by Michael Hofferber. Copyright © 1995. All rights reserved.
I used to carry a small canvas bag with me everywhere I went. Inside that bag was my prized shooter, an oversized aggie with distinctive caramel-colored swirls, and an assortment of smaller clearies, puries, clays and jaspers.We played for keeps on the playground of my youth, circles scratched in the dirt, knuckles drawn, shooters poised. I can still hear the loud CRACK! of a successful shot and remember the agony of watching helplessly as some 10-year-old sharpshooter cleared the ring of my last target marble.
The size of my marble bag reflected my fortunes. Some days it bulged with booty; other times I had only my shooter.
I no longer measure my worth in rounded bits of glass. It's been a long time since I was on my knees in the dirt taking aim at a purple-tinted brandie. But it saddens me that no one has taken my place at the ring and that few schoolchildren these days have any interest in the game.
Continued at... How America Lost Its Marbles
Rural Delivery
Out of the Past
Out of the Past blog
Outrider Reading Group
Artwork: Playing marbles.
