Power & Beauty Read Online Free PDF

checkmate and claiming victory. I saw him straining. Saw him sweating and twisting. Oh, man, I was excited, I was ready to pounce on him, when just like that, the motherfucker keeled over and died. Massive heart attack. Dead two days before his fortieth birthday. What do you think of that?”
    “He wanted to die undefeated.”
    “That’s how I saw it. He wanted to go out the champ. You interested in being a champ? You interested in learning chess?”
    “I don’t see why not.”

Heart to Heart
     
    F irst day of a school was a Monday. That Sunday Beauty called up to my room. It was seven a.m. and I was fast asleep.
    “Power,” she said. “We gotta talk.”
    “You wanna come up here?” I asked instinctively. The thought of Beauty coming to my room excited me.
    “No,” she was quick to say. “Let’s just take a walk.”
    “We can take a ride on my moped.”
    “I don’t want to ride on your moped. I just want to talk.”
    Slim had given me a super-slick touring-style moped scooter to ride to school. It was jet-black with red pinstripes, a customized windshield, thirteen-inch wheels, a chrome muffler, and a rear trunk for my books. He even threw in a helmet with a black-and-red color scheme that matched the bike perfectly. I was in love with the thing. He said it was a gift for my having read more books on chess in a week than he’d read in a lifetime. I learned the rules quickly and threw myself into it. I wasn’t at all intimidated. I had a feel for the strategy and immediately understood why Slim loved the game.
    “Meet me outside the gate,” said Beauty. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
    I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and threw on a pair of Hawks basketball shorts and a Braves tank top. When I got to the gate, Beauty was already there. She was wearing narrow-legged jeans that fit her like a glove. Her black-and-white-striped T-shirt was loose, but I knew what was underneath. I’d never forget what was underneath. Sometimes she wore her hair in a ponytail; sometimes she wore it loose. This morning she wore it loose so that it fell below her shoulders. She smelled of flowers and fresh soap. The morning smelled of fresh dew. The air was chillier than I had expected.
    “Where we walking to?” I asked.
    “Doesn’t matter. We need to talk. And we can’t talk in the house.”
    “Why not?”
    “He’s got it wired.”
    “Oh, come on,” I said. “You’re paranoid.”
    “Am I? I found the wires in my closet. He’s also got hidden cameras in my room. They’re even in my bathroom. I know where they are. I found them the first day, and I busted the lenses. A week later I saw that the lenses were fixed, so I just covered them with towels. He’s crazy.”
    “He’s different—that’s all.”
    “He’s dangerous.”
    “I don’t think so,” I said.
    “Holy shit, Power! How can you say that?”
    “I’ve been around him more than you.”
    “That’s the problem,” said Beauty. “You’re blinded by all the shiny new toys he’s given you. And he wants to keep you blind.”
    “For what purpose? I don’t have anything he needs.”
    “He needs to rid himself of the guilt he feels for killing Moms.”
    “ What? That’s fuckin’ whack, and you know it. It was an accident. He loved Moms. He had no reason in the world to harm her.”
    “You don’t know that.”
    I stopped Beauty in her tracks.
    I took her hand, looked her in the eye, and said, “What happened to Moms has fucked us all up—you, me, Slim, everyone. But it’s making you crazier than anyone, Beauty, it really is. You don’t do anything but hide out in your room. You’ve cut off your friends. You’ve barely said a word to me in three months.”
    “You know why.”
    “I know what happened between us, and we promised it wouldn’t happen again. We promised that no one will know—and no one will. But that doesn’t mean we can’t even look each other in the eye.”
    Beauty looked away. We started walking again. The