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“Like Mama.”

I look through the glass toward Vera. She’s busy reading on her phone.

“Mama is the queen,” Misha continues. “This one is Papa.”

He picks up the king.

“You’re clever. The king moves one square,” I tell him.

Misha looks disappointed. “Papa is slow.”

Oksana covers her mouth with her hand.

“I’m recovering,” I say.

Misha puts the king beside the queen. “They stay together.”

I arrange the pawns and show him the knight.

“This one moves differently.”

“It’s a horse.”

“A knight.”

“Horse.”

“It moves two squares in one direction and one to the side.”

Misha pushes it straight across the board.

“No,” I say. “Like this.”

I move it in an L.

He watches closely, then takes the second knight and makes it jump over three pawns, the queen, and the edge of the board.

“It flew.”

“Knights do not fly.”

“This one does.”

I look at Vera again. She has walked into the playroom and is watching us.

She lifts one shoulder. “You chose the game,” she says, then returns to her chair in the sitting area.

I turn back to Misha. “Flying pieces make the rules unstable.”

“He has wings at night.”

“Excellent.”

We spend ten minutes fighting over the chessboard and its hapless pieces. Then Misha decides the knight needs to rescue a dinosaur from beneath the couch.

I check the time. Twenty-three minutes have passed. The dinosaur rescue takes another twelve.

Misha slides behind the couch and returns with the green dinosaur, a wooden spoon, two puzzle pieces, and a cracker that no one admits giving him.