Granddad pauses the DVD.

‘No, the Cold War was when the politicians in the East and West stopped talking to each other. Instead, the Russians in the East and the Americans in the West made their armies and their navies bigger and designed weapons that were larger and more powerful.’

‘Like Stark Industries versus Wayne Enterprises?’

‘I do not know what that is, but this was a time when everybody thought there was going to be a huge war, with weapons more destructive and powerful than ever before. And they built a wall too: the Berlin Wall. They constructed it overnight.’

‘What, an actual wall?’

‘Yes, it split my city in half, to stop people in the east of Germany from going to the west.’

‘Couldn’t people just climb over or walk around it?’

‘No,’ Granddad shakes his head slowly. ‘No, it was far too big for that.’

‘What like massive, Granddad?’ I hold my arms out wide. ‘Like the Great Wall of China?’

‘Not quite, but it was one hundred and forty kilometres long with barbed wire on top, so no, you could not climb over. They destroyed all the houses near it and created a wasteland, no-mans-land, where nobody could go. I was on the eastern side, where the authorities, the police, watched everyone like hawks in case they did or said anything against the government. People were scared to go out and even scared to stay in because they thought they were being watched. There were government spies everywhere.’

‘Spies? Like in films!’

‘Yes,’ says Granddad. ‘There were lots of . . .’

I think of saying ‘spies’ again because it sounds exciting, but suddenly Granddad’s eyes are so watery the TV reflects in them.

‘Granddad.’ I lean forward. ‘Are you okay?’

Granddad looks down at the DVD remote. ‘I think . . . I think maybe we should just watch the film.’ He presses play and the DVD starts again. A reporter talks into a camera. ‘And so the 1972 World Chess Championship begins – the battle between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer, the battle of defence and attack, but perhaps most of all, the battle between East and West.’

Out of the corner of my eye I see Granddad take off his glasses and wipe his eyes. I want to know more about the Wall, but I don’t want to upset him any more.

I lean forward again.

‘Who did you want to win, Granddad?’ I ask, trying to cheer him up. ‘Boris or Bobby? Whose side were you on?’

Granddad picks up the remote and turns the TV off.

‘I’m sorry,’ he says. ‘I think I made a mistake.’ But from the look on Granddad’s face, I think it was my fault for asking too many questions about the past.

Granddad reaches over the arm of the chair and turns the king on its square.

‘Did you want to teach me some more, Granddad?’ I say.

‘Yes,’ he says. ‘That would be good.’