Born with a Tooth Read Online Free PDF

big one and I get blamed, I’ll just laugh and tell him, “Ollie came to me in a dream and said, ‘Fuck you.’” I’ll just walk.
    â€œNext game is Crazy H,” I say. My voice is muffled by chatter and smoke. We play mostly tried-and-true bingo strategies here. Roddy’s travelled as far as Montreal and Vancouver to keep up on the business. He wants a slick operation, only the best.
    The Bow Tie and Cloverleaf games slow things down some, but the Inside Square and Outside Square games go faster than I’ve ever seen. I’ve barely called twenty-five balls and both are won. There’s so many cards out there tonight, house odds are way down.
    When I call intermission before the big one, a line forms at the cashier box. The jackpot is actually three games in one. The best we can hope to fork out is $7,000. A grand for the first person to get One Line Anywhere, another grand for Four Corners and, if we’re real lucky, only $5,000 for the jackpot.
    Most are already in their chairs when I call them to play. Every other person has a smoke lit. I start the big one, and Icall fair and slow, leaving each ball on the monitor for seven seconds before calling the next.
    The One Line Anywhere goes to a young woman in just eight balls. She calls, “Bingo!” then squeaks like a chipmunk and begins giggling. Albert calls her numbers back to me. I wait a few seconds for effect before saying, “That’s a good bingo.”
    The Judge calls, “Bingo,” calmly after clearing his throat. He got Four Corners in twelve balls. Roddy’s pulling his hair out over in the corner. I’ve never seen people win so early. After Albert calls the Judge’s numbers and I verify, an old Indian lady I don’t recognize calls “Bingo” as well. The Judge frowns. Albert calls her numbers back. She made a mistake. The Judge smiles again.
    Twenty-eight calls till we clear the first one. Roddy oversold tonight. There’s way too many cards out there. I call tons of B’s and N’s and O’s. When an I or G comes up, people tense and search their cards hard. I call the thirty-second ball when I notice a woman eyeing the far monitor carefully. I call a G. She doesn’t budge. She’s only got one game sheet in front of her; obviously she’s an amateur. But she’s lucky tonight. It looks like all she needs is one or two I’s to win, best I can see. That means there’s got to be dozens of players on the edge of taking it. Ball number thirty-eight is an I. I call and close my eyes. Nothing. Another B on the next call. People moan loud. I reach in the popper for the fortieth ball. It doesn’t feel right. I turn it over to reveal I-28. I can feel Roddy’s eyes on me. A couple of people squeal loud but then a wave of sad shouts rises up. I see Roddy smiling.
    The next two balls are an N and a G. Roddy’s smiling bigger. The pot’s down to $15,000 when I pull another G. People must be thinking the popper’s rigged, so few I’s havecome up. Just as I’m about to pull the ball for $10,000, a shaky voice calls out, “Bingo,” near the front door. She’s a down-to-the-wire girl. She just won herself $15,000. Everybody turns and voices rise in grunts and swear words and anger. Albert runs to the unofficial winner.
    I can see it’s a young woman. She’s thin and pretty. I like her long hair. Roddy walks over to help verify the numbers. I call out, “That’s a good bingo.” People clap and some cheer. The young woman doesn’t even smile. But I smile when Roddy pulls out the cheque book. It’s nice to see a winner. I get up and stretch and head down to congratulate her.
    You’ve never seen a place empty faster than a bingo hall after the calling’s done. There are a few of the woman’s friends around, smoking and talking to one another. Roddy holds her arm. He’s smiling but