For they knew these races were usually
fixed beforehand, but since he was to drive one of the teams, all his
friends were betting on him, and if he pulled the team and let that
livery stable lady win the race, they would accuse him of giving free
tickets to get them in the show and skin them out of their money.
Pa said to me: "This race is going to be on the square, and you watch my
smoke. Do you think I would let that red-headed dish washer beat me? Not
on your life."
The play is to have a little boy kiss the male driver good-by, and a
little girl kiss the female driver good-by, as though they were taking
their lives in their hands. I had climbed up to pa and put my arms
around his neck, and kissed him, and a girl kissed the female, when the
gong sounded, and both four-horse teams made a jump, before I could get
out of the chariot, so I got right in front of pa and peeked over the
dashboard of the chariot, and, gee, but didn't we fairly whizz by the
poles, and the audience looked like a panorama.
Pa got the pole and kept it, and we went around three times, and found
the female chariot ahead of us, cause pa had gone around twice to her
once. She turned out a little right by the band-stand, and pa run his
team right inside her chariot and caught her wheel, and when he yelled
to his team, her cart, team, and all were thrown right into the band,
which scattered over the backs of the seats.
Pages:
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92