The Gambler, Fifth Grade
The Gambler, Fifth Grade
Barry Peters
I bet a boy and won, a World Series home run swung by an all-star whose cardboard image I carried everywhere. I’d memorized the script on his shirt, the bat over his shoulder, his gladiatorial glare. When I tried to collect, that boy slammed my head against the stairwell, then leapt from one landing to the next without touching a step. I imagined my dollar tucked in his back pocket. All those decades of debt—I owe myself something, too
Barry Peters lives in Durham. North Carolina. Publications include Barrow Street, Grist, Image, RHINO, The Southampton Review, and The Southern Review.
Mark Mosley is a public school 7th grade math teacher. He draws baseball cards when he is not driving his son to baseball or his daughter to gymnastics. His cards can be seen on Twitter @mosley_mark, on Instagram @idrawbaseballcards, and can be purchased at https://idrawbaseballcards.bigcartel.com/
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