“Bah!” grunted Death. “You win.”
I gazed down at the chessboard.
“I thought that was impossible,” I said.
Death stood, glaring at me.
“Then why’d you challenge me to a game?”
“I love chess,” I said. “I wanted to play one more game before I died.”
“Bah!”
With a shake and a rattle, the skeletal figure began marching down the shoreline.
I called after him:
“Wait!”
He was heading toward the sea.
“Wait!” I said. “Can we play again?”
He didn’t turn around, instead throwing an obscene gesture over his shoulder. Grumbling, Death stomped over the face of the water.
Tale Told 