by C. I. Lopez
Yasmin watched as Prince and Belky rolled cigarettes with such dexterity, including the paraphernalia.
“Do you smoke?” Prince said. The cigarettes had an odd, sweet smell, that was pleasing.
Yasmin told him she didn’t smoke. She watched in amazement how Prince moved one of the game pieces across the entire board, and removed Belky’s Queen, which must have been protecting her King.
Prince called, “Check Mate.”
Belky’s stood up, admitting he’d won again.
Yasmin stared at the game board and wanted more than ever to learn to play that game.
“Would you like some wine?” Miss Belky asked Yasmin, who nodded. Before pouring for herself and her brother, Miss Belky, went into the tiny kitchen. She brought another glass and poured just two fingers of wine for Yasmin.
Not quite sure what to do with it, the teenager laid it on the floor next to her and concentrated on staring at the chess pieces on the board, wanting to know more about how Prince had won the game. Yasmin occasionally took tiny sips of the tasty drink.
She noticed that before moving each piece, they each stared intensely at the game for a long time, planning their subsequent move. Yasmin began to get an idea of how the game was played, seeing clearly how Prince was able to ‘check mate’ Belky’s King. Prince had captured his sister’s powerful Queen in a few moves, leaving the King exposed. Her sudden understanding of the strategy surprised her two new friends with her quick wit to learn the intricacies of the game.
“You’ll be a formidable player,” Prince told Tomas’ wife and stood up to leave. “I need to get more cigarettes. Think five steps ahead before moving each piece when you play chess, because each move has a purpose toward the end. That’s how you win the game.”
“Bay-bay,” Belky said to him in her curious accent.
Prince smiled at Yasmin and kissed his sister goodbye. “I’ll bring more cigarettes tomorrow,” he said and finished his wine in one gulp before he turned away and disappeared from the room as if by magic.
“I’m beginning to believe that he is magic,” Yasmin said, turning to look around after he’d gone.
The two young women finished drinking the bottle of wine as Miss Belky sat next to Yasmin on the mattress, discussing the tactics of playing chess.
Yasmin relaxed on the mattress and the many pillows. “How does Prince get in and out of the house? You have to tell me.”
Belky laughed and said with a mischievous smile, “That’s one of Nonm Mistès many secrets.”
Yasmin soon found out that there was no magic to Prince’s entrance into the house. As Tomas’ best man-on-the-street, he had the only key to a window within the wrought iron in Belky’s small porch. The opening was barely big enough to let a dog through, but he was the ‘mystery man’.
*
It soon became a common occurrence for Yasmin to stop by Belky’s room at night, after Tomas had gone to his nightclub outings.
Prince was often there, and he told Yasmin she didn’t have to worry about the cameras when she wanted to visit. Blackouts were frequent in their country, sometimes very short ones so that Prince would pull the switch on the breaker that was in the pantry, and the house would go dark. Five minutes after he heard Tomas’ car leave the garage, the house would go dark while Yasmin made her way to Belky’s room without lights. Once she reached the room, Prince would turn on the power again, so the guards didn’t have to know about Yasmin’s frequent visits. Since a flicker of lights was so common in the country, no one paid much attention to it.
During the times when Yasmin and Belky were alone in the apartment, Belky taught Yasmin how to smoke without choking.
Yasmin enjoyed sitting on the mattress, drinking wine with Belky, laughing, and learning to smoke the hashish cigarettes the siblings seemed to enjoy so much. After three years of silence, Yasmin was elated to be talking with someone other than Tomas. To be able to relax and speak freely. The idea of not having to watch everything she said, or expect to be physically hurt, was something Yasmin hadn’t experienced in her three years of captivity. Without realizing it, she was learning how to trust again. Yasmin learned about Belky’s life in Haiti and of their survival and eventual escape, landing on a beach where Chacon’s men rescued them and brought them to the Boss Man’s service.
One day, Prince asked Yasmin to play chess with him. She told him she’d only learned the movement of the pieces from Belky, but she’d love to learn. Prince offered her a hashish cigarette to smoke, which would not carry the strong smell of tobacco back to her room.
After many weeks of playing chess with Prince, one day, he leaned back against the old chair behind him with a teasing smile on his face. He lifted his arms above his head, admitting defeat after Yasmin placed him in ‘check mate’ for the third time in a row. Among much laughter and clapping from Belky, Prince admitted that his pupil had surpassed his expectations in her ability to play the game.
“There’s nothing more I can teach you, Yasmin.” Standing up next to his sister, Prince bowed, to Yasmin to let her know she had reached the highest proficiency in the game and was ready to use her ‘white magic’. Prince was pleased that she turned out to be a quick learner and a formidable adversary. “You’re a good player,” he told her. “You can think ahead. That’s an outstanding quality for many things. Being able to anticipate your opponent’s next five moves with reasonable accuracy enables you to plan strategy. That’s what I call ‘white magic’.”
“Do you think you could make my wish come true, Prince?” Yasmin dared to ask.
“You will need a plan. The strategy necessary when playing the game of chess will be your guide to planning the strategy you will need to make your wish come true. Stay five steps ahead of your opponent at all times,” Prince told her, “It’s the way to win any battle.”
“Why do you call it ‘white magic’, Prince?”
“Magic is complicated, Yasmin, but in general, ‘white magic’ is used to protect yourself and to create a better life. That’s why I think learning the intricacies of the strategy necessary to play chess expertly is a form of ‘white magic’. It teaches us to form strategies needed that can protect and enhance our lives.”
“But you are called ‘magic man’ for more than your ability to play chess and form strategies, so you must also know other kinds of magic.”
“First of all, you have to realize that all magic is generally the same. Strategy can be used in many ways, but the main difference is the intent with which the magic is cast. Magic with good intention is called white magic. Alternatively, the magic with bad intentions is called black magic. Some people believe that black magic is evil because it draws power from the devil, rather than from some divine spirit.”
“Will you teach me black magic?”
“No, Yasmin. You aren’t ready for black magic. It’s very dangerous to invoke evil spirits. Black magic is aimed to cause harm to another.”
Belky entered the room and sat next to Yasmin, holding her hand, perhaps in fear, or to protect the girl with her own knowledge of magic.
Prince continued, “As a voodoo priest, I was trained since I was a little boy to use both white magic and black magic. I was trained for many years by voodoo masters to become a priest who can invoke the evil spirits, and even then, it’s not without its dangers. I only use black magic in extreme cases to save someone’s life. So, you go ahead and use your white magic, which in this case, I used to teach you the strategy you need to survive.”
Seeing the confusion in Yasmin’s face, Belky interjected: “White magic can take many forms as long as it is used with good intentions. For example, learning to play chess for the purpose of learning strategy, as long as it’s all done with good intentions. On the other hand, black magic is used for bad intentions.”
Still confused, Yasmin concluded, “Learning to play chess doesn’t seem like any kind of magic to me. I was taught in my church that all forms of magic are evil. From the viewpoint of my religion,
anyone who uses magic is unholy. They are drawing power from an entity other than God. Learning strategy doesn’t seem like power from the devil.”
“That’s because your church doesn’t understand white magic. Do you think that my teaching you to play chess was an evil thing derived from the devil?”
“No, but was it done with a good intention if I intend to use it to escape from this house?”
“I think you’re fighting for your life, Yasmin, is that a bad intention?”
“I don’t know,” Yasmin replied thoughtfully. “Suppose that something causes harm to another while I am using my white magic intending to save my life. Then, it is evil, like a spell that stops a murderer but hurts him in the process. It does harm, and yet in reality it also saves innocent victims. So, is it white magic or black magic?”
“They are both the same spell,” Prince said. “That makes it a judgment call for the magician who might think that saving the life of the person who is in danger is more important than the life of the one who intends to cause harm. It’s in the intent, Yasmin, but I think you understand the complexities of using magic. You’re right in saying that the magician makes that call when using white magic.”
Yasmin nodded, feeling she had a grasp of the difference and the intentions.
Prince continued, “Black magic requires different tools which are used in rituals done by a trained voodoo priest. Things, such as fresh blood, usually from a chicken, and even rum to attract the spirits, and the magic is cast in the dark of night. Often demons from the underworld are asked to help carry out the special rituals. Black magic relies on evil spirits.”
Yasmin was beginning to realize that this was a serious topic with Belky’s brother.
Prince walked into Belky’s bedroom and came back carrying a large ornate box held in both his hands. The box looked very old. He bowed his head as if in prayer, and when he lifted his eyes to look at Yasmin, his eyes had changed color and shape.
This terrified her, and she backed against the wall behind her, reaching out for Belky.
Prince’s pupils took the distinct shape of those of a venomous snake with a dark slit running vertically through the center of an otherwise yellow eye. After only a second, he returned as himself, leaving Yasmin wondering if she had really seen that or just imagined it.
“There’s something I am going to show you, Yasmin,” Prince finally said. His face was flushed, mouth slightly open, breathing deeply, a damp tendril of crimped black hair clinging to his brow, as he pulled a brown leather bag out of his jean’s pocket. It was a bag with a strange feel to it, very old-fashioned, as if it had been made by a young child. Looking carefully at the etchings on the key, he pulled from the bag, a date; ‘1896’. He used it to unlock the ornate box he was holding.
Belky moved to grab Yasmin’s arm to push her back against the wall, away from Prince, who’d started by identifying himself to the box by his Nom Mistè name.
He spoke with great reverence to the container, or maybe he was talking to what was inside it, followed by singing a chant or a prayer.
Belky also began to hum a monotone of gentle notes, closing her eyes as she did.
When Prince opened the latch of the box, he laid it gently on the floor. He took two steps back as a large fer-de-lance slithered out, looking menacingly at Prince, its tongue flickering as if searching for Prince. The snake was easily over six feet long when it finally uncoiled. It looked disoriented for a moment until it stopped to listen to Prince’s chant and the mesmerizing swaying of his head.
Belky continued her humming, louder now. These sounds and movements immediately calmed the snake as it laid docile at Prince’s feet.
Responding to Prince’s chanting and Belky’s louder humming, the viper began to wrap itself over Prince’s legs, and then his arms as if in a spell. Abruptly, Prince gripped the snake just below its head in a gentle but firm hold, which made the snake open what looked like an unhinged jaw and show the large fangs deep inside its mouth.
Belky was suddenly oblivious as if in a trance herself, continuing her humming.
Prince turned the snake around, so it was looking directly at Yasmin, and he said a few words in a language Yasmin didn’t understand. It felt as if he was introducing the snake to the teenage girl.
Yasmin felt a strange desire to look directly into the snake’s eyes while the fear drained away from her. She suddenly felt a kinship with the creature as the fear disappeared.
Prince lowered the viper to the floor, allowing it to coil itself back in the ample box, securing the lock with his key.
“What was that about?” Yasmin asked, still feeling that uneasy calm, fascinated by what she had experienced.
Belky stopped singing and opened her eyes as if awakening from sleep, slowly returning to focus on Yasmin.
“That, was a bit of black magic,” Prince said.
Returning the box to Belky’s room, Prince came back to the kitchen counter, where he fixed himself a drink.
The mood of the evening changed. Belky, who’d been sitting on the mattress next to Yasmin, reached again to squeeze the girl’s hand. She stood up to serve the two of them a glass of wine.
Yasmin followed Belky, standing up as if awakening from a dream. She walked to the kitchen counter to rejoin her friends. “Do the other guards know he comes in here?” Yasmin said.
Prince seemed oblivious to the two women as if recovering from the experience.
“He has a deal with the guards,” Belky said. “Sometimes, he brings them pure cocaine.”
“But, doesn’t Tomas sell cocaine?”
“Yes, but he won’t allow his guards to use any. As one of Tomas’ distributors, Prince shares a little with them for extra privileges.” The young Haitian was Tomas’ best man-on-the-street. With the experience gained on the streets of Haiti and the use of his special kind of charm, Prince could sell and deal double what any other man could. ‘Misty Man,’ as they called him, was respected by the guards, as well as Tomas.
While sharing a hashish joint, Belky explained how she and Prince had been trained by one of the best snake charmers in their country. “It’s part of the religion we followed in Haiti, which goes by many names. Most people know it as voodoo, a religion practiced by eighty million people as a snake cult that worships many spirits.”
“Voodoo,” Yasmin responded in wonderment, enjoying the sound. She then called it by its different names, vodun, vudin, voudoun, vodour, the worship of the devil.”
“For us, the Devil is closer than a brother,” replied Prince, joining the conversation again. “And this, young lady,” Prince said, pointing at the chess game, “is your white magic.” They played another game before Prince announced he had to leave.
“Bay-bay,” Belky said to him.
Prince smiled at Yasmin and kissed his sister goodbye. He disappeared rapidly as he had before.
That night, Yasmin went to her room, feeling the power and understanding the idea of strategy. She began to plan her escape the only way she could, by formulating a plan meant to keep her five steps ahead of Tomas. She realized that one single mistake would mean certain death. She would play chess at her best with Tomas, knowing her life depended on her skill.
PART TWO
Chapter 8
Strategic Moves
Every night that Tomas went out to the club, leaving Yasmin at home, she couldn’t wait to make her way to Miss Belky’s apartment. She continued to practice her knowledge of making strategic moves in the game.
Prince enjoyed teaching Yasmin the finer points of playing chess, making sure each game was more challenging than previously. They knew Yasmin was ready. The sheer excitement of this accomplishment made Yasmin’s heart pound with anticipation.
Prince and Belky thought it would be a good time for a celebration and rummaging through Belky’s drawers, Prince brought out a pack of hashish cigarettes. Belky brought a bottle of wine from the kitchen.
Yasmin was too nervous for celebrating. She
knew the time had come to make her final plan to leave Tomas’ house for good. All night, the girl planned her strategy. She reviewed and revised her plan hundreds of times, trying to imagine every possible action Tomas might take to find her. She could never let her guard down. There was no room for errors, or she could be killed or worse, brought back, and severely punished for an eternity.
Prince was an excellent teacher. He had been a chess champion in his own country, and he’d taught Yasmin every trick he knew about playing the game and how to form strategies.
Now, she had proven her ability, including how to make quick and careful decisions and anticipate their outcome, she was almost ready. However, her plan couldn’t be completed until she learned some street knowledge from her friends. Who else would better know the ways of hiding in plain sight than Prince and Belky? The strategy she’d learned was excellent, but a criminal mind like her husband’s thought in ways that Yasmin felt she lacked.
Prince was her husband’s right-hand man, and his ‘cleaner’ after the misdeeds made him familiar with Tomas’s mind. There were things she needed to know regarding the devious ways of her husband. Only with their help and courage did Yasmin feel convinced her plan would be ironclad.
Miss Belky had told Yasmin how they had escaped the constant armed guards in Haiti using the same white magic. She reminded Yasmin that she could not for a moment take Tomas for granted. “Tomas can be very devious. Stop and think of all possibilities, even the most bizarre in your mind.”
“Always stay ahead of him, stay flexible, and keep in mind Tomas’ last move, anticipating his next movements. Think about how circumstances change and review the motives behind each step.” Prince’s advice was to a girl who planned what seemed an impossible escape.
Yasmin understood what Prince was saying, and she had learned well how to do that, but in her mind, she also knew she would never be free as long as Tomas was alive. She didn’t share this thought out loud with her accomplices, knowing they were as aware as she was of the consequences.
