“Goodbye,” and she goes. I stay there, holding the gift I was about to give her. Had told her I was giving her. This after-noon, on the phone. I said “I’d like to come over with something for you.”

I wrote a novel for Sarah and sent it to her. She wrote back, “For me? How sweet. Nobody has ever done anything or presented me with anything near to what you’ve just given me. I’ll treasure it always.

Okay. We’re finished, done. My head careens, heart flops. She clenches her teeth, whirls her back to me, says “Just go. Please? Will you just leave?”

He examined the chessboard. There was no doubt he had the other fellow’s king in check. The guy must be nuts or something to say “check” right after him. Nobody, absolutely nobody, was near his king.