Trish had goals.  She wanted independence.  She wanted to make it on her own.  She wanted to show her smirking brothers a woman didn’t need a man to succeed.  Three older brothers.  One a baker.  One a butcher.  The other an artisan who made decorative candles.  Yeah.  She’d heard all the jokes about fairy tales.  She couldn’t believe how real life had played out either, but truth really was stranger than fiction.  She was so tired of saying that.

William the baker. Brian the butcher.  Charlie the candle maker.  She steadfastly refused to choose a profession beginning with the letter “t.”  Not even if a variation of the title became a “t.”  Not even if the job suited her to a “t.”  She had to admit she wouldn’t mind that last one — she wasn’t going to choose a profession she hated just to avoid a cliche about it.

She’d sat down with her high school guidance counselor and talked interests and jobs.  She took interest inventories and all kinds of standardized surveys.  Should she go to a four year college, a two year college, a trade school, an apprenticeship, or direct into a job?

With all the survey results and her personal desires taken into account, she decided to enter the military upon high school graduation.  She chose the Air Force.  They chose her job for her.  Aircraft tire changer.  Great.  She’d never live that down.

The guys in the break room at work ran a chess club.  Trish decided to play and strove to be chess champion.  No way that could be construed as beginning with “T.”  She studied strategy and moves.  At first it didn’t make much sense, then she began to see a bigger picture.

Trish had one aspect of her game to work on further.  Her endgame.  She played well, but she had trouble closing out the game.  More study.  A few months later, she thought she had it.  Lunch time chess had taken on new meaning.  The whole shop was trying to find a way to beat her.  Finally, the base intramural chess championship competition loomed. The tire shop nominated Trish to compete on their behalf. The top three finishers would compete in the command level tournament.  Trish took second place.  She wasn’t satisfied with that.  She studied some more.  The top three finishers at command level moved on to Air Force level competition, and after that, to the military championships. She intended to go all the way.  As a result, every moment outside of work, she was preparing.  She met with her fellow base competitors and argued strategic moves and talked about what to look for.  One competitor had been to command competition before and knew a couple of their opponents, so he had something to offer about their games.  Trish listened but considered that they could have improved their games since the last competition.  Determined to not take anything for granted, Trish joined her team mates to head for command competition.  She came home with second place.  Time to work to advance to the Air Force level competition.

After hours of preparation, Team Trish was headed to the Air Force Chess Championships at Andrews AFB and fully intended to win a spot on the Air Force team that would compete for the Interservice Championships.  She didn’t want to get ahead of herself, but if she did well there, she wanted a crack at the best players in NATO.  But first, she had to come out on top in her own service.  More endgame work.  More study.

Finally, competition began.  Trish breezed through the first round of competition and easily made it to the semi-finals.  Not wanting to get too overconfident, she proceeded with caution.  She was almost too cautious and nearly second-guessed herself.  Careful, she thought.  Then she saw what her opponent was trying to do.  She knew how to counter it.  Then she saw him make a mistake.  Had he really done that?  Check-mate!

The finals!  Another new guy.  This would be a challenge.  Trish took a deep breath, and the competition began.  She emerged victorious.  The new U. S. Air Force Chess Champion!  No “T” job for her!

Except for being a Trophy Winner.

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