"Good," he said. He looked back at the board and then quickly returned his eyes to me. "There wasn't a chess club in your previous school?"
"No. but I was always interested in learning how to play. My father knew how but didn't play much and didn't have the patience to teach me. My sister hates board games. She's an athlete. We lived in Hickory. Maybe you know where it is I realized I was rattling off like a car that had lost its brakes and immediately bit down on my lower lip to shut my spewing mouth.
"Of course. I know
where that is." He returned his attention to the board. and I thought that would be it, but then he looked up again. "My people were the first citizens of this state. I know every place in it." "Your people?"
"I'm Cherokee," he said. "I didn't grow up here. I grew up in Oklahoma. I returned to live with my aunt after my father died. My mother died when I was born."
"Oh.'"
He looked at the board again.
"My parents are both dead. too." I blurted, since he didn't seem to know anything about me. I guessed he didn't have his ear to the gossip phone in the school.
He looked at me again, and for the first time, his eyes softened. He didn't speak. He lifted the king.
"The king can move one square in any direction and cap-hire an opponent's piece if it's on one of those squares, assuming, of course, that the opponent is not defending this piece. The king can never move to a square that the opponent controls. Doing so will move the king into check. Suicide," he added.
He moved a few pieces.
"Here, see this. In this case, the rook is one square away and undefended. If I put these two rooks here like this, they can defend each other. and the king can only move one way. Am I going too fast for you?" he asked.
"Yes," I said. He sat back.
"All right, let's just go over the moves each piece can make, and then we'll go back to what I'm saying. The rook can move any number of squares in straight line, horizontally or vertically, but the rook may not jump a piece of either color. Got that?"
I nodded.
"The bishop can move any number of squares diagonally, but, like the rook, it may not jump a piece. Like the rook, it can move forward or backward, but in only one direction at a time. Okay?"
"yes."
"The queen combines the power of the rook and the bishop. It can move horizontally, vertically, or in the diagonal."
"Wow," I said.
He glanced at me but continued.
"It's like the king in that it can move in any direction, but unlike the king, it can move far in one direction so long as there are no pieces in its path."
He took a deep breath.
"The Knight's move is special. It hops directly from its old square to its new square. The Knight can jump over other pieces between its old and new squares. Think of the Knight's move as an "L." It moves two squares horizontally or vertically and then makes a right-angle turn for one more square. The Knight always lands on a square opposite in color from its old square."
"The last is the pawn, which is the only piece that moves differently from how it captures. The pawn, like a warrior in war, marches forward one square at a time. It can never retreat. However, pawns that have not yet moved have the option of beginning their forward journey with a double move two squares forward. They can't jump other pieces. The pawn captures diagonally only one square ahead. Think of it fighting with a knife rather than a sword."
"Is this whole game thought of as a fight?"
"Of course." he said. "Military tacticians love it. It's strategy, defense, aggression, entrapment, retreats, the whole gambit."
"Checkers is friendlier," I said.
He stared at me so hard I thought he was about to get up and desert me, but to my surprise, he actually smiled.
"You're not the competitive type, is that it?"
"I guess not. My sister has the monopoly on that in our family. She's a star basketball player for Thompson University. She's on the all-star team for the region and will be playing a week from