Laura’s father taught her to play chess when she was five.
His immediate family had somehow survived the camps. So had their love of chess. Still, he never fully recovered from the war. He could be loving or enraged, joyous or lost in desperate despair.
Laura was a good girl; she did everything she could to make her father proud.
Over time, he collected many chess sets: wood, ivory, ceramic. He explained each piece’s purpose, basic openings, smart strategies. Laura won many tournaments.
Now her father was gone. At night, Laura lay awake reconsidering the lesson: always protect the king.
Faye Rapoport DesPres is the author of five books, including “Soul to Soul: Tiny Stories of Hope and Resilience” (Huntsville Independent Press, Dec. 1, 2023). Her fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in a wide variety of literary journals, and one of her stories won a Best Microfiction 2023 award. Faye lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Website: fayerapoportdespres.com. Twitter: @FayeRapoDesPres. BlueSky: @fayerd.bsky.social. Mastodon: @fayerapoportdespres@c.im.
The Centifictionist 
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