Henry’s Journey

It’s too late now. I made the bet. If I really try hard I just might be able teach an ant to play chess. I’ll show Louie. The ant stepped onto my pencil tip and I escorted him to the chess board, placed carefully inside a box top. All the chess pieces were in their proper places as the white and black armies faced each other awaiting combat. 

I decided to name my new ant friend Henry. He seemed to want to cling to the pencil and not step onto the chess board so I raised him a bit and shook the pencil. Henry flew off and landed on the King’s head. Good choice Henry. Henry recovered quickly fron his short flight and he appeared to be surveying the battlefield. Excellent. I explained the basics- “The object is to capture the other king. Pointing to the other 30 pieces that were not kings I explained- “These other guys are here to help you with that capture. It’s like real life- the boss sends everybody else out to do the fighting”. Henry’s antennas seemed to quiver a bit with excitement. 

I explained that the little guys in the second row were the pawns- the poor infantry that goes into battle first. They are followed by middle management- the bishops moving along the diagonal lines, the rooks moving vertically and horizontally and the knights, my favorite, moving one or two steps forward or backward, then to the left or right. I explained “The knights are very powerful since they can jump over other pieces and they can land in lots of places”. Henry didn’t seem to show much interest in this. Perhaps he preferred the bishops.

After I demonstrated a few moves it was Henry’s turn. Henry made some gestures with his leg and I moved pieces accordingly. After he lost his bishop Henry attempted to leave the chess board. That happens with all newcomers to the game. It is intimidating to lose your first piece. But I retrieved Henry as he made it halfway up the box cover. He reluctantly climbed back on the pencil. I provided encouragement with a bit of peanut butter at the top of several pieces and that seemed to get him back into the game. I was explaining the beauty of a discovered check as Henry sat on the tip of the pencil. It was then that tragedy struck. I accidentally dropped the pencil while making a dramatic gesture. The pencil, with Henry, hit the floor.

In my haste to retrieve Henry I quickly knelt down- on Henry.  All that training- and it came to this. I was crushed- and so was Henry. I thought of Louie. We had just talked about the human need to find answers to everything, especially the meaning of life. Sure, religion gives us some ideas here- but we both want to know the nuts and bolts of the whole Big Bang thing. There must be a manual somewhere.

My position on the matter was that mankind will study and learn and eventually the answers to the meaning of life will become apparent. Louie took the opposite side and stood firmly in the “Man is too stupid to figure it out” camp. I persisted “Anything can be done with work”. Louie gave me his famous eye roll. I continued- “Heck, I bet I can teach an ant to play chess. And if ants can grasp chess, surely mankind can figure out the meaning of life”.  That’s when the bet was made. 

Now, I have to call Louie and explain that the experiment seems to have failed. Besides I don’t think peanut butter on the pieces is ever allowed in tournament play.

I reluctantly agreed with Louie that it is not likely that we’ll ever understand this universe thing since we were never there at the Big Bang. Looking back 15 or so billion years is tricky. We can’t even get across the city without a hassle, let alone across the Universe. Sure, the new Webb telescope is sending us pictures of the early Universe, but that doesn’t help much. It’s just a bunch of galaxies being born that are already probably dead by now. Louie graciously declined the ten bucks I had bet but he accepted the jar of peanut butter I offered instead. 

We gave a toast to Henry’s short but amazing life. We can learn from Henry. He had some terrific views of the chess board- something he probably had never seen. He also had major snack treats before meeting his maker. Henry’s message is clear- eat peanut butter, climb and play. And try not to get stepped on. Rest in peace Henry. Now, where did I put the dustpan?