Read 1951 - In a Vain Shadow for Free Online

at her and I was a dead duck.
    I knew it and didn’t care. I knew she was fatal too, and didn’t care about that either. And when I watched her move to the end of the table and saw the roll of her hips and the gentle lift of her breasts my mouth went dry and I felt physically sick. That chicken dinner suddenly became the most nauseating thing I have ever had to look at.
    ‘Do you play chess, Mitchell?’
    The meal was somehow over, and she had gone into the kitchen to wash up. She hadn’t said a word during the meal.
    When Sarek had introduced me she had given me a black, stony stare and hadn’t looked my way for the rest of the meal. Sarek was too interested in his food to notice anything odd about her behaviour, or mine for that matter. He didn’t seem to expect anyone to talk. He took his food seriously, and for his size, it was surprising how much he ate.
    He didn’t even notice that I scarcely touched my food. I couldn’t. I wanted a double whisky more than anything else in the world - more than anything, except her. As soon as Sarek had finished gorging himself, she got up and began clearing the table.
    It was then that Sarek asked me if I played chess.
    ‘I’ve played a bit.’
    ‘I like chess. When I lived in Cairo I play every night with my father. I try to teach Rita but is no good. She has not the brain for chess. Is smart and clever, but no good at chess. You have to have a special brain: she has not got it.’
    That was her name - Rita.
    ‘Well, you can’t be good at everything.’
    He was looking hopefully at me.
    ‘We have a game, hey? Nothing serious, you understand. I have not played chess for months.’
    ‘All right.’
    He beamed at me, rubbing his small brown hands.
    ‘Not much to do in the country after dark. Chess is the best game in the world.’
    If she had been my wife I wouldn’t have said there wasn’t much to do in the country after dark. Nor would I have let her remain in the kitchen alone for two seconds.
    He set up a card table in front of the fire.
    ‘Won’t Mrs. Sarek want to sit here?’
    ‘Is all right. You know what women are. She fuss in the kitchen, then she go to bed early. She read in bed: trash. All women read trash.’ He chuckled as he crossed the room to a cupboard. ‘Paper-backed books she reads; love stories. Is very romantic.’
    But not with you, I thought. I bet she’s not very romantic with you.
    He produced a set of hand-carved, ivory chessmen and an ivory board. It was the most impressive set of chessmen I had ever seen.
    ‘Nice set.’
    ‘Is beautiful set.’ He handed me the Queen. ‘Fourteenth century work by Pisano. My father he found them in Italy. He give them to me. He want me to give them to my son. He felt very strong about it, but what can I do? I have no son.’ He began to set out the pieces on the board, his thick eyebrows knitted in a frown. ‘Not yet, in a little while; next year. Is what she says, but what is the use of a son to me if I am too old to enjoy him?’
    I went over to the window, pulled aside the curtain and looked into the darkness, scared he would see the rush of blood that had risen to my neck and face. To hear him talk like that gave me a feeling I had never had before: a feeling of rage that was suffocating.
    ‘Let us begin. Come and sit down.’
    I heard the door open and I turned.
    She stood just inside the room, looking at Sarek. Her pointed chin jutted out aggressively. Every line of her was aggressive as if she had screwed herself up in anger over something she had been brooding about for a long time.
    ‘There’s no coal. Do I have to lug coal when there are two men in the house?’
    Her voice was low pitched and hard and angry.
    Sarek frowned at her.
    ‘You must not worry me now, dear. I play chess!’
    ‘I’ll get it.’
    I started across the room.
    Sarek gaped at me, but I took no notice of him.
    ‘Show me where it is and I’ll get it.’
    She didn’t look at me, but turned and went out of the room.