BILAMBIL CALLING : THOUGHTS FROM DAVE ' THE BLOKE' OVENDEN

THE MAN IN THE HOOD

The man in the hood…

Ok…So…This is how the story goes…Steve ‘n’ Kack, well they’re a couple of real beaut friends, living up there in Brisbane, where the river winds and weaves it’s way through that hip and happening town, as the summertime sun beats on down upon the rooftops, and when it rains, it pours…Now Kack, well she’s a good stick, runs a few nick knack boutiques, and these days is into the silken thing…

Steve, well he mostly wears a warm smile, and is most hospitable when I happen to freeload on them, although, rarely when I beat him at chess, he gets a bit agitated…

As it happened, at this particular time, Kack was occupied with some corporate type function at this ritzy, high-rise riverside hotel, Steve was in the foyer waiting to take her home, when over their, in an out of the way corner, he happen to notice a strange looking, frail and elderly type of character, with a hood covering most of his head, playing chess with a tough looking minder type in a dark suit…

He wandered over to take a closer look at their game, using the correct etiquette, he didn’t say a word, just stood and watched, as they moved the pieces around them 64 black and white squares, well it was a tight tussle, and ended in a stalemate…Then Steve blurted out, ‘wow that was a close game’…Then this unusual looking character looked up with piercing blue eyes, and a knowing smile, coming from beneath the hood, and says, ‘you play’, Steve says, ‘ah yea’

The hood mumbled something like, ‘well, sit down and lets do it’, Steve says, ‘ok’, so they set up the pieces and began. White to play…

The pawns came out, opening up for the bishops to fire, the knights were dancing about, after a few exchanges the queens were eyeing each other off, rooks were moving up and down and across, bishops on the zig zag, and any pawn that got caught in the cross fire got taken from the board…This was a serious affair, their was a battle raging.

 By now, Kack had finished with the conference, and was standing back watching, bug eyed and mouth open, then the minder looked at his watch, tapped the hood on the shoulder and said, ‘it’s time to go’, the hood looked up and said, ‘oh, I gotta go, thanks for the game’, then shuffled out the side door… Kack came racing up to Steve and says, ‘do you know who that was’, Steve shrugged his shoulders and says, ‘nope’, Kack says, ‘that was Bob Dylan you drongo’, Steve says, ‘oh, I didn’t know’, Kack says, ‘you should have got his autograph’, Steve says, ‘he sure plays a wild game of chess’…

The moral to this story is…I have played chess with someone who has played chess with Bob Dylan…