‘Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West,’ she said. He’d never heard of Henry Fonda.
‘Ah yes,’ said Alex, ‘I was looking forward to seeing that movie.’
‘Well, now you’re going to. I’ll meet you at the Roxy at six-thirty. Don’t be late.’
‘I won’t,’ he said, wondering where the Roxy was. As he turned to leave the shop, she said, ‘Don’t forget your belt.’
Alex grabbed it, threw it in one of the bags and walked casually out of the shop. Once he had rounded the corner, he ran all the way home.
‘Where have you been?’ his mother asked as he entered the kitchen. ‘It’s gone six.’
He wondered whether to tell her about Ivan and the chess game (she would approve), the dollar he’d won (she wouldn’t approve), and his second encounter with the girl from the thrift store (he couldn’t be sure), going to a movie (he could be sure). Elena opened the brown paper bag, pulled out the leather belt and asked, ‘Where did you get this?’
Alex would have told her, but he couldn’t remember her name.
*
Alex returned to Players’ Square the following morning, but not until his mother had left for work.
Ivan was already sitting at one of the boards, fingers tapping impatiently on the table. He held up two clenched fists even before Alex had sat down. Alex tapped the right hand, and Ivan opened it to reveal a white pawn. He rotated the board and waited for Alex to make the first move.
After an hour, it was clear to those who had congregated around the board to watch the match that there wasn’t much to choose between the two players. Ivan won the first game, and Alex had to hand back his hard-earned dollar before the board was reset for the decider. The final game was by far the longest.
Eventually Ivan and Alex agreed on a stalemate. They stood and shook hands, which was greeted by a spontaneous round of applause from the lesser mortals surrounding them.
‘Do you want to make some real money, kid?’ asked Ivan as the crowd melted away.
‘Only if it’s legal,’ replied Alex. ‘My American citizenship is still only provisional, so I could be sent back to the Soviet Union if I was found guilty of a crime.’
‘We wouldn’t want that, would we?’ said Ivan, grinning. ‘Let’s go and have a coffee, then I’ll explain what I have in mind.’
Ivan guided his protégé to the far side of the square and across the road to a small diner. He strolled in, said ‘Hi, Lou’ to the man behind the counter, and headed for what was evidently his usual booth. Alex slipped into the seat opposite him.
‘What would you like?’ asked Ivan.
‘I’ll have the same as you,’ said Alex, hoping it wasn’t too obvious he’d never been in a diner before.
‘Two coffees,’ Ivan told the waitress. He then took some time explaining to Alex how they could make some extra cash the following weekend.
‘And which role would I play?’ asked Alex.
‘You’ll be the blind man, and I’ll tell you the moves your opponent makes.’
‘But you’re as good a player as I am, probably better.’
‘I won’t be by the time I’ve finished with you. And in any case, you’re still only seventeen.’
‘Nearly eighteen.’
‘But you look about fifteen, which will make the punters all the more confident they can beat you.’
‘When do we start?’ asked Alex.
‘Next Saturday morning, eleven sharp.’
‘Can I ask a favour?’
‘Of course. We’re partners now.’
‘Can I have my dollar back?’
‘Why?’
‘I’m taking a girl to the movies tonight, and that was meant to pay for our tickets.’
*
Alex was standing outside the movie theatre fifteen minutes before they’d agreed to meet. He walked nervously up and down the sidewalk, occasionally pausing to study the poster advertising the film. He was wondering how you ever got to meet someone as beautiful as Claudia Cardinale, when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
He swung round to see Addie smiling at him. She took his hand and led him up to the box office.
‘Two for Once Upon a Time in the West,’ she said, and stood aside to allow Alex to pay. Lesson number one in the courting manual. She then grabbed his hand again and took him inside the dimly lit cinema.
Although the film seemed to be incidental to what Addie had in mind, it was Henry Fonda, not Claudia Cardinale, who Alex couldn’t take his eyes off. He wanted to talk like that, walk like that, even dress like that. He decided he would have to see the film again during the week when he wouldn’t be distracted, because he no longer wanted to be James Cagney.
Alex didn’t want Addie to realize it was his first visit to a cinema, so when the man seated in front of him put his arm around his girlfriend’s shoulder, he copied him. She snuggled up closer. He was enjoying the film, when a hand reached across, pulled him towards her, and he experienced his first kiss. There wasn’t time for a second, because a few moments later the words THE END appeared on the screen and the lights went up.
‘Let’s get a Coke,’ suggested Alex. ‘I know a great little diner not far from here.’
‘Sounds good,’ said Addie.
This time Alex took her hand and led Addie across the square to the diner Ivan had taken him to earlier that day. Alex marched in, waved to the man behind the counter and said, ‘Hi, Lou,’ before heading straight for Ivan’s table as if he was a regular.
‘Two Cokes, please,’ said Alex when the waitress appeared.
During the next half hour Alex learnt far more about Addie than she did about him. In fact he knew her entire life history by the time the waitress asked if they’d like another Coke. He would have said yes, but he’d run out of money.
Addie didn’t stop talking while Alex walked her home. When they reached her front door she stood on her toes, put her arms around his neck and kissed him. A second kiss. A very different kiss.
He walked home in a daze, crept into the house and went straight to bed, not wanting to wake his mother.
*
‘I’ve been given another raise,’ said Elena triumphantly, when Alex joined her for breakfast the following morning. ‘I’m now on a dollar fifty an hour. I’m going to suggest to Dimitri that it’s time for us to start contributing to the rent.’
‘Us?’ said Alex. ‘I don’t contribute anything, Mama, as you well know. But that could change if you’d allow me to earn some extra cash at the weekend.’
‘Doing what?’
‘There are always odd jobs going at the market,’ said Alex, ‘especially at weekends.’
‘I’d allow you to look for a weekend job but only if you can assure me it won’t interfere with your school work. I’d never forgive myself if you didn’t get a place at NYU.’
‘It didn’t prevent my father—’
‘Your father wanted you to go to college every bit as much as I do,’ she said, ignoring the interruption. ‘And if you were to get a degree, who knows what you could achieve, especially in America?’ Alex decided this wasn’t the time to let his mother know exactly what he had in mind for when he left school.
*
Although he worked hard at school during the week, Alex couldn’t wait for Saturdays, and the chance to make some real money.
‘Will you clear up?’ Elena asked as she put on her coat. ‘I don’t want to be late for work.’
Once he’d finished drying the dishes, Alex quickly left the house, and started running down the road. As he approached Players’ Square that Saturday morning, he could hear the banter and cries of the basketball players on the nearby courts. He stopped and watched them for a few minutes, admiring their skill. He wished the Americans played football, something else he hadn’t thought about when he climbed into the crate. He hadn’t realized that there were no goalkeepers in American football. He put it out of his mind as he made his way across to the patch of grass set aside for chess players.
The first thing he saw was Ivan standing legs apart, hands on hips, wearing an unkempt sweater and faded jeans, with a black scarf around his neck.
‘You’re late,’ he said in Russian, glowering at him.