Winds of Fate

by Thomas H. Reed

  He shrugged. “Maybe.” But then what else would I do with my money?”

  She looked at him and asked, “Do you want my honest opinion?”

  Kay replied, “Yes, I do.”

  “Don’t spend it on bar girls and beer.”

  Kay laughed. “Well, the alcohol is out for sure.”

  “Paying full price for a drink you could get for one-tenth the price is not wise either.”

  “Do I have to give up the bar girls too?”

  She looked at him and said, “You do not want bar girls.”

  “No?”

  “No. I have not seen you look at one girl or even give so much as an indication that you were looking for that kind of entertainment.”

  “I suppose you’re right.”

  “Then why do you come? If I didn’t have to be here, I wouldn’t. If I were rich like the Americans, I would— she paused and then shook her head. “I am not rich, and it is foolish to think of things you cannot have.”

  “What would you do if you were rich?” She held her pork stick in her lap and looked off into the night. “I would build a house with a garden and nice furniture. Maybe open a small business or go to school.”

  “School? What would you major in?”

  “Engineering, I like aircraft they fascinate me. I think I would like to design and build airplanes.”

  “Engineering is a hard school.”

  “Hard work has never frightened me.”

  He looked at her and said, “No, I don’t suppose it does. So, you have your home, and your garden, and a job building aircraft, and then what?”

  “Then nothing.” She tossed the pork stick at a stray dog and it ran to it licking its lips, and sniffed the still warm pork.

  “It is just a stupid dream, I am a bar girl with a high school education. I take men to my bed for a living, I am a whore.”

  He put his hand under her chin and looked her in the eyes. “Do you really believe that?”

  She nodded, her eyes never leaving his.

  “That is not what your eyes tell me.”

  She shook her head hard, throwing his hand off her chin, then asked in an angry voice. “What is it that you think you see in my eyes?”

  “Strength, a desire to be more, hopes, and dreams.”

  “When the game is over, you will be gone. Some GI or tourist with a few dollars will come to take your place, he will take me to the back or to his home, and I will still be a whore. I may have dreams, but they are not real” She reached down and put her hand around her crotch. “This is real and this is what I have to look forward to.”

  He studied her for a long time. “And if you could get away from all of this?”

  “I would run and never look back”

  He was quiet for a moment, clearly thinking things through in his mind. “Okay, here is what we will do. One more game. Winner takes all.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You win, I will give you a million bucks in US currency. I win and I get to keep you.”

  Irma shook her head, “That is not a fair bet.”

  “Why not?”

  “Either way I win.”

  “How so?”

  “I get to leave the bar, and instead of many men taking me to their bed, there would only be you.”

  “And that would be better?”

  She gave him an angry look and replied. “To get away from the smoke, drugs, and the men who hit and abuse me, having to submit to health test every week and worrying about contracting some disease that the medicine will not cure, this slow suicide? Yes it would be better.”

  “You do understand that you would be giving yourself to me? You would be mine.”

  “If I lose, and I do not lose often. My body would be yours. My mind would still belong to me.”

  He smiled and then said, “I suppose that is true, no one can truly own another.”

  He paused. “The bet still stands. Do you wish to take it?”

  She watched the stray dog as he finished off the last of the barbecue. “And if you win. What would you do with me?”

  “What do men do with you now?”

  “I have been at this since I was fifteen, soon I will turn thirty. The number of men that have put their pricks inside of me has lost meaning. And you want me?”

  “It washes out.”

  “The spunk does, but not the stain, it never washes away.” She picked up a rock and tossed it at the dog when he came sniffing around for more.

  “And your friends?”

  “Friends? A man like me has no friends, I have people who work for me and tell me what I want to hear.”

  “What of the man inside?”

  “Sam? He is the exception to the rule. We grew up together pretty much since grade school.”

  “So you do have friends that are close to you?”

  “Very few. But the truth be known, the friends I do have are as close as family.”

  “And this family? What will they think?”

  Kay smiled. “You would have to meet them to understand. We aren’t your conventional family.” He tossed his pork stick and the stray dog ran after it.

  “What my friends or my family thinks will not be a concern of yours. And, as you have pointed out, instead of many men there will just be one.

  “She nodded and then asked, “Can I think on this?”

  Kay replied, “I will be inside for another two hours. Let me know by the end of the second hour.”

  With a puzzled look, Irma asked, “Why are you doing this? There are much prettier girls, who would go with you willingly with no strings attached, and you wouldn’t even have to win a chess game.”

  “You are pretty.”

  She shook her head, “No, I have a good shape, and a plane face, in a crowd I do not stand out.”

  “Maybe I like girls with average faces and generic bodies.” Then he paused and said, “You are neither average nor plain. You shouldn’t sell yourself short.”

  Kay turned and went back into the bar, leaving her sitting where she was. Irma watched him go. She took a deep breath, held it, and then exhaled in a loud rush of air.

  I should tell Mama San of the bet, and ask her opinion. If I win, Mama San will want part of the money; if I lose, she will want the man to pay. Even if I had to give half to Mama San, that would still leave me rich. I could go to school and get a degree in engineering, from there I could go anywhere in the world.

  But, what if I lose; I would be his, be his slave, his property. Is it worth risking my soul? The man didn’t seem to be a bad person. But what about when he gets behind closed doors? Many men appear one way in public, and another when others can not see him for what he is.

  She looked up and down the dark streets. The fires of the barbecue grills burned low, sending up small drifting shards of amber light into the dark skies.

  I would be away from here, away from this filth, and this stink, he may fuck me, and he may even hit me. But with one man, there is an expectancy, an order, a knowledge. His dangers I can learn, and once learned, I will know how to avoid them. His weakness I can find and learn how to gain from them. If I win, I can make my own future; if I lose then I have decided that future as well. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain.

  She got up slowly, brushed the back of her pants, and then walked back into the bar. When she entered, the man looked at her questionably, and she nodded slightly. Kay called out to the Mama San. “Ruth!” Mama San looked at him and said, “What you want?”

  “We need a piece of paper and a pen, a pencil will not do.” She looked around behind the bar and picked up a legal pad and a pin showing them to him.

  “Will this work?”

  “Yes, thank you. Would you mind bringing them here? I need you to witness something.” She took the pad and pen over and handed them to him. He took it and quickly wrote something out on the legal pad, and then handed it back to her. Mama San read it, looked up at the girl and then at Kay. “You are not se
rious?”

  “Do I look like I am joking? Once we sign it, and you sign as a witness it becomes a legal document.” He studied her for a minute and then stated, “Win or lose you will receive ten-thousand dollars for your part, either way you are going to lose your bar girl.”

  She nodded.” That means that she is free and clear, you can not ask or expect anything else from her.”

  Once again, she nodded, and then asked, “Is she willing to do this?”

  Irma said, “If I win, I can make my dreams come true. And if I lose, will it be any different than now?”

  Mama San shook her head. “Here you can leave, but if you lose to him, you become his property forever.

  “Irma replied, “I have considered that and I am willing to take the chance. If I don’t, I will never get another like it.”

  “That is if he has a million dollars.” Kay smiled and said, “A million doesn’t mean much to me, believe me, I will honor my half of the bet.” Sam leaned over and whispered something in Mama San’s ear. The woman suddenly stood straight, she looked at Kay for a long time and then said eagerly, “I will sign as your witness.” She handed the tablet to Irma and then Kay for their signatures. After Mama San re-read the tablet, she requested an employee to do the same. As he rounded the bar he asked, “What is this all about?”

  Mama San handed over the paper and asked for his opinion. Reading it through very carefully he said, “It is a legal document, and will hold up in court.”

  Satisfied with the answer, she and the man signed their own name and title.

  “It is settled; all we need do now is play the game.” The man who had verified the document picked up a black and white pawn, turned around, and then hid one in each hand.

  “Who won the last game?”

  Irma said, “I did.”

  He held out a closed fist and said, “Choose.” She tapped his right hand and he opened it up on a black pawn. Irma took the piece and set it on the board then took the chair across from Kay. Kay took the other piece and placed the pawn at king’s pawn-four.

  The bar had gone quiet, the music stopped, and the lights were turned down except for the one over their table. Everyone gathered around at a respectful distance as Irma moved her king’s pawn to challenge. Two hours into the game, Mama San called out, “It is time to call for a rest.”

  Kay stood up to stretch and Irma went to the far table. Mama San brought Irma some refreshments.

  “This man is good at chess.”

  Irma nodded then rubbed her temples. “He is very good; I have never played anyone as good as him.”

  “Do you think you can win?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Maybe he is not like the ones you can sucker into stupid moves or bold plays. He knows how to play the game and is very skilled.”

  “If you decide not to continue, I will understand.” Irma looked at her and said, “You would be out ten thousand dollars.”

  “Suddenly it doesn’t seem like that much. This man will own you.”

  Irma replied, “Men have owned women for as long as there have been men and women. Sometimes they are subtle in their ownership, sometime they are not.”

  She reached out and fingered Mama San’s ring on her left hand. “What is this if not a sign of possession?” Mama San looked at the ring then said, “It means much more than that.”

  “Really? Take away all the romance and the bullshit that surrounds it and it becomes what it really is, a chain and collar.”

  “He is a very rich and powerful man. I did not know who he was but I have heard of him. He is the one that built the steel plant after the base closed down. I fear for you.”

  Irma shook her head, “He is not a man to fear.”

  “He play’s this game with you, like a cat with a mouse.”

  Irma nodded then said, “If I win, I could go to engineering school, have a place of my own, and my garden that I have always dreamed of.”

  “And if you lose?”

  “Then I will honor my half of the bet.”

  “Just like that?”

  “I gave my word, I signed the paper.”

  “It is just a piece of paper.”

  “It is my word.”

  “You are a bar girl, who expects a bar girl to keep her word?”

  “I have a chance to go to school, to do something. The brass ring is there for me to grab I must try, because it will never be there again.”

  “There will be other men, other opportunities.”

  “For Kiki maybe, or Sandra, they have beautiful faces and bodies to match. Men flock to them, give them things, and lavish their attention on them. Me, they simply take to the back and relieve themselves. I am a toilet to them, not a person to take home or to show off to others.”

  “Long after Kiki and Sandra have lost their beauty, you will still be more than they could ever hope to be. Don’t do this.”

  “I have given my word; I will not go back on it.”

  Kay went outside and walked around stretching his legs, smelled coffee in the air and followed his nose.

  The old man who ran the Sari-Sari store handed him the coffee and asked, “What will you do with her when you win?”

  Kay shook his head then said, “She is a very good player, my victory is anything but sure.”

  “But if you do win?”

  “She will keep her half of the bargain.”

  “Still you have yet to say what you would do with her?” Kay looked at the old man then said, “Give her a home, a garden, and the school she so desires. Then find a game she can beat me at.”

  The old man studied him with dark and brooding eyes. “And how will you give back her soul?”

  “She lost that a long time ago.” Kay paused. “It is something that she will have to find on her own. That, I can’t help her with. I can give her everything else, but I can not give back her self respect, she must find it for herself.”

  “You could let her win.”

  “Could I?”

  The old man shook his head. “No, the moment she saw that you were not playing your best she would call for a new game or simply call the bet off.”

  “She is that kind of person. Even in her dishonor, she has honor. “The old man nodded, “She is not like the others.”

  “No she isn’t. She is a very special and unique person. However, that can not last where she is now.

  The old man thought about this then said, “I think you are right. Her honor will cause her to take her life or she will simply lose the will to live.

  “He shook his head, and asked, “Do you think you can save her?”

  “I can give her anything she desires, but I can not give her back that which she wants the most.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Her innocence, honor and dignity. I can give her love, because people like Irma are meant to be loved. But what she needs and wants most I can not give her.”

  The old man nodded. “Perhaps by giving her love, you will give her back her honor. Love is a strong medicine and can heal many wounds.”

  Kay smiled, “If that were so, the world would be a much cleaner and nobler place.”

  “You do not believe in the power of love?”

  “I don’t know what I believe in, so far I have seen very little good come from the love of man. I don’t know if what I am doing is right or wrong, only that I feel that I must do this.”

  The old man lit a cigarette and said, “Even if she wins, she will be only half a person. She will never have a man in her life, never believe she is good enough for any man, even when she has proven it to the world, she will never be capable of proving it to her self.”

  Kay considered this for a moment. “Do you know where Texas is?”

  The old man nodded, “It is the big state, on the south central part of the United States. Yes?”

  “Yes. There is an old house there. At one time, it was a grand place, where many a Texan danced with the elite of the Nation, there w
as song, laughter and beauty to the place. Now it is just an old run down bunch of buildings, its gardens are lost to time and dust, its walls yellowed and peeling with age. The music that once played is now silent, the laughter that rang in its great halls only an echo of a memory when the cold and lonely winds blow through its empty and sightless windows. It once had beauty and grace, now it sits silent and forgotten, neglected by time and those who once thought of its beauty as timeless.”