I looked for a store that sold board games. Back in the vicinity of the cathedral, I found one easily. The man behind the counter looked like Don Quixote. He was also the owner, and as soon as I went in, he started talking to me about posterity, it was his obsession. He’d never had children, and it hurt him that when he died there was no son to take over the shop. I listened to him politely, but in the end had to tell him that I was in a hurry. I could see how disappointed he was that he couldn’t confide in me anymore. He laid out several different kinds of chess set on his counter. I didn’t hesitate. A good quality set in a small black box struck me as the right choice.
The Marcel Blanchet Medical and Psychiatric Center was situated in the north of the town, in a neighborhood that also housed the pound and an incinerator. The uses an area of land is put to sometimes says a lot about a society. The building was a former school that had been closed down after a fire because it did not conform to safety standards. For mental patients, the risk must have been more acceptable. I presented my credentials at the entrance. I showed them the proxy my sister had signed and my identity card, and went to the waiting room, as I’d been told to do. It was lunch hour for the patients, and they were all in the canteen. I wouldn’t be able to see my nephew until after lunch. When I finally found a chair that wasn’t rickety, which took a while, I opened the exercise book that Léonard had left in his room when he left. I needed to revise a little. I plunged back into his world, the diagonals, the indirect attacks, the reverse defenses, everything that made up the art of chess, which he’d mastered to the point of making it accessible. I forgot where I was, and what might be disturbing about it, to the extent that when the nurse came to fetch me I gave a start.
I followed her down corridors that were distinctly maze-like. It struck me that she was flustered by what I was doing, and that in informing me of Léonard’s mental condition, which she described as worrying, she was implying that taking him out of the clinic wasn’t the right decision. I didn’t answer her. She stopped abruptly, as if her mind had wandered on the way and she’d forgotten the reason she was escorting me. She unlocked a door and let me in. Léonard was there, with his back to me, sitting on a bench.
I sat down next to him, but not too close, and at first I didn’t speak. It reminded me of the early days of our relationship. But it wasn’t a problem, I’d gotten to him. I waited a while longer, until I thought that now was the moment. I took the chess set out of my bag and put it down between the two of us. Of course, he didn’t look at it. But he knew perfectly well what it was.
“You see. I came to keep my promise.”
He didn’t reply immediately. He was staring at the horrible plate-glass window, covered in dust, which looked out on a children’s playground that had turned into a minefield.
“I only play with good players. Otherwise I get bored.”
“Aren’t I a good player?”
“No.”
“How do you know, if we don’t play?”
“It takes years to learn.”
“Sometimes you can learn faster with a good teacher.”
“Do you have a teacher?”
“I have his exercise book. He gave it to me.”
“I think he forgot it.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
Léonard was still staring straight ahead. His face was impassive, but now that I knew him better, I could see signs that had escaped me at first. His lashes were fluttering. He must be faced with a choice, a difficulty to resolve.
I opened the box and started laying out the pieces. They were of precious wood, a real work of craftsmanship. The man without children hadn’t cheated me when he sold me that model. Léonard changed his position, slowly, to face the chessboard. Then he waited for me to begin the game. In six moves, I was checkmated.
“You see, I made mincemeat of you.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m a bad player. It’s just that you’re very good. I’d like to play another game.”
“You’ll lose again.”
“I know.”
“Isn’t it humiliating?”
“No. I’m learning a lot.”
He looked up at me. I hadn’t expected him to do that so soon. I let him start this time, and of course he won. But I didn’t care.