On a cold spring afternoon, while walking home from school, i detoured through the playground at the end of our alley. i saw a group of old men, two seated across a folding table playing a game of chess, others smoking pipes, eating peanuts, and watching. i ran home and grabbed vincent’s chess set, which was bound in a cardboard box with rubber bands. i also carefully selected two prized rolls of life savers. i came back to the park and approached a man who was observing the game. “want to play? ” i asked him. his face widened with surprise and he grinned as he looked at the box under my arm. “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. what motivates the narrator to “display [her] retort” rather than to respond verbally to the man? the goal not to speak a single negative word in thirty days the fear of what the narrator’s mother will do the knowledge that it is dangerous to speak to strangers the desire to master the art of “invisible strength” me no