Monday, August 13, 2018 7:55 AM

The chess computer is sitting on top of a trash can, the same one on which I found all those books. The machine's a classic, some thirty years old. The case says that it was endorsed by that era's world chess champion. All the pieces are intact. It doesn't power up, but the batteries are probably long dead. Someone who wasn't using it put it out there as a donation to someone who might. I know just the person. I leave behind the stack of Disney videotapes that sit next to it and, tucking the computer under my arm, continue up the hill.