20

I had a couple of matches after that an won both of them, naturally, an then Mike call Dan an me in his office one day an says, “Look here, this week you are gonna rassle The Professor.”

“Who is that?” Dan axed.

“He comes from California,” says Mike, “an is pretty hot stuff out there. He is runner up to the Western Division champion.”

“Okay by me,” I say.

“But there is just one other thing,” say Mike. “This time, Forrest, you got to lose.”

“Lose?” I says.

“Lose,” say Mike. “Look, you been winnin ever week for months an months. Don’t you see you got to lose ever once in a wile to keep up your popularity?”

“How you figger that?”

“Simple. People like a underdog. Makes you look better the nex time.”

“I don’t like it,” I say.

“How much you payin?” Dan axed.

“Two thousan.”

“I don’t like it,” I says again.

“Two thousan’s a lot of money,” Dan say.

“I still don’t like it,” I says.

But I took the deal.

Jenny is been actin sort of peculiar lately, but I put it down to nerves or somethin. Then one day she come home an say, “Forrest, I’m at the end of my rope. Please don’t go out there an do this.”

“I got to,” I says. “Anyhow, I is gonna lose.”

“Lose?” she say. I splain it to her jus like Mike splain it to me, an she say, “Awe shit, Forrest, this is too much.”

“It’s my life,” I says—whatever that meant.

Anyway, a day or so later, Dan come back from someplace an says him an me got to have a talk.

“Forrest, I think I got the solution to our problems.”

I axed what it was.

“I think,” says Dan, “we better be bailin out of this business pretty soon. I know Jenny don’t like it, an if we are gonna start our srimp thing, we best be on bout it. But,” he say, “I think I got a way to bail out an clean up at the same time.”

“How’s that?” I axed.

“I been talkin to a feller downtown. He runs a bookie operation an the word is out you gonna lose to The Professor this Saturday.”

“So?” I says.

“So what if you win?”

“Win?”

“Kick his ass.”

“I get in trouble with Mike,” I says.

“Screw Mike,” Dan say. “Look, here’s the deal. Spose we take the ten thousan we got an bet it on you to win? Two-to-one odds. Then you kick his ass an we got twenty grand.”

“But I’ll be in all sorts of trouble,” I says.

“We take the twenty grand an blow this town,” Dan say. “You know what we can do with twenty grand? We can start one hell of a srimp business an have a pile left over for ourselves. I’m thinkin maybe it’s time to get out of this rasslin stuff anyway.”

Well, I’m thinkin Dan is the manager, an also that Jenny has said I gotta get out of rasslin too, an twenty grand ain’t a bad deal.

“What you think?” Dan says.

“Okay,” I say. “Okay.”

The day come for me to rassle The Professor. The bout is to be helt up at Fort Wayne, an Mike come by to pick us up an is blowin the horn outside, an I axed Jenny if she is ready.

“I ain’t goin,” she say. “I’ll watch it on television.”

“But you got to go,” I says, an then I axed Dan to splain why.

Dan tole Jenny what the plan was, an that she had to go, on account of we needed somebody to drive us back to Indianapolis after I done whupped The Professor.

“Neither of us can drive,” he say, “an we gonna have to have a fast car right outside the arena when it’s over to get us back here to collect the twenty grand from the bookie an then hightail it out of town.”

“Well, I ain’t havin nothin to do with a deal like that,” Jenny say.

“But it’s twenty grand,” I says.

“Yeah, an it’s dishonest too,” she says.

“Well, it’s dishonest what he’s been doin all the time,” Dan says, “winnin an losin all planned out beforehand.”

“I ain’t gonna do it,” Jenny said, an Mike was blowin his horn again, an Dan say, “Well, we gotta go. We’ll see you back here sometime after it’s over—one way or the other.”

“You fellers oughta be ashamed of yourselfs,” Jenny say.

“You won’t be so high-falutin when we come back with twenty thousan smackeroos in our pocket,” Dan says.

Anyhow, off we go.

On the ride to Fort Wayne, I ain’t sayin much on account of I’m kinda embarrassed bout what I’m fixin to do to ole Mike. He ain’t treated me so badly, but on the other han, as Dan have splained, I has made a lot of money for him too, so it gonna come out aroun even.

We get to the arena an the first bout is already on—Juno the Giant is gettin the hell kicked out of him by The Fairy. An nex up is a tag team match between lady midgets. We gone on into the dressin room an I put on my diapers an dunce cap. Dan, he get somebody to dial the number of the taxicab company an arrange for a cab to be there outside with its motor runnin after my match.

They beat on my door an it’s time to go on. Me an The Professor is the feature bout of the evenin.

He is already there in the ring when I come out. The Professor is a little wiry guy with a beard an wearin spectacles an he have on a black robe an morter-board hat. Damn if he don’t look like a professor at that. I decided right then to make him eat that hat.

Well, I climb on up in the ring an the announcer say, “Ladies an Gentlemen.” At this there be a lot of boos, an then he say, “We is proud tonight to have as our main attraction for the North American Professional Rasslin Association title bout two of the top contenders in the country—The Professor versus The Dunce!”

At this, they is so much booin an cheerin that it is impossible to say if the crowd is happy or angry. It don’t matter nohow, cause then the bell ring an the match is on.

The Professor has taken off his robe, glasses, an the morter-board hat an is circlin me, shakin his finger at me like I’m bein scolded. I be tryin to grap a holt of him, but ever time, he jump out of the way an keep shakin his finger. This go on for a minute or two an then he make a mistake. He run aroun behin me an try to kick me in the ass, but I done snatched a holt of him by the arm an slung him into the ropes. He come boundin off the ropes like a slingshot ball an as he go past me I trip him up an was bout to pounce on him with the Bellybuster maneuver, but he done scrambled out of the way to his corner an when I look up, he is got a big ole ruler in his han.

He be whoppin the ruler in his palm like he gonna spank me with it, but instead, when I grapped for him this time, he done jam the ruler in my eye, like to gouge it out. I’ll tell you this—it hurt, an I was stumblin aroun tryin to get my sight back when he run up behin me an put somethin down my diapers. Didn’t take long to find out what it was—it was ants! Where he got them, lord knows, but the ants commence to bitin me an I was in a awful fix.

Dan is there, hollerin for me to finish him off, but it ain’t no easy thing with ants in your pants. Anyhow, the bell rung an that was the end of the roun an I go on back to my corner an Dan be tryin to get the ants out.

“That was a dirty trick,” I say.

“Just finish him,” Dan says, “we can’t afford no screwups.”

The Professor come out for the secont round an be makin faces at me. Then he get close enough for me to snatch him up an I lifted him over my head an begun doin the Airplane Spin.

I spinned him aroun bout forty or fifty times till I was pretty sure he was dizzy an then heaved him hard as I could over the ropes into the audience. He land up in bout the fifth row of bleachers in the lap of a ole woman who is knittin a sweater, an she start beatin him with a umbrella.

Trouble is, the Airplane Spin have taken its toll on me too. Everthin spinnin aroun but I figger it don’t matter cause it’ll stop pretty soon, an The Professor, he is finished anyway. In this, I am wrong.

I am almost recovered from the spinnin when all of a sudden somethin got me by the ankles. I look down, an damn if The Professor ain’t climbed back in the ring an brought with him the ball of yarn the ole lady was knittin with, an now he done rapped it aroun my feet.

I started tryin to wriggle out, but The Professor be runnin circles aroun me with the yarn, rappin me up like a mummy. Pretty soon, I am tied up han an foot an cain’t move or nothin. The Professor stop an tie the yarn up in a little fancy knot an stand in front of me an take a bow—like he is a magician just done some trick or somethin.

Then he saunter over to his corner an get a big ole book—look like a dictionary—an come back an take another bow. An then he crack me on the head with the book. Ain’t nothin I can do. He must of cracked me ten or twelve times before I gone down. I am helpless an I am hearin everbody cheer as The Professor set on my shoulders an pin me—an win the match.

Mike an Dan, they come in the ring an unraveled the yarn off me an heped me up.

“Terrific!” Mike say, “Just terrific! I couldn’t of planned it better mysef!”

“Oh shut up,” Dan say. An then he turn to me. “Well,” he say, “this is a fine state of affairs—gettin yoursef outsmarted by The Professor.”

I ain’t sayin nothin. I am miserable. Everthin is lost an the one thing I know for sure is that I ain’t gonna rassle never again.

We didn’t need the getaway cab after that, so Dan an me rode back to Indianapolis with Mike. All the drive back, he be sayin how great it was that I lost to The Professor that way, an how nex time I gonna get to win an make everbody thousans of dollars.

When he pull up in front of the apartment, Mike reach back an han Dan a envelope with the two thousan dollars he was gonna pay me for the match.

“Don’t take it,” I says.

“What?” says Mike.

“Listen,” I say. “I got to tell you somethin.”

Dan cut in. “What he wants to say is, he ain’t gonna be rasslin no more.”

“You kiddin?” Mike say.

“Ain’t kiddin,” says Dan.

“Well how come?” Mike axed. “What’s wrong, Forrest?”

Before I could say anythin, Dan say, “He don’t want to talk about it now.”

“Well,” says Mike, “I understan, I guess. You go get a good night’s sleep. I’ll be back first thing in the mornin an we can talk bout it, okay?”

“Okay,” Dan says, an we get out of the car. When Mike is gone, I says, “You shouldn’t of took the money.”

“Well it’s all the hell we got left now,” he say. Everthin else is gone. I didn’t realize till a few minutes later how right he was.

We get to the apartment an lo an behole, Jenny is gone too. All her things is gone, cept she lef us some clean sheets an towels an some pots an pans an stuff. On the table in the livin room is a note. Dan foun it first, an he read it out loud to me.

Dear Forrest, [it says]

I am just not able to take this anymore. I have tried to talk to you about my feelings, and you don’t seem to care. There is something particularly bad about what you are gonna do tonight, because it isn’t honest, and I am afraid I cannot go on with you any longer.

Maybe it is my fault, partly, because I have gotten to an age where I need to settle down. I think about having a house and a family and goin to church and things like that. I have known you since the first grade, Forrest—nearly thirty years—and have watched you grow up big and strong and fine. And when I finally realized how much I cared for you—when you came up to Boston—I was the happiest girl in the world.

And then you took to smoking too much dope, and you fooled with those girls down in Provincetown, an even after that, I missed you, and was glad you came to Washington during the peace demonstration to see me.

But when you got shot up in the spaceship and were lost in the jungle nearly four years, I think maybe I changed. I am not as hopeful as I used to be, and think I would be satisfied with just a simple life somewhere. So, now I must go an find it.

Something is changed in you, too, dear Forrest. I don’t think you can help it exactly, for you were always a “special” person, but we no longer seem to think the same way.

I am in tears as I write this, but we must part now. Please don’t try to find me. I wish you well, my darling—good-bye.

love,

Jenny

Dan handed the note to me but I let it drop on the floor an just stood there, realizin for the first time in my life what it is truly like to be a idiot.

21

Well, after that I was one sorry bastid.

Dan an me stayed at the apartment that nite, but the nex mornin started packin up our shit an all, cause there wadn’t no reason to be in Indianapolis no longer. Dan, he come to me an say, “Here, Forrest, take this money,” an helt out the two thousand dollars Mike had give us for rasslin The Professor.

“I don’t want it,” I says.

“Well you better take it,” says Dan, “cause it’s all we got.”

“You keep it,” I says.

“At least take haf of it,” he say. “Look, you gotta have some travelin money. Get you to wherever your goin.”

“Ain’t you goin with me?” I axed.

“I’m afraid not, Forrest,” he says. “I think I done enough damage already. I didn’t sleep none last night. I’m thinkin about how I got you to agree to bet all our money, an how I got you to keep on rasslin when it oughta have been apparent Jenny was about to freak out on us. An it wadn’t your fault you got whupped by The Professor. You did what you could. I am the one to blame. I jus ain’t no good.”

“Awe, Dan, it wadn’t your fault neither,” I says. “If I hadn’t of got the big head bout bein The Dunce, an begun to believe all that shit they was sayin bout me, I wouldn’t of got in this fix in the first place.”

“Whatever it is,” Dan say, “I jus don’t feel right taggin along anymore. You got other fish to fry now. Go an fry em. Forget about me. I ain’t no good.”

Well, me an Dan talked for a long time, but there wadn’t no convincin him, an after a wile, he got his shit an I hepped him down the steps, an the last I seen of him, he was pushin hissef down the street on his little cart, with all his clothes an shit piled in his lap.

I went down to the bus station an bought a ticket to Mobile. It was sposed to be a two day an two nite trip, down thru Louisville, to Nashville, to Birmingham an then Mobile, an I was one miserable idiot, settin there wile the bus rolled along.

We passed thru Louisville durin the nite, an the nex day we stopped in Nashville an had to change busses. It was about a three hour wait, so I decided to walk aroun town for a wile. I got me a sambwich at a lunch counter an a glass of iced tea an was walkin down the street when I seen a big sign in front of a hotel say, “Welcome Grandmaster’s Invitational Chess Tournament.”

It sort of got my curiosity up, on account of I had played all that chess back in the jungle with Big Sam, an so I went on into the hotel. They was playin the chess game in the ballroom an had a big mob of people watchin, but a sign say, “Five dollars admission,” and I didn’t want to spend none of my money, but I looked in thru the door for a wile, an then jus went an set down in the lobby by mysef.

They was a chair across from me with a little ole man settin in it. He was all shriveled up an grumpy-lookin an had on a black suit with spats an a bow tie an he had a chessboard set out on a table in front of him.

As I set there, ever once in a wile he would move one of the chessmen, an it begun to dawn on me that he was playin by hissef. I figgered I had bout another hour or so fore the bus lef, so I axed him if he wanted somebody to play with. He jus looked at me an then looked back down at his chessboard an didn’t say nothin.

A little bit later, the ole feller’d been studyin the chessboard for most of a half hour an then he moved his white bishop over to black square seven an was jus bout to take his han off it when I says, “ ‘scuse me.”

The feller jumped like he’d set on a tack, an be glarin across the table at me.

“You make that move,” I says, “an you be leavin yoursef wide open to lose your knight an then your queen an put your ass in a fix.”

He look down at his chessboard, never takin his han off the bishop, an then he move it back an say to me, “Possibly you are right.”

Well, he go on back to studyin the chessboard an I figger it’s time to get back to the bus station, but jus as I start to leave, the ole man say, “Pardon me, but that was a very shrewd observation you made.”

I nod my head, an then he say, “Look, you’ve obviously played the game, why don’t you sit down an finish this one with me? Just take over the white in their positions now.”

“I cain’t,” I says, cause I got to catch the bus an all. So he jus nods an gives me a little salute with his han an I went on back to the bus station.

Time I get there, the damn bus done lef anyway, an here I am an ain’t no other bus till tomorrow. I jus cain’t do nothin right. Well, I got a day to kill, so I walked on back to the hotel an there is the little ole man still playin against hissef, an he seems to be winnin. I went on up to him an he look up an motion for me to set down. The situation I have come into is pretty miserable—haf my pawns gone an I ain’t got but one bishop an no rooks an my queen is about to be captured nex.

It took me most of a hour to git mysef back in a even position, an the ole man be kinda gruntin an shakin his head evertime I improve my situation. Finally, I dangle a gambit in front of him. He took it, an three moves later I got him in check.

“I will be damned,” he say. “Just who are you, anyway?”

I tole him my name, an he say, “No, I mean, where have you played? I don’t even recognize you.”

When I tole him I learnt to play in New Guinea, an he say, “Good heavens! An you mean to say you haven’t even been in regional competition?”

I shook my head an he says, “Well whether you know it or not, I am a former international grand master, and you have just stepped into a game you couldn’t possibily have won, and totally annihilated me!”

I axed how come he wadn’t playin in the room with the other people, an he says, “Oh, I played earlier. I’m nearly eighty years old now, an there is a sort of senior tournament. The real glory is to the younger fellows now—their minds are jus sharper.”

I nodded my head an thanked him for the game an got up to go, but he says, “Listen, have you had your supper yet?”

I tole him I had a sambwich a few hours ago, an he say, “Well how about letting me buy you dinner? After all, you gave me a superb game.”

I said that woud be okay, an we went into the hotel dinin room. He was a nice man. Mister Tribble was his name.

“Look,” Mister Tribble say wile we is havin dinner, “I’d have to play you a few more games to be sure, but unless your playing this evening was a total fluke, you are perhaps one of the brightest unrecognized talents in the game. I would like to sponsor you in a tournament or two, and see what happens.”

I tole him about headin home an wantin to get into the srimp bidness and all, but he say, “Well, this could be the opportunity of a lifetime for you, Forrest. You could make a lot of money in this game, you know.” He said for me to think it over tonight, an let him know somethin in the mornin. So me an Mister Tribble shook hans, an I went on out in the street.

I done wandered aroun for a wile, but they ain’t a lot to see in Nashville, an finally I wound up settin on a bench in a park. I was tryin to think, which don’t exactly come easy to me, an figger out what to do now. My mind was mostly on Jenny an where she is. She say not to try to find her or nothin, but they is a feelin down deep in me someplace that she ain’t forgot me. I done made a fool of mysef in Indianapolis, an I know it. I think it was that I wadn’t tryin to do the right thing. An now, I ain’t sure what the right thing is. I mean, here I am, ain’t got no money to speak of, an I got to have some to start up the srimp bidness, an Mister Tribble say I can win a good bit on the chess circuit. But it seem like ever time I do somethin besides tryin to get home an get the srimp bidness started, I get my big ass in hot water—so here I am again, wonderin what to do.

I ain’t been wonderin long when up come a policeman an axe me what I’m doin.

I says I’m jus settin here thinkin, an he say ain’t nobody allowed to set an think in the park at night an for me to move along. I go on down the street, an the policeman be followin me. I didn’t know where to go, so after a wile I saw an alley an walked on back in it an foun a place to set down an rest my feet. I ain’t been settin there more’n a minute when the same ole policeman come by an see me there.

“All right,” he say, “come on outta there.” When I get out to the street, he say, “What you doin in there?”

I says, “Nothin,” an he say, “That’s exactly what I thought—you is under arrest for loiterin.”

Well, he take me to the jail an lock me up an then in the mornin they say I can make one phone call if I want. Course I didn’t know nobody to phone but Mister Tribble, so that’s what I did. Bout haf a hour later, he shows up at the police station an springs me out of jail.

Then he buys me a big ole breakfast at the hotel an says, “Listen, why don’t you let me enter you in the interzonal championships next week in Los Angeles? First prize is ten thousan dollars. I will pay for all your expenses an we will split any money you win. Seems to me you need a stake of some sort, and, to tell you the truth, I would enjoy it immensely mysef. I will be your coach and adviser. How bout it?”

I still had some doubts, but I figgered it wouldn’t hurt to try. So I said I woud do it for a wile. Till I got enough money to start the srimp thing. An me an Mister Tribble shook hans an become partners.

Los Angeles was quite a sight. We got there a week early an Mister Tribble would spend most of the day coachin me an honin down my game, but after a wile of this, he jus shook his head an say there ain’t no sense in tryin to coach me, cause I got “every move in the book” already. So what we did was, we went out on the town.

Mister Tribble took me to Disneyland an let me go on some rides an then he arranged to get us a tour of a movie lot. They is got all sorts of movies goin on, an people is runnin aroun shoutin “take one,” an “cut,” an “action,” an shit like that. One of the movies they was doin was a Western an we seen a feller get hissef thowed thru a plate glass winder about ten times—till he got it right.

Anyway, we was jus standin there watchin this, when some guy walk up an says, “I beg your pardon, are you an actor?”

I says, “Huh?” An Mister Tribble, he says, “No, we are chess players.”

An the feller say, “Well that’s kind of a shame, because the big guy here, he looks ideal for a role in a movie I’m doing.” And then he turn to me an feel of my arm an say, “My, my, you are a big strong feller—are you sure you don’t act?”

“I did once,” I says.

“Really!” the feller says. “What in?”

“King Lear.”

“Marvelous, baby,” he says, “that’s just marvelous—do you have your SAG card?”

“My what?”

“Screen Actors Guild—oh, no matter,” he say. “Listen, baby, we can get that, no trouble. What I want to know is, where have they been hiding you? I mean, just look at you! A perfect big strong silent type—another John Wayne.”

“He is no John Wayne,” Mister Tribble say sourly, “he is a world-class chess player.”

“Well all the better,” the feller say, “a smart big, strong, silent type. Very unusual.”

“Ain’t as smart as I look,” I says, tryin to be honest, but the feller say none of that matters anyhow, cause actors ain’t sposed to be smart or honest or nothin like that—just be able to get up there an say they lines.

“My name’s Felder,” he says, “an I make movies. I want you to take a screen test.”

“He has to play in a chess tournament tomorrow,” Mister Tribble say. “He has no time for acting or screen tests.”