Checkers: Retarded Chess or Clever Tiddly Winks.

MARBLE FALLS, TX --  After playing checkers for the first time, Canadian tourist, Emmaline Banks, discovered the dirty secret Chess has been hiding from scholars for centuries; checkers.  The bastard child of the popular strategy game, checkers has been entertaining children and adults for the better part of three centuries, yet illuding the Canadian resident for her entire life.

When first introduced to the board game found in the corner of the familiar coffee shop, Banks was unsure whether she should "engage in such folly," as it appeared to be a part of the quaint decor.

"The board was painted with squares like a chess board," Banks asserted, "But the pieces were flat and rudimentary like an American child."

A regional chess champion, Banks delved into the game with all the vigor that can be expected of a seventy-three year old retired librarian.  Even after several brutal losses to her American companion, Banks stuck to the game, showing amazing determination to become a 'checkers master.'

"The pieces move so easily,"  Banks exclaimed as she held up a single checker, "there's barely any thought to it, no L-shapes or silly little castles, just a single diagonal move."

Added banks as she drifted back into the black and red world, "It's genius."

At nine o'clock, Banks, along with her companion, were forced out of the coffee shop with a new view on life and the American way.

Jamie Michelle