“Quite sure. You don’t know the facts.”

“Is it something to do with those photos the other day?”

“Not exactly the photos themselves, but the consequences. Van Gogh really got one over on me, with that stunt. Checkmate. Ah well, I’ll see what can be done with a Nimzo-Indian Defence.”

I waited to see what effect my words would have. Lucky Luke seemed to be mulling them over.

“The what defence? Is that karate?”

“No, of course not. It’s a chess term. A Nimzo-Indian Defence consists in showing your opponent that your understanding of the situation is greater than the dangers presented by the situation.”

I hoped he wouldn’t ask any more questions, because then I’d have been stuck. I’d told him everything I knew about the subject, and I still didn’t get exactly what it meant. But now and then the mist cleared a bit: I was beginning to think that perhaps one day I would understand and that I should trust my Honourable Egyptian.

“Well, anyway, I’ll leave you to get on with your Chinese Defence,” said Lucky Luke.

“Indian, sir, Indian…”

“Whatever.”

At the end of that day, I went to see Haisam in the lodge. He’d missed all the afternoon’s lessons because he and his father had to finish the Moscow 1963 tournament. No one minded, because in any event he already knew everything there was to know. I arrived in the middle of the third game.

“Good timing,” said the Honourable Egyptian, without looking up. “Look at this: Botvinnik proposes exchanging queens on the thirteenth move. A work of art or what?”

“Magnificent,” I said, to avoid upsetting him.

I watched them play for a while. Now and then Haisam would pass me the bowl of sweets. Afterwards I went home to Dad, my spirits sagging softly, just like Turkish delight.

10

When I arrived at school the next day, the playground looked completely different. The community police were there, some setting out red and white cones to create lanes, others installing and testing mini traffic lights. At the back, a guy was unloading go-karts and bikes from a lorry marked ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION, and lining them up. I looked for Marie in the crowd of kids, but I couldn’t see her. And of course I realized straight away the danger she was in. She was going to get lost in the complicated labyrinth the police were laying out in the playground: Road Safety would be her undoing. But I’d seen the danger and could do something about it, so there was a chance it could be averted. Hope flickered at the heart of my anguish. Thank you, Haisam, I thought. Thank you for the Nimzo thingy! Then the bell rang and we had to get in line.