SETTING: HARRY and AL are playing checkers at the Briarwood Retirement Community. AL studies the board for 15 seconds and then looks around the room. HARRY becomes impatient. He fidgets and finally speaks.
HARRY
It's your move.
AL
I know it's my move, Harry. I'm thinking.
HARRY
What's to think about? You've got a jump. Take it.
AL
Which jump?
HARRY (POINTING)
That one, Al. Right there.
AL
I see that one. I'm looking for a better one.
HARRY
There's only one jump for you on the whole board, and you've got to take it.
AL
If I jump your man there, you'll jump two of my men.
HARRY
I'll jump three actually. But you must jump that man.
AL
Three? I only see two.
HARRY (POINTING)
One, two, Three. There.
AL
You're right, Harry. You'd take Three of my men. So it would be stupid for me to jump your man there.
HARRY
Stupid or not, it's the rules. You've GOT to do it, Al. So stop stalling.
AL
I see a better move. (AL MOVES ONE OF HIS CHECKERS.) There.
HARRY
You can't do that.
AL
I just did.
HARRY
No. That's against the rules. If you've got a jump, you've got to take it.
AL
We both agreed it would be stupid for me to take that jump. So I won't.. The rules can't make me play stupidly.
HARRY
It's a trap, Al. I set it up beautifully. And you fell into it. Now put this man back where it was, and take your jump.
AL
No. I've played by the rules all my life, Harry. And where has it gotten me?
HARRY
Here? At Briarwood?
AL
Right. Sitting around waiting to die. I hate rules. When I was three I had to take naps even though I wasn't sleepy. At four I wasn't allowed to cross the street by myself...
HARRY (INTERRUPTING.)
Following the rules has probably saved your life. More than once.
AL
What did I save it for? So I could sit around here and lose checker games to you while I'm waiting to die? No, my friend, I'm through with the rules. I won't jump your man.
HARRY
If we don't have the rules, Al, we can't play the game. We need structure.
AL
We can be creative and make up new rules as we go along. See. I just made one up: you don't have to jump if you don't want to.
HARRY
Does winning this game really mean that much to you?
AL
Since I started playing checkers with you, Harry, I've begun to feel like a loser.
HARRY
You're not a loser, just because you never win.
AL
If I lose this game, it'll be the one-hundredth game in a row that I've lost to you.
HARRY
I know. I know. A hundred games in a row! That's probably some kind of record.
AL
How would you feel if you lost every game you played with someone?
HARRY
I hope I never have to find out.
AL
From now on I'm going to color outside the lines whenever I feel like it.
HARRY
I won't play that way. Either you put your man back where he belongs and make the jump the rules require, or...
AL (FOLDING HIS ARMS AND INTERRUPTING.)
No. No. No.
HARRY
It wouldn't be any fun without the rules.
AL
Try it, Harry. Give it a chance.
HARRY
Or if you keep changing the rules.
AL
I made my move. Now you make yours.
HARRY
Right is right, Al. Failing to follow the rules will lead to...
AL (INTERRUPTING)
Freedom.
HARRY
No, anarchy...chaos.
AL
Come on, Harry. We can experiment a little. It won't be the end of the world.
HARRY (STUDYING THE BOARD)
Okay, Al. If you can make up new rules as you go along, so can I. It's only fair. Right?
AL
What are you planning to do?
HARRY
I just thought of a new rule I'm going to use.
AL
What is it?
HARRY
I call it the "Hop, Skip, and Jump." That used to be an event in the summer Olympics. Remember?
AL
How does it work in checkers?
HARRY
Like this. I hop my own man, skip across this open space, and jump your man. See?
AL
You can't do that.
HARRY
I just did. It's a new rule I just invented.
AL
But, if you jump your own man, you should at least take him off the board.
HARRY
Nope. I didn't "jump" him. I just hopped over him. It's a "hop," not a "jump."
AL
And you can slide across...
HARRY (INTERRUPTING)
"Skip." Not "slide."
AL
But you slid your man across the open space.
HARRY
It's my rule, and I call it a "skip."
AL
So I can slide...or skip my man up to yours and jump him?
HARRY
Only if you hop over one of your own men first.
AL
I see.
(WHILE AL STUDIES THE BOARD, HARRY LOOKS AT HIS FINGER NAILS, HIS SHOES, HIS SOCKS... )
HARRY
Will you look at that. My socks don't match.
AL
For you, Harry, that's not unusual.
HARRY
What do you mean?
AL
Just what I said. I've often noticed that your socks don't match.
HARRY
You never said anything.
AL
Why should I? I thought you might be doing it on purpose. To distract me.
HARRY
Friends should point things like that out to each other.
AL
I don't think so. I don't have any hops available. Do I?
HARRY
Not that I can see.
AL
Okay, Harry. I've figured out another rule I like.
HARRY
What is it?
AL
You'll see.
(AL PLAYS RAPIDLY AND CARELESSLY. HARRY PLAYS STUDIOUSLY AND CAPTURES ALL BUT ONE OF AL'S CHECKERS.)
HARRY
Better come up with that new rule of yours soon, Al. That's your last man. Oops. There he goes. I won again.
AL
No. I won.
HARRY (TALKING OVER AL.)
Even playing according to your new rules. One hundred wins in a row. That must be a new record.
AL
No. I won, Harry. That's my new rule. Whoever gets rid of all his checkers first wins the game.
HARRY
You can't change the whole point of the game like that.
AL
I just did.
HARRY
No, Al. If you lose all your checkers, you lose the game.
AL
Not under my new rules. Want to play another game?
HARRY
I don't think there's any point to it.
AL
Sure there is, Harry. This way we both win. If I get rid of all my checkers I win under my rules, and if you capture all my men you win under yours.
HARRY
But what's the point?
AL
It's a win-win game. We're both winners. Every time. You can't beat that. Now can you?
HARRY
That kind of "winning" seems meaningless to me. We might as well have one of us play with the black checkers on the black squares and the other use the red checkers on the red squares.
AL
What would be the point of doing that?
HARRY
Or for color contrast, one of us could play the red checkers on the black squares and the other could play the black checkers on the red squares.
AL
I don't get it, Harry. Why would we do that? We could never have a jump. Neither of us could ever capture anything.
HARRY
Exactly. Nobody would lose, and nobody would win. Isn't that what you want? Your win-win game isn't really a game at all. It's a farce. A waste of time.
AL
I'm telling you, Harry: As long as we believe we can be a winner only when someone else loses, we're in trouble.
HARRY
If a game isn't win-win, it's lose-lose?
AL
Right. There are no real winners when there are losers.
HARRY
That might be true in real life, Al, but checkers is a game.
AL
When I play checkers with you, Harry, that's an important part of my real life.
