Games For Money-Chapter 5

I was ecstatic. Yes, ecstatic. I was happy. I mean, like I (we) had just completed the first test! And it was so simple! If the rest of the tests were this easy, then winning this thing was going to be a breeze. Oh no. I thought as I realised something, what if it’s too simple? What if…like Malhaar said…this was a trap? People had told us that they sincerely hoped we were up to the job. But…how could this job be so easy?

 

Malhaar, who was still sitting on the bed, noticed my long silence. Her face fell.

“oh crap. I hate it when this happens. Just when things are going well. So, what’s up this time?”

“the sky?”, I offered. She was not amused and proceeded to give me the death stare. I looked at her and laughed. She let a quiet chuckle slip but rectified her features and assumed a threatening look.

I laughed again and said, “It just seems too easy.”

“yeah. Totally. I so didn’t notice. I so didn’t realise it was a trap. Like, I totally didn’t warn you about this outside school.”, she said. (sarcastically, for other people like me who are weak in detecting sarcasm. Well, I have improved. I live with the definition of sarcasm.)

“not the time person.”

“yeah, yeah. So what are we gonna do about it?”

“a whole lot of horseshit.”

She smiled gleefully. “so, our options are: 1) go up to them and challenge them. 2) Play their game. (cunningly, with horseshit) 3) just leave. Get out of it. run.”

“you can forget about option three. I ain’t doing that. One seems okay but two is more like us.”

“I go for two, you know.”, she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“yeah, I know.”

“So, we just wait. For them to play. We’ve made our move. Now it’s their turn.”, she said.

“I was never good at chess anyway.”