AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Maybe if I say it often enough, you’ll start listening to me.”
“Maybe I’m happy with myself the way I am,” she said, although that wasn’t the slightest bit true. She could see all the ways that she needed to improve, and there were plenty more that she couldn’t see, she was sure.
“Hey! There’s a good move,” Peter said, and he jumped two spots with his black marble.
“Wow,” Sally said before she picked up her white marble and jumped five.
She moved her other two colors and then put her chin on her hand while she waited for him to move.
“You know, if you weren’t such a good cook, I think I would fire you.”
“Because I beat you at Chinese checkers? That doesn’t sound very professional.”
“I never said anything about being a professional.”
“Your brother told me you are a professional.”
“I didn’t know there was such a thing as a professional farmer.”
“You’re pretty good at business. I think that makes you a professional.”
“No. Being good at business is not hard. Being honest in business is hard.”
“If you say so.” But she liked that. She liked the fact that he differentiated between being good and being honest. Or the fact that he felt that being honest was more important than being good.
“So have you talked to Norma Jean at all?” he asked after a bit.
“Why? Do you miss her?” Norma Jean had come in every day for the first four days. But every time, Miles had come in for her and taken her back out.
“No. You know I don’t,” Peter said, moving each one of his colors one spot.
“I’d like to be a fly on the wall, listening to Norma Jean and Miles. There’s...some sort of attraction going on, but they seem to not like each other.”
“It is a bit weird,” Peter said, but there was no interest in his voice at all. Sally knew he cared for his friend and wanted him and Norma Jean to be happy, but what happened in their relationship wasn’t of any interest at all to Peter.
His eyes lit up when they talked about cows, and they talked about the farm as well.
Sally also thought his eyes lit up when he talked to her, but maybe that was just something she wanted to see.
She moved again, this time jumping almost the entire way around the board to get her green marble in the very bottom home spot.
“How did you see that?” Peter said.
“That’s what I do while you’re playing. I try to find jumps for my marbles. I told you that.”
“Why would you think of going backward in order to go forward?” Peter muttered as he looked at his own marbles, moving them back before he moved two one space and found jumps for his third.
“I don’t know. I just do it in my head.” Sally knew the more they played, the better he would get. He was already a lot better than what he had been. She had a huge advantage because she loved playing Chinese checkers and had played all the time with Aunt Wilma before she had gotten too sick to play.
“If I ask you something, will you not think I’m a terrible person?” Peter said as he stared at the board, not glancing at her to see what her reaction was.
It was a good thing, because her mouth opened, and she had trouble closing it.
“You know I’m not going to think you’re a terrible person.”
“Well, I just keep having this thought that I can’t get rid of.”
“All right, I’m curious now.”
