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Show Joel Shapiro 5/26/82 tp 1 pg 7 groups of horses out and they would race inward, and they would finish up in front of the saloon. But, as soon as that horse would reach that turn point, it would take off like a bullet. So, he and this fake, set-up companion got on this horse and ambled out and the man turned around and said, "what's this in back of us?" And the horse took off like a streak back into the city, down the street with my father. (He) said, "with me hanging around his neck, and when I got there everybody was there out in front of the saloon, laughing and great hilarity." But this is the kind of thing they did to him, as a young, Jewish, skinny kid. They made a fool out of him. But, he learned to get along with that because he had to get along with that. Because he'd come to the little town to see a merchant to sell his wares. And that's where he learned to play poker. My father, he loved to play poker. He didn't die until he was 91, but he used to play poker two or three afternoons a week. And he just loved to play poker. Some of his poker mates accused him of being too slow, but, as he used to tell me, "I always learned to play with both hands on the table." Because he was playing with guys who had guns on their hips. So, he always moved the cards very slow and very deliberately. And he never got out of that habit. I remember my mother would yell at him when they were playing bridge: "You're too slow. You don't open and close." And after every bid, when you're playing bridge, you would close the -- close the hand and then have to open it again. And I remember hearing my mother screaming "You're hold-ing up the game. You're holding up the game!" Well, he had learned to look at a poker hand and fold it, but keeping both hands up on the table. So, he used to describe these poker games with these rough guys. So, he learned to play poker at the turn of the century with some pretty rough characters. And he was a little, skinny kid, (who) learned to keep both hands on the table at all times. Well, those kinds of stories -- you ask me what did he reminisce about. These are funny little incidences. L They're also frightening. JS Of course, they were eventually. They were a penetrating kind of incidences, no doubt. It molded his -- I know that it molded his responses to the larger community. You seek to know how did the Jew |
