1jonathan was bored out of his mind. it was a beautiful, hot, sunny day, and under normal circumstances, he would have called his best friend, chris. the two would have spent the day splashing around the creek or swimming at the community pool. unfortunately, jonathan no longer lived just minutes from chris. jonathan’s family had moved to a new house clear across the state to be closer to jonathan’s grandmother. most of jonathan’s new neighbors were retirees or married couples with very young children. no one on his street jumped at the chance to toss around a football or have a water balloon fight. and, since it was right in the middle of summer vacation, jonathan had yet to make a single new friend.

2jonathan bounced a soccer ball from his toe, to his knee, and back to his toe. suddenly, he kicked the ball too hard. it sailed over the neighbor’s fence. jonathan groaned and trudged toward his neighbor’s house to ask permission to fetch the ball.

jonathan climbed the steps of mr. browning’s front porch and rang the bell. a few moments later, mr. browning opened the door.

4 “hi, mr. browning, i’m jonathan. my family just moved in next door. i accidentally kicked my soccer ball into your back yard and i was wondering if i could retrieve it,” jonathan explained.

mr. browning eyed jonathan for a second and then replied, “sure thing, johnny boy. follow me.”

6jonathan followed mr. browning down the hallway, through the kitchen, and onto the back porch. he plucked his soccer ball from the lawn. as he turned to leave, he noticed that mr. browning had a chess board set up on a small table on the back porch.

“are you any good? ” asked jonathan, hooking his thumb toward the chess board.

mr. browning gave jonathan a half smile. “why? ”

“my friend chris and i play on rainy days all the time. well, used to play,” jonathan corrected.

“no longer friends? ” asked mr. browning.

“it’s not that,” said jonathan. “i left him behind when my family moved out here.”

12 “humph. it seems we find ourselves in similar predicaments,” said mr. browning.

“what do you mean? ” asked jonathan.

“well, that nice house over there that you just moved into belonged to my best friend, walter smithson. ol’ wally boy got tired of caring for a big ol’ house and lawn all by himself, so he up and moved to an apartment in a retirement community ‘bout two hours from here. wally and i used to play chess most every day,” said mr. browning. “i sure do miss that ol’ boy.”

jonathan eyed the chess board and then settled into the seat opposite mr. browning. he picked up a black knight and positioned it on a different square.

“i don’t know that i’m as good as wally boy,” he said to mr. browning, “but i’ve been known to beat chris a time or two.”

“well then,” said mr. browning, “don’t mind if i do.” with that, he moved a white pawn.

why does jonathan begin to play chess with mr. browning?