Elk City Dialogue Old man tells me he don't get no chance in Oklahoma So he takes his chances in Texas, two a week. Gettin' hot agin he says and puts his chances in the register As I shut the door on pavement-melting heat. He's been fingering them, filling long intervals between customers with hope. Looks like it I say Think you come out ahead? Naw. But they's always a chance: twenty million this time. I say Guess that's what keeps people goin'. And he says Man I knowed played the same number Ever' week for fi'teen years. Figgered he had to hit it sometime. Missed a week. Number come up. Put a gun in his mouth. Bet on a sure thang. Published in Halcyon 21, Community in the American West. Reno: Nevada Humanities Committee, 1999. © 1999 Steven Schroeder Page maintained by Steven Schroeder | updated 27 april 2009