RULES OF THE GAME:
Waverly Jong, Lindo's daughter, is a child chess prodigy who was taught at a young age to play the game by her brothers and an old man that she met using a chess set that she got in christmas and lifesavers as replacements for the missing ones. She starts becoming recognized for her talents and starts to display her set of skills to the locals. One day a man comes up to her and offers a chance for her to compete in a chess tournament. She plays and wins. By age 9 she becomes a national champion. Her mom goes around bragging about her and finally she snaps and tells her mom off. She comes back home and her mother ignores her.
THE VOICE FROM THE WALL:
Lena St. Clair's mother, Ying-ying is a woman from China that was saved by her current husband Clifford, who is of English-Irish descent. Ying-ying spoke mainly in gestures, because her mandarin wasn't very well understood by Clifford or Lena. They move to Oakland and Ying-ying kept moving things around her house because it wasn't balanced. They heard a girl next door who they thought was either being killed or beaten. After moving Ying-ying gets a baby which dies immediately after birth. Ying-ying feels guilty. Teresa comes in and plays a prank on her mom. Lena is confused by the laughing and joy.
HALF AND HALF
Rose Hsu Jordan starts by wondering what to say about her and her husband Ted's divorce. In the story it explains how Ted was dominant in the relationship but after losing a malpractice suit he made Rose make decisions which she resisted. This caused strain in the relationship which led to Ted asking for a divorce. This leads to the story of when Rose was tasked to watch over her brothers in the water, the boys got into a fight and Bing fell into the water and was never found again. An-Mei (Rose's Mother) drove Rose to the beach and made offerings.
TWO KINDS
Jing-Mei speaks again and this time her mom is determined to find an inner talent that she knows is hidden within her daughter. She tried her hand at multiple skills but always fell short of her mother's expectations. Jing-Mei realised one night that her mother was trying to turn her into something that she was not and she wouldn't let that happen again. She took lessons with a deaf man who she got away with playing bad notes to and when she was entered in a talent contest she though her "inner-prodigy" would take over and allow her to play well, even though she had a lack of practice. She played but it proved to be a disaster, she never wanted to play piano again. Later on her 30th birthday she was handed a piano as a gift, after her mother died she played and did well. If she would've trained then she could've become a great piano player IMO.
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