The Chess Gambit And The Ring

When I was around twelve years old I finally asked a long time childhood friend to become my girlfriend. The girl was from the province of Bulacan, Philippines. Her house was just across my grandparents and my parents knew her parents very well. The night that I asked her to be my girl was the time of the big dance at the local school during the summer festival. When she answered yes, I jump off the balcony and was very happy. We sat together the whole night just holding hands and flashing silly grins at our friends. We spent as much time together as possible before I have to leave for Marikina to return to school.

During the school year my Mom informed me that we were leaving the Philippines to fly to the USA to join my father in California. Our papers were ready and that my Dad paid for our plane tickets. My Mom informed me that we would be visiting my grandparents in Bulacan before we leave for the USA. I was really despondent at the time. I don't know how I can leave my new girlfriend when I just asked her to be my sweetheart only a few months ago. I decided after a while to leave something special for her to remember me. I did not that much money and my treasures were few. I have a couple of Matchbox toy cars, a few marbles and a chain of rubber bands, but nothing worth leaving behind as a reminder to my girlfriend.

During the school year to past the time when not in school, my friend and I would play a few games of chess. He lived in the house behind our home in Marikina. He was sixteen years old at the time and very big for his age. We were pretty much even in our skills playing chess and we pretty much split the victories evenly. We would go to the corner store and borrow their chess board. We would sit there playing a few games until the sun was setting before going home. We were very serious with out chess and we were very competetive with each other. We played each game like it was the most important game in our life.

One day while we were playing I noticed he was wearing a ring on one of his fingers. The ring came from a crackerjack box, but it looks like a diamond ring to me. Trying not to let him know of my interest on his ring, I asked him about the ring like I just noticed it. He was smiling when he started to talk about his ring. I said that why not make the next game of chess interesting by putting something on the line. He said he did not have anything of value and this was when I mentioned why not bet his ring. I told him he was a really good player and we are pretty much even in our skills. I told him I would place my new crisp five peso paper money against his ring. I held my breath for the longest time not daring to exhale afraid he might realize I was setting him up. It was a big relief when he said yes. I can see it in his eyes he lusted after the money. Gotcha!

The game was very stressful since I might come out with nothing after the game. We both played at the top of our game and we did not give an inch to each other. We took our time and thought real hard about each position, each move and each decision we made. It took us a while to finish the game, this game lasted longer than a few of our previous games combined. Only when I heard myself say checkmate did I realized that I won the game. It seemed very surreal.

When we visited my grandparents' house for the last time, I searched for my girlfriend, but my best friend told me that she was at her grandparents. She was not coming home until after we left for Manila. I was really sad at this time, I wanted to personally give the ring to my girl. I finally did the next best thing. I gave the ring to my best friend and told him to give it to my girl. I told him to tell her that I would never forget her and that this is a symbol of my promise. I left Bulacan for the last time not knowing that I would not be able to fulfill the promise I made to her.

When I was around in my early twenties, my mother went back to visit the Philippines. She went back to the province to visit her relatives there. She met with my girlfriend's mother and they talked about us. Her mom was very nice to remember me and she gave my Mom a picture of my friend. She was very nice and I heard she was very industrious. She was sending herself to school by working her own business. I did not know what to do since at the time I was involved with my high school sweetheart. I decided that it was better that I did not contact her since it might complicate things. I heard that she graduated and she married a really wonderful guy. I still cherished the memories and friendship with my friend. I hope someday that we could meet and talked about the old days.