Evening star., 1933-09-03
The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown
By Damon RMnyon

ever sees. there Is no doubt but
that the guy they call the Sky
Is the highest. In fact. the rea-
son he is called the Sky Is be-
~ cause he goes SO high when II
,,,,,.s +o batt,np on any proposition whatsoever
He will bet all he has, and nobody can pet any
more than this. .s
he is originally out of a little town IN Soutnefn
Colorado where he learns to shoot craps anu
NAV cards and one thing and another, ana
where his old man is a very well known cltlzen
and something of a sport himself In 1act
the Skv tells me that when he finally cleans
I'D all the loose scratch around his nome Town
and decides he needs more room, MS oio HAL
has little private talk WIN hnn aHo o"S0
to him like this
Son." the old guy says, 'you are now going
out into the wide, wide world to make your
own way and it Is very good tnng 10 oo,
as there are no more opportunities LOT you
in this burg am only sorry he says, "tnat 1
am not able to bank roll you to very large
start but" he says, mot having any potatoes
to give you, am now going to stake you 10
some very valuable advice which I personally
collect in my years OF experience arouno anu
about and I hope and trust you WILL Always
bear this advice in mind.
"Son." the old guy says mo matter how
far YOU travel or how smart you get, always
remember this: Some day, somewhere" ne says,
guy is going to come to you and snow you
a nice brand-new deck Of cards on which the
seal is never broken, and this guy Is going TO
offer to bet you that the jack OF spades VIII
i,,mp out of this deck and squirt cider IN your
ear. But son." the old guy says, do not bet
him. for as sure as you do you are going TO
get an ear full Of cider"
IA /EIL, the Sky remembers what his old man
w says and he is always very cautious
about betting on such propositions as the
jack of spades jumping out of sealed deck
Of cards and squirting cider In his ear and so
he makes few mistakes as he goes along.
While the Sky will bet on anything what
ever, except that the jack of spades will jump
out Of sealed deck of cards and squirt cider
in your ear, he is more of a short-card player
and a crap shooter than anything else, and
furthermore he is a great hand for propositions,
such as are always coming up among citizens
who follow games Of chance for living.
The first time he ever shows up around this
town, he goes to a base ball game at the Polo
Grounds with several prominent citizens, and
while he is at the ball game he buys himself
a sack of Harry Stevens peanuts, which he
dumps in a side pocket Of his coat. He Is
eating these peanuts all through the game, and
after the game is over and he is walking across
the field with the citizens, he says to them ike
this
What price," the Sky says, II cannot throw
a peanut from second base to the home plate?"
Well everybody knows that peanut IS too
light for anybody to throw it this far, so Big
Mig, the crap shooter, who always likes to
have little the best Of 1t running for him,
speaks as follows:
You can have to from me, stranger"
Big Mig says.
Two C's against SIX" the Sky says. and
then he stands on second base and takes
peanut out Of his pocket and whips 1t to the
home plate.
Well, naturally, this is most astonishing
throw, indeed, but afterwards it comes out that
the Sky throws peanut loaded with lead.
1t is only few nights after this that the
Sky states another most unusual proposition
to group of citizens sitting in Mndys res
taurant when he offers to bet a c note that
he can 60 down into Mindy's cellar and catch
a live rat with his bare hands, and everybody
is greatly astonished when Mindy himself steps
up and takes the bet, for ordinarily Mindy
will not bet you nickel he is alive.
DUT it seems that Mindy knows that the Sky
- plants a tame rat in the cellar and this
rat knows the Sky and loves him dearly
and will let him catch it any time he wishes,