Chess

 

I played chess last night online

My adversary was called Fred and went by the nickname of Farmpop60.

He won the first game, I the second 

Then he told me he was tired and could we play the decider another time.

We ended up chatting online, with him emphasising his Os

He was a divorcee, two years older than I . He lived on a farm west of Minnesota’s Boundary waters

He had stage four cancer and lived alone and had one daughter in the forces based in Alaska

The farm was overseen by an neighbour farmer and was predominantly orchard focused. 

He drank too much rum, hidden in ice cold milk and survived only because of the goodwill of his neighbours. 

He supported Trump 

And he laughed at himself for assuming I had been divorced from a woman rather than a man.

I don’t know much about Wales he admitted though he liked the film How Green was My Valley

We both admired Walter Pidgeon

“ There’s a moose Bull in the yard” he told me before he said his goodbyes