Module 1: "Rules of the Game" (from The Joy Luck Club) by Amy Tan

My mother imparted her daily truths so she could help my older brothers and me rise above our circumstances.

Like most of the other Chinese children who played in the back alleys of restaurants and curio shops, I didn't think we were poor.

My brothers and I would peer into the medicinal herb shop, watching old Li dole out onto a stiff sheet of white paper the right amount of insect shells, saffron-colored seeds, and pungent leaves for his ailing customers.

It was said that he once cured a woman dying of an ancestral curse that had eluded the best of American doctors.

Inside, the butchers with their bloodstained white smocks deftly gutted the fish while customers cried out their orders and shouted, "Give me your freshest," to which the butchers always protested, "All are freshest."

At the corner of the alley was Hong Sing's, a four-table cafe with a recessed stairwell in front that led to a door marked "Tradesmen."

Then I ran off with my friends, shrieking with laughter as we scampered across the alley and hid in the entryway grotto of the China Gem Company, my heart pounding with hope that he would chase us.

One of the Chinese parishioners had donned a Santa Claus costume and a stiff paper beard with cotton balls glued to it.

I nodded back with equal solemnity.

Vincent at first refused to let me play, but when I offered my Life Savers as replacements for the buttons that filled in for the missing pieces, he relented.

I learned about the middle game and why tactics between two adversaries are like clashing ideas; the one who plays better has the clearest plans for both attacking and getting out of traps.

I learned why it is essential in the endgame to have foresight, a mathematical understanding of all possible moves, and patience; all weaknesses and advantages become evident to a strong adversary and are obscured to a tiring opponent.

I learned why it is essential in the endgame to have foresight, a mathematical understanding of all possible moves, and patience; all weaknesses and advantages become evident to a strong adversary and are obscured to a tiring opponent.

"Little sister, been a long time since I play with dolls," he said, smiling benevolently.

I quickly put the box down next to him on the bench and displayed my retort.

Never announce "Check" with vanity, lest someone with an unseen sword slit your throat.

I was still some 429 points away from grand-master status, but I was touted as the Great American Hope, a child prodigy and a girl to boot.

The day they took the magazine picture I wore neatly plaited braids clipped with plastic barrettes trimmed with rhinestones.

He wore a dark, malodorous suit.

One of his pockets was stuffed with a great white kerchief on which he wiped his palm before sweeping his hand over the chosen chess piece with great flourish.

My parents made many concessions to allow me to practice. One time I complained that the bedroom I shared was so noisy that I couldn't think. Thereafter, my brothers slept in a bed in the living room facing the street.

Oranges and tin cans careened down the sidewalk. As my mother stooped to help the old woman pick up the escaping food, I took off.

I sped into the sunlight, into a large street crowded with tourists examining trinkets and souvenirs.

I imagined my mother, first walking briskly down one street or another looking for me, then giving up and returning home to await my arrival.

On a platter were the remains of a large fish, its fleshy head still connected to bones swimming upstream in vain escape.