Abstract
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Nathan stares back at his teacher. She's handing out the usual frayed school-copy books. A bland cover done in black and white: a man's profile in black, a woman's in white. Othello. Nathan didn't know it was a book: he only remembers it as a board game. He used to play it in primary school with his best friend, Andrew. You flip the white discs over to reveal the black. The game can change in an instant: white discs can dominate the board but then a careful placement from your opponent means they can all flip to black. They seemed to play it every weekend, Weekend afternoons were spent splayed out on Nathan's bedroom floor, playing game after game: best of three, best of five, champion tournament. Andrew would always win. He was a master of it, turning the tables with ease, transforming the whole board into rows and rows of black discs. Nathan's mother coming in and saying, Why don't you boys go outside? It's such a lovely day. Nathan watching Andrew's wrists flipping disc after disc.