The Bureau of Dreams to be Continued by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

The Bureau of Dreams to be Continued

Page 510

But now Centraglia had a secure home he could share with other ninepinners. It was dimly lit and there were said to be nefarious goings on and some might characterize the place as creepy, but it was home to Stan. The sixteen lanes on one side and the sixteen on the other were like his children; playful and in regular need of maintenance, which kept Stan more busy than he wanted to be. He had an excellent scam. For the many who didn’t know his broken arm story, Lefty could still pick up a few bucks from the never-was-and-never-will-be hotshots by challenging them to a money match wherein the use of the right arm is alternated with the use of the left, new to the Bayway Town hotshots, but quite common in South and Central America. “Lefty” never lost; as his right was superior and his left was okay, but much better than that of the losers.

If anyone knew Nigel’s first name or names it was Lefty, but he wasn’t talking, and virtually no one asked or cared. It was just the name of something, like boots or lightning bolts. Like anything, it could have deeper meaning, but if it did it was probably coincidental. The underground below the Paramount Theater was home to a variety of fun activities.

Though a few places uptown were larger, Nigel’s thirty-two lanes provided more than enough space for pure bowlers to play out their games and bets. It wasn’t a place favored by the