He was staring down at the checkerboard pattern on the linoleum floor, as if it were a code he was trying to crack.

NEWYORKER: Temporary

This entitles you to twin bunk beds (seats by day, convertible at night), your own bathroom, a whole lot of tiny folded towels Amtrak doesn't give you much but they love to give you towels a fold-down table with a checkerboard on the surface and an incomparable feeling of coziness and well-being.

WSJ: Train Travel: Adventure on the Rails

Wankel and Trammell and a group of men, guns drawn, walked down into the fields below, a checkerboard of green wheat and luxuriant poppies.

NEWYORKER: The Taliban��s Opium War