Play at Coney Island New York

“Because the Kentucky Derby was that day, we played the Kentucky Derby game. You wouldn’t know how many years of higher education I have floating around in my mind had you witnessed my sudden incapacity to understand how to play the game. You have to roll two balls under a slab of plastic along a longish cubby and make it fall into a hole. The blue holes make your horse move slowly and the red holes make it move most quickly and then the other colors are in between. I was like, why can we just toss it over the plastic? Then one of the women working came over and was like, do you understand how to play? I said, I think so. [...] The bell sounded and I went into the zone. I aimed and rolled, aimed and rolled. I never looked up at the horses. I heard the guy calling out that Eight and Eleven were neck and neck in the lead. Brooklyn was Eleven. Then the guy said we were near the end. Then he yelled, And Number Twelve is taking the lead and Number Twelve Wins!!! I was Number 12. I was not the only one in shock. From the woman working there to Brooklyn, jaws were all dropped. I won a cracked-out bear.”