Cats Paws and Chess Moves

Sedona finished up at work and headed home. The small gathering at Pariss’ apartment was tonight – the chess match – and she was looking forward to seeing Accra and her other new friends. And of course, Indiga

Still, she took time to play with Snuggles before she left her quarters. Sedona felt guilty because she was going out again tonight and leaving her cat alone. Just lately, Sedona seemed to have a lot of social events to attend and she sensed her cat needed some extra attention.

The cat had come up with a new game, a version of peek-a-boo. Sedona’s job was to duck behind various pieces of furniture in the room, such as the pile of cushions. She exposed just enough of herself that the cat could find her, then Sedona made squeaky noises to coax the cat toward the sound. Snuggles stretched up past the cushions by using her telescoping leg feature, until she could see Sedona. Then she gave a loud “Yeoww” and Sedona popped up. Both of them thought this was a funny game.

Eventually though, it was time to get ready for the match. Sedona showered and dressed, taking extra time to make sure she looked nice. She paused by the door on her way out to admire her new painting. Luckily, she remembered to take the new rock with her, so she turned back inside to pick it up and tuck it in a pocket.

She left the residence area, taking the moving walkway, getting off when she reached the ring road around the towers. When she approached Tower One, she saw Karachi, casually leaning against the wall at the main entrance. He looked surprised as Sedona walked past the tower. He gave her a long, considering look, then hissed “VeVo” at her.

Sedona knew Karachi had always been jealous of her. Well, now it seemed like he had himself in the running to be in Lundun’s close circle of supporters. Sedona told herself to ignore him and just kept walking.

But when she was about to go through the double doors of Tower Two, Sedona realized that Karachi had followed her. And he’d seen her go into Pariss’ building. Uh oh, could he use that to make trouble? But there was nothing that could be done about it now so she simply shrugged and entered the lift.

Much to her surprise, Sedona enjoyed the chess match. The two opponents were well-matched, which made for an exciting game. And Indiga sat close to her, whispering in her ear as he explained the various moves. Sedona found herself nearly breathless at times and she wasn’t sure if it was from the thrilling game or the nearness of Indiga.

During a break before the second match, Sedona at last had a chance to say hello to Pariss and offer him the new stone. As she stretched out her arm to pass the stone to him, her thumb brushed across the bottom of it. As it dropped into Pariss’ hand, she realized that this one also had a pattern of bumps on the underside. He was pleased by the gift and offered to show her his collection after all the matches.

The second game began, building in excitement and intensity. Sedona was very agitated as the competition came to a head when the King was finally checked. But again, she wasn’t sure if it was from the game, or from being so close to Indiga.

People were chatting and having drinks after the game when Pariss brought Sedona into his office to see the famous rocks. There was a series of shelves built along a wall, designed to display the stones in the light from the window. But what really drew Sedona’s eyes was the group of landscape paintings on the other wall. There were seven paintings! She made a point of glancing through the stones, even picking up a couple to make her interest in them appear convincing. Oddly enough, all of them had groups of little bumps on the underside, just like the two she had found.

Then, duty done, she finally strolled over to the paintings. She tried to be casual about them, but her heart was racing. Pariss walked up beside her as she looked intensely at each one. As she came to the end of the wall, she sighed. Deeply.

“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” Pariss asked. “I have trouble believing there could be so many different environments on earth at the time these were painted.”

Sedona turned to nod in agreement. “I know, I often wonder what our barren zone looked like then. Maybe like one of these.” She pointed first to a view of blinding white snow, then to one with hills and dunes made all of sand.

“Actually, I believe it looked more like this one,” said Pariss, gesturing to a sea of long grasses waving in a breeze, under a bright blue sky.

Sedona looked deeply into that picture, sighing again.