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Show Flying - 41 "You see," says Thompson, "we get the ball scores around three or four. The radio station in Temple gets them too, but they save them all up and broadcast them at five-fifteen. We all get back to the barracks around four-thirty. The only ones we can't bet on are the ones on the West coast or the night games." "Only now you'll do the betting for a while and we'll split with you," says O'Connell. "We've been winning a bit too much, and the guys in the barracks don't like to bet with us any more." "We'll split it three ways," says Thompson. "Equal shares." It's a little dishonest, I suppose, but no more so than most business enterprises. A man has to live by his wits, seize opportunity when it comes. It's every man for himself, in this world. Better than borrowing money from the battalion loan sharks at forty percent a month just so I can smoke and have a couple of beers this August. Settling for five to two, John Henry that afternoon between four-thirty and five-fifteen makes ninety-three dollars and change, mostly from B company, which has a lot of new men. Even after the split, that's better than a week's pay for a couple of hours work, and a fine feeling of being in charge of one's fate and captain of one's destiny. Man would have to be a damn fool to work for a living. |