Before
George loved math’s and he was unusually good at weaving numbers together in his head. He could visualize numbers in a way that few can and bizarrely he found the entire process enjoyable. He had mental workbooks laid out on top of themselves in his mind that all had differing colors. All he needed to do was think what can I times that by and up would pop the correct line of his mental table which would helpfully stop on the correct square. All of this takes some time to write down but it took an instant or even a mini-instant to happen inside George’s marvelous head.
I once asked George what it was like to be so intelligent and he told me that school had been for him a very lonely place. It was full of children for a start and he had to wait a good many years before he could have an interesting conversation with one of them. He also found socializing with children of his own age very confusing – it felt to him as though a workbook had been handed out and he had missed getting a copy because he was in the loo having a pee. They all seemed to know what the rules were but they seemed to be based on ridiculous idea such as someone’s facial features or even more bizarrely on the clothes or shoes they were wearing.
George was a very practical type of person and so he knew that how the outside of a person is decorated has nothing whatsoever to do with the internal and really awesome parts of a person. He longed to find another soul that cherished these things like he did but he soon realized he would have to wait quite a number of years for his fellow students to grow up physically and for their inner person to grow up if at all.
Some people’s outside and insides simply do not match up. George once met a woman who was so polished and glossy on the outside but whose insides were small, blackish and rotting at the edges. On the other hand, he once met a tiny wee boy whose outsides looked sticky and dirty but the enormous heart that lived within was nothing short of magnificent.
When this wee boy giggled, he giggled with his entire body and with a lot of soul thrown in for good measure. His laugh made everyone around him laugh out loud before they realized what had happened. His christening service was a hilarious event and many of the ladies needed to re touch their makeup up afterwards because the majority of it had been wiped away via happy tears. In fact, on that particular day, he was christened and named for ever after to be – Isaac which literally means laughter or joy.
Because George worked this all out at such a young age it gave him quite a bit of time to fill in and what he loved even more than math was chess and a good game of chess took time. It appeared to be one of the few games that he could play with adults where they didn’t patronize him with trying not to win. In fact, after a few years of playing he realized that the adults he was matched with were trying desperately not to lose.
His parents decided that they would like to have commissioned a chess set for their lovely eldest son. A local wood turner arrived at the front door, was shown into the library and then he took notes, lots and lots of notes. George’s parents had many ideas and they kept the wood turner from getting home for his supper. However, his wife had put a big corner section of mince pie and a large slice of apple cake aside for him so he didn’t go hungry.
The next day John the wood turner went for a walk to find the right tree which he would then turn into a chess board and the 32 pieces that matched it. He lit his long pipe before he took his first step and had you been behind him you may have thought you were behind a train. As he walked, he looked at one tree and then another, as he considered the trees he would take in a big lungful of smoke and when he was not happy with what he saw he would puff out his cheeks and the smoke would appear from behind to come out from his entire head. He had only been walking for about five minutes when he found the right tree. He stood stock still for the next few minutes while he measured out wood in his head and imagined what each piece may look like. Yes, this was the right tree and it would make a beautiful present for an unusually bright young man.
The tree was felled, sawn and stacked into the corner of John’s workshop and then he took out a large piece of white paper and sketched out his thoughts and ideas. He tried to encompass as many of the features that would suit from the pages of notes he had taken from his meeting with the parents and was very pleased with how it came together. Sometimes the plans would squiggle about and fight each other but some days like today the blueprint seemed ready to go and he just needed to put the right lines in the right places. He always felt when this happened that he was making something with an invisible friend who was in charge and who was graciously allowing him to be part of the process.
He worked hard during the winter months and when he was finished, he took a step back from his workbench, poured himself a sherry and toasted the air telling his invisible friend it was a job very well done indeed.
Christmas morning arrived and for the four children in the big house this was the one morning they were allowed to wake up their mummies and daddy’s because the first thing to do on any Christmas morning was to open the presents. They all piled atop their parents who pretended to wake up when they had only an hour beforehand put the final parcel beneath the tree.
They all put on dressing gowns and slippers and the four children kneeled beside the tree. They all took turns at handing over their presents many of which were homemade. George’s sister was given a guitar which she did not let go of until it came between her and Pavlova. The Pavlova won. His youngest sister was gifted a handmade doll bed which had been a group effort by the parents, Daddy had done the woodwork for the bed itself and his lovely wife produced all the sheets and pillows needed to make this a bed any doll would be happy to sleep in. His little brother was gifted a telescope which he spent many hours gazing through. Finally George was handed a large box which made exciting sounds and after he removed the paper, he realized that it was a chess set, but oh my - what a chess set!
The small pieces had all been hand whittled, stained and then varnished. The pieces themselves were not the classic black and white because they were all hand hued from wood. The crafter had used a darker wood set against a lighter one, however it was so seamless that you could see they had come from the same wood source. He spent the next few hours picking up each piece, memorizing each one’s personal touches. The queen was almost too beautiful to use but her regal nose and stiff neck suggested she was looking forward to making other pieces do her bidding. Even the humble pawns looked ready to go and the helmets on their heads glistened in the fire light.
He asked his mother to be the first victim of his new chess set and quickly bested her in a few minutes before taking on his sister. She gave him a little bit more of a challenge but she too quickly subcommand to the regal Queen. Finally, just before he climbed into his bed, he had a lovely one-hour session with his father who found himself roundly beaten much sooner than he planned. His father tucked him into bed and asked him if he had had a good day. Oh, it was the best day ever and I now have 33 new friends who I can play with whenever I want.
During
George had a very soft spot for Mrs. Hope and the wonderful shop that she managed – second hand products were not really his thing but he was intelligent enough to spot a wee corner of heaven when he saw it. He and his lovely wife were downsizing from a six-bedroom mansion into a small two-bedroom cottage and they wanted to make sure that all their belongings went to a second forever home and so that meant a trip to Mrs. Hopes Second Chance Emporium.
They arrived on her doorstep on a chilly Tuesday morning. As it happened Mrs. Hope had taken part in a community stall over the weekend and she had sold an unprecedented amount of stock. Usually, Mrs. Hope had a store crammed with items as well as another small heap of products in the back room. However, this was the first time in recent memory where Mrs. Hope could finally take in a large amount of stock from one consignment and happily it coincided with George’s knock on her door.
She took the majority of the items she was offered and had potential buyers in mind for many of them. Finally at the end of a very productive two hours George went back to his Porsche Boxer, took a box from the back seat and wandered back with it to show Mrs. Hope. Mrs. Hope exclaimed out load as she took one and then all of the chess pieces out of their lovely wooden box. Even the Chess Board was stunning and had obviously been hand painted by someone who loved his work. He explained that even now this chess set had been the best present he had ever received but he felt that now it was time for it to be passed along to a new user. George and Mrs. Hope had an animated and spirited discussion followed by a brief hug before Mr. Hope walked away from decades of possessions feeling wonderfully light.
Mr. and Mrs. Hope had a very busy few days where they rearranged stock, moved pieces about and found new homes for a large number of items. The chess set however needed to stay on the front counter. Mr. Hope took one look at his wife’s face when she said that and he knew not to ask another question because magic was involved and his only connection thus far to the art was marrying the love of his life and he did not want to jinx that.
A number of adults admired the chess set but they were all told the same thing – I am sorry but it is not for sale. Some seemed perplexed by this answer but didn’t push further. Others seemed quite miffed and one very brave lady asked why it was in the store at all if that was the case.
It was a lovely Wednesday afternoon and Maggie was making her way home from school. She had completed all her homework during their free period and so before her was an entire afternoon which she could fill doing whatever she liked. She took a big deep breath of winter air and then blew it out again and was happy to see it made a visual plume. She looked up from breathing to see where her steps had taken her and found that she was directly outside Mrs. Hope Second Chance Emporium.
Maggie adored this wee shop and she loved it all the more because it was run by one of the nicest grownups that Maggie had met. Everything about Mrs. Hope was lovely – she even wore clothes which always seemed to make the things that surrounded her look even better. If Mrs. Hope was wearing a dress for example, she would have a wee pocket that held candy hearts or if she had a hat on there would be detail on it that could only been seen properly when she was directly underneath the small chandelier that hung over her wee counter. She also seemed to understand the moods of the people who visited her and she would change her behavior to suit. If they were just tired and needed a bit of a pick me up then Mrs. Hope would let them wander for a bit and she would slowly bring them out with simple questions or friendly suggestions. Many a tired housewife would find herself back in her kitchen with a handwritten recipe, the perfect crock to put it in and a hilarious story to tell her husband as they ate dinner that night.
Maggie twisted the knob on the door which was shaped like a fox, pushed against the wood and entered the emporium – the insides smelled like apple pie today and she could imagine it sitting on a plate including ice-cream.
She had a lovely half an hour wandering around the shop, picking up some of the toys, giving them a quick cuddle before popping them back. She understood the emporium better than most and realized that all the objects inside the shop needed to be reassured that they were still worthy. They all needed to be picked up regularly and assured that they were unflawed, wanted and understood.
Maggie got to the front of the store and noticed the chess set immediately. She had learned to play chess only a few months before and had been surprised to find that she was quite good at it. She picked up the pieces and then looked up into Mrs. Hopes very blue eyes and asked the question – how much is it worth? Mrs. Hope replied that it was not for sale. As Maggie turned to walk away Mrs. Hope noted “it is available for rental if you’re interested”
“How do you rent a chess set enquired Maggie?” Mrs. Hope explained that the chess set had been made for a little boy who often felt that he did not fit in. Chess had really helped this boy to make friends and in many ways, it was chess that had taught him about people. He had grown up and had children of his own but none of his children had needed or wanted to play the game and so here he was in later life with a lovely chess set but nobody to play with. She explained that he was interested in playing chess once per week with another likeminded person and that the only condition was that nothing should be eaten or drunk near the set for obvious reasons. Maggie was immediately intrigued and asked Mrs. Hope for more information. When Maggie arrived home that afternoon, she held a note in her hands for her Mummy to read. That evening Maggie’s Mummy and Daddy had a conversation over dinner about the idea of Maggie playing chess with the local Judge up the road in his home. Neither of them fully grasped the concept and so it just seemed easier to say yes than poke at the arrangement any further even though it sounded just a bit mad.
Maggie arrived on the doorstep feeling very red in the face. She had been scrubbed from head to toe in the bath tub, then she had been towel dried and popped onto a chair where her hair had been wrestled into tiny pigtails that made the top of her head ache. Her mum had even held up a hanky to her nose until Maggie gave her a very stern look, removed the hanky and suggested that now might be a good time for her to leave. She did just that. George and Maggie had spent a wonderful two hours not playing chess at all – both had forgotten to bring the chess set with them. After they finished laughing about that disaster, they filled in all the rest of the spaces with topics that ranged from dog training to the perfect crème Brule and enticing rumors about the enigmatic Mrs. Hope and where she had come from.
There is no after for this story because the chess set stayed in the emporium from that day onwards. It was picked up regularly and taken on an outing but always came back again. Over time a small group of children would trudge up the long driveway to the small cottage where they learned how to play chess but much more importantly, they learned all about people and how they worked. Maggie took over when George was too old to keep up with his small charges and she did so with relish. Maggie had actually married a boy she met at chess club when she was 12 and he was 15, some people use up their entire lives looking for the right person and she had hers all sorted at the age of 12.
Because of this and in spite of it she wanted to keep the chess magic alive for as long as possible. With time one of Maggie’s sons took over the club and so on and so forth.
Mrs. Hope could not play chess at all but she loved how each piece had been made with such care. When Mrs. Hope had needed a shingle for her shop she had asked around until she found the very man who had handcrafted the chess set.
He made her a sign that was both beautiful and practical and every evening as she took it down, she marveled at its simple but beautiful lines. The man who had made the chess set and the shingle rarely got to see his finished products again, most were kept inside the houses they were made for. However, he would always slow his car down just a little when it came up to the emporium so that he could admire his work, isn’t that lovely?