed with a laugh.

“I had the most amazing day, Dad!” Tatum stood and moved to sit on the swing. Soon Alexa and Gabriella joined them and he told them of the Japanese game, GO.