A Game on the Stone Board

I slipped through the front gate and padded down the sidewalk to the little neighborhood park. Beneath a wide horse chestnut tree, an old stone chess table was resting in the afternoon sun. Right in the middle sat a fat, glossy brown conker that had tumbled out of its spiky husk. I climbed up onto the concrete stool and gave the round seed a firm nudge with both paws. It rolled with a soft clack across three carved grid squares, spinning gently until it settled in the center of a gray square. Pushing it back toward the white side, I took my turn in a quiet game.