and pulling me along. We stopped at the baseball
game. The object was to knock three milk bottles off a
basket. You had two chances for a quarter. Luke took
the balls into his hand and wound up to throw. Then
he stopped.
"Touch it for good luck," he said handing me
the ball. "I don't usually bring good luck," I said. "You will to me," he insisted. He made me feel
good about myself. I held the ball for a moment and
then he wound up again and threw it. He hit the
bottles squarely in the middle and the three burst away
from each other and off the basket.
"A WINNER!" the man behind the counter
announced, and then he reached back and took a
pudgy, little black teddy bear from the shelf and
handed it to Luke.
"For you," he said handing it to me. "It's not as
beautiful as your doll, but it's a lucky one."
"It's very beautiful and very cuddly," I said
pressing it to my cheek. "I love it. Thank you, Luke." He smiled and led me off. He bought a footlong hot dog and had it covered with all the fixings.
We started eating the hot dog. We had fun eating at it
from both sides. Our noses bumped when we reached
the middle and we laughed and laughed.
"I've got to- feed the elephants," he said. "And
then we can go in and see the clown show and
acrobats, all the circus acts, okay?"
"Sure." I followed him back to the work area.
He found a wooden case for me to sit on and watch as
he worked. He took off his shirt and seized the
pitchfork. The sun glistened off his smooth, muscular
back. He had wide shoulders that tightened and