Short story: Bobby Gischer did take it hard

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Bobby was big for his age, but considered a wimp, or a mother's boy, just the same. He wasn't very good at sports. He spent most of his time at school, hiding in the library. With his large glasses, and gawky looking lean frame, he might've been good at long jumping, but perhaps no other sport would have matched his unusually shaped body. Bobby hated his body, wishing he was more athletic. His mother believed in God. She told him often, "Make the best of what God's given you, don't take it so hard. Life's hard, only if you make it hard. Mostly life is more about attitude. Your attitude towards it is what makes it either easy or hard for you, my son. It's all just a game." Bobby never believed any of this. He knew his life was hard, but he blamed his body, not his attitude for this. One day, they asked him to join the school chess club. Here it was about brains, not about body shape. Bobby liked this move. His moves on the board showed others that this was a very good move for him to have made. Fast forward a few months, and we find Bobby representing his team, playing in the final of the inter school’s chess competition. Bobby's playing white against the other school's best player. He's doing well, already he has the advantage. His mother's in the stalls, so are a number of his peers. Soon, Bobby has a winning game. He smiles within himself. "I can't lose this one," he thinks to himself. Suddenly, there's a loud bang outside. The teacher in charge runs out to see what's happened. He finds another boy bleeding on the road. It's Bobby's younger brother. Bobby got up from his game, and went outside. He knelt down next to his brother, and held his hand, waiting for the ambulance to arrive. After twenty minutes, it turned up, and the boy was taken off to hospital. Bobby had forgotten about his game. He rushed back inside, and he found that he had now lost this unlosable game, on time. "Don’t take it so hard," his opponent said, laughing cruelly at him, "It's only just a game." Bobby Gischer did take it hard. He went on to become the greatest chess player of all time. Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com "Chess and me, it’s hard to take them apart. It’s like my alter ego." Bobby Fischer, (1943 to 2008) a one-time World Champion, at chess, said this. The Bobby in my story, could really have been the real Bobby Fischer, who really knows the truth of these stories. Chess is a game of the mind, the heart, and of the body too.