A Philia and checkers Narrative

For some reason, this assignment made me think of Gen in The Thief saying, "It sounded like a paragraph from a book describing "All Our Neighbors" or something equally simpleminded." But Compare and Contrast questions were always my favorites on those essay tests, so here goes.  We hope it doesn't sound too simpleminded.

( And go on and on... )

Whew.  Just GET us started on something.