DOZE

the rules of a game with no players, as they stand at ten past six

1. The board is set up the night before. Nobody sets it up. It is set up anyway, by the room.
2. White moves first. White is the light coming in over the sill. It moves at its own pace and does not announce it.
3. A turn ends the moment you forget it started.
4. You may not play. That's less a rule than the situation.
5. Pieces that slide off the table stay in play. The floor is the eleventh rank.
6. No capturing before noon. It's rude and everyone's still soft.
7. If a piece is warm, it has just been moved. Don't ask by whom.
8. The game is a draw when the kettle clicks.
9. Anyone who wakes mid-game is a spectator and must be given coffee.

Printed on both sides so the staples hold. Fold along the fold.