Farewell Summer ~ Ray Bradbury - Marimarister

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
In the green park below the marble shadow of the courthouse, under the great clock
tower‘s bulk, the chess tables waited.
Now under a gray sky and a faint promise of rain, a dozen chessboards were busy with
old men‘s hands. Above the red and black battlefields, two dozen gray heads were suspended.
The pawns and castles and horses and kings and queens trembled and drifted as monarchies fell
in ruin.
With the leaf shadows freckling their moves, the old men chewed their insunk mouths
and looked at each other with squints and coldnesses and sometimes twinkles. They talked in
rustles and scrapings a few feet beyond the monument to the Civil War dead.
Doug Spaulding snuck up, leaned around the monument, and watched the moving chess
pieces with apprehension. His chums crept up behind him. Their eyes lolled over the moving
chess pieces and one by one they moved back and drowsed on the grass. Doug spied on the old
men panting like dogs over the boards. They twitched. They twitched again.
Douglas hissed back at his army. ―Look!‖ he whispered. ―That knight‘s you, Charlie!
That king‘s me!‖ Doug jerked. ―Mr. Weeble‘s moving me now, ah! Someone save me!‖ He
reached out with stiff arms and froze in place.
The boys‘ eyes snapped open. They tried to seize his arms. ―We‘ll help you, Doug!‖
―Someone‘s moving me. Mr. Weeble!‖
―Darn Weeble!‖
At which moment there was a strike of lightning and a following of thunder and a drench
of rain.
―My gosh!‖ said Doug. ―Look.‖
The rain poured over the courthouse square and the old men jumped up, momentarily
forgetting the chess pieces, which tumbled in the deluge.
―Quick, guys, now. Each of you grab as many as you can!‖ cried Doug.
They all moved forward in a pack, to fall upon the chess pieces.
There was another strike of lightning, another burst of thunder.
―Now!‖ cried Doug.