Black Pawns

7:45 AM NP: Spaceship - Kanye West The two chess tables and wooden benches outside of the metal-gated park are usually occupied by dusty old men, drinking coffee and eating corner store chips, arguing over spades or who stole somebody's lighter. Today it was different. A woman, probably a few years younger than me, was sitting on the bench in a pair of skin-sucking black jeans and scuffed, tan Tims. 18 inches of yaki hung below her breast and a green-streaked swoop, like Aaliyah's, covered her right eye. She kept a steady gaze, not even November's hardest breeze could get her to blink. Very dark-skinned. Soft features like the Senegalese women that twisted my hair on 116th last weekend. Like a vicious dog's bark, I could feel the intensity of his words palpitating through me but I couldn't understand a thing he was saying. I almost ignored him until she snapped out of her daze and looked directly into his sooty eyes. "Well, if