Chương 5: DIARIO de MARTILLO

Day 1 - Puke: 3x at treatment, 2x at home. Tired, hard to eat. One cool thing, Una took me to DUKE GAMES to get a chessboard. There's a WAR ROOM at the back where they play Lords of Rapaxoris. It's so cool. They paint these tiny soldiers and fight them against each other and each battle changes the whole campaign. There's a big map and a leaderboard. The store guy said I can come play at their new player day and gave me a free magazine. I can't wait until I feel better.

I want to get a paper route and build an army. Day 2 - Puked ALL DAY, no energy at all. Couldn't eat, not even oatmeal. Tried to read and got a bad headache. Wanted to die. I slept for a while and it got better. I tried to call Emilio to tell him about the game store and talk about the Cruz Azul match tomorrow, but his line was busy all night. His sister must have a new boyfriend. Day 3 - Feel sore all over from lying down too much. Metal taste in mouth, there's a sore right on the tip of my tongue. Hate that.

Dizzy when moving to the bathroom but not as bad as yesterday. Called Emilio again, still busy. Maybe the line is broken. I hope he's not going to fall off like everyone else. Starting to doubt he'll actually come visit me when school lets out, like we planned. Listened to the round 34 match on the radio. Azul won, 2-1! Saguier and Camacho! Day 4 - The fog cleared up a little bit. I was sick of being inside, so I decided to walk to the library while Una was at church. I had to stop halfway and catch my breath.

It made me so mad. Last year I was the best winger in my division. I could play with the older kids, no problem. I ran the mile in 6: 15. This year, I was going to hit under six. Now I can't even walk a mile without wheezing at the bus stop like an old lady. I hate this. <underline three times> The library in Griegos is pretty small but the librarian is nice. I kept expecting them to hustle me out for truancy like they used to back at North Branch, but everyone was cool.

It's mostly old people since everyone is still in school. They don't have BLACK LABYRINTH and the only wargaming books I could find are old Napoleonic stuff. No Hardcastles I haven't read, but I took out a couple to re-read if I don't feel up to starting something new. The haul: The Best of HP Lovecraft The Team that Wouldn't Give In The Hidden Enemy The Westing Game A Wizard of Earthsea Wanted to get The Sword of Shannara but the only copy was checked out.

The Librarian said a new Stephen King is due out in August, THE DEAD ZONE. He let me pre-reserve a copy. When I got home Una was mad, even though I left a note. She eased off after a bit. I think she was secretly happy to see me out of bed. She said since I'm feeling well enough to gallivant around town, it's about time I learned to play chess. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I keep forgetting that pawns can't capture going forward. It seems dumb. Una says it's been that way since forever.

Pawns used to only move one space and it slowed down the game a lot. We played a bunch of games, then I had to stop because my head hurt. Una says the big ideas in chess can apply to fútbol or any other game. I don't really see it, but she says I will. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Day 5 - Some improvement. Una made empanadas, I ate two! Had one good match where I made it to the endgame but I was too far behind in material. Una says not to just trade pieces without a plan.

Today, she showed me how to do the notation. You can write down an entire game on one line! From now on, I'm going to record all my games so I can look at them later and figure out where I messed up. Tried to read a random story from the Lovecraft book, Out of the Aeons. Spent more time looking up words in the dictionary than reading. Who was he trying to impress? Day 6 - THE COLOR OUT OF SPACE!!! Can't believe this story. Kept thinking about it all afternoon.

Tita said Lovecraft must have got the idea from the Radium Girls in the 1920s. I was up late thinking about it. Every sound in the room seemed spooky and huge. I loved it. I hope I don't have to get zapped. Day 7 - I look like a vampire. Kind of cool, actually. Tita says it means the treatment is working. Day 8 - I thought I was doing better at chess, but then Tita said it was time to stop teaching and play for real. She gave me her queen and king's rook and still clobbered me. It was so bad.

I wanted to just give up. She gave me a hard time for being a sore loser, but then she smirked the whole rest of the day and drove me crazy. I'm going back to the library and getting every chess book they have. Day 9 - I went to orientation night at Duke Games. It's some lessons to get ready for New Player Day, so you don't have to learn everything at once. It also seems like a way to get you hyped up to buy stuff. I was hoping there might be some kids my age, but nope. No one spoke Spanish or cared about futból.

¡Ay! (alas). I was the youngest guy there by two years. The club guys were cool but the new players mostly overlooked me. I won't forget this. If I get older, I don't ever want to act like I'm too good to talk to someone just because they're younger. The club guys call themselves "The Lords of Misfortune" and they all wear a pin with a twenty-sided die that rolled a one. The #1 guy, Vlad, had a gold one. His has a 20 because he won the last campaign.

Apparently, all the other guys have to call him "Duke" until someone else wins. They're all rooting against him. He's kind of a know-it-all, but seems really sharp when he isn't trying to act bigger than he is. The rules lesson was a mess. Duncan, the store guy, was supposed to be teaching, but Vlad kept correcting him. He got flustered and his face got so red. The club guys were laughing about it but I was ticked off because I was trying to learn.

Normally, I pick things up faster, but the treatment is slowing me down so much. It's way harder for me to remember stuff when I can't see it written down. There was a break before the painting tutorial. Everyone else herded over to get ice cream. I didn't have any money, so it was just me and Duncan in the store. I went to look at the rulebook and was wondering if maybe I could get one for my birthday. They're $12. 99! That's so much. I wished out loud that the library had a copy.

Once Duncan realized I couldn't afford one, he showed me the store copies. They're not the actual rulebook but mimeographs in a three ring binder with flags on the important bits. He said I could borrow one if I had a buck to put down for deposit. When I told him I didn't have any money on me, he said he'd let me slide. I had to promise him I would take good care of it and bring it back in one piece when I come to New Player Day on Saturday. He's such a nice guy. I told him I'd be there for sure.

Duncan said I should turn up early so I had first crack at the best units in the store case. I decided to jot down a list of everything inside so I can plan out a killer army once I learn all the rules. Duncan laughed and said the other kids wouldn't know what hit them. The painting class was taught by Sandy Amsler, the guy who won the Argent Gargoyle contest. He was a complete goof before the class, but he was super-serious while showing us stuff. He helped everyone a lot.

We all got to pull a free blister pack out of a grab bag, then I got to keep the miniature after! I got Bobbert, the Loyal Apprentice. He's not strong, but the club guys said he was a good pull because of his special ability. The figure is so tiny! Bobbert is half the size of the regular troops. I was struggling to paint him, but Sandy came over and showed me a few tips for extra-small figures. He had me glue the base of the model to a film canister so it was easier to hold.

I still couldn't get the eyebrows quite right. My Bobbert sort of looks like Bert from Sesame Street. I'll repaint him when I get better. After we finished, Sandy showed off his army of Windsworn Rune Reavers. They look AMAZING. All the little banners are hand painted. The shading is perfect. The rune tattoos are electric blue and he custom-made the footing on all the bases. It must have taken months and months. Sandy told us that painting and making terrain was the most rewarding part of the game.

Vlad laughed and said Sandy was only saying that because he was in last place. Sandy snapped back with "Last place, but at least I bathe." Everyone cracked up while musty Vlad was sputtering. They're both so corny. These kids would have gotten eaten alive in San Jacinto. When I got home, I wanted to call Emilio and tell him all about it, but his line was disconnected. I guess they moved or his uncle got in trouble again. He could have told me. Es una mierda (It sucks).