Zay Smith

And he'd come close, and the ball would go down the chute, and we'd hear the shout of, you scurvy dog. But finally, on the night of September 16th, it was a Friday night, and he came in and he played a game. He had a bag with his flight suit with him because he was getting ready to go up to Naval Reserve weekend training. First of all, he said, I just missed the 620 train, but I'll get the 720.

And he'd come close, and the ball would go down the chute, and we'd hear the shout of, you scurvy dog. But finally, on the night of September 16th, it was a Friday night, and he came in and he played a game. He had a bag with his flight suit with him because he was getting ready to go up to Naval Reserve weekend training. First of all, he said, I just missed the 620 train, but I'll get the 720.

And then he, I just missed the 720 train, but I'll get the 820. And then he finally said, can the reserve, I am going after this machine. And so he did. And a crowd gathered, and he went after it and lost, and went after it and lost. And then suddenly... He was up in the 200,000th with a free ball left. And the place fell quiet.

And then he, I just missed the 720 train, but I'll get the 820. And then he finally said, can the reserve, I am going after this machine. And so he did. And a crowd gathered, and he went after it and lost, and went after it and lost. And then suddenly... He was up in the 200,000th with a free ball left. And the place fell quiet.

As he went with the last ball, and he did, you could tell he was just doing everything he knew how to do. Intense concentration, flipper action. And finally, bang, he was past 242.050. And his first words were, I love this machine. I go back to the line, it's a city coming off the street in need of a drink. I think that's what I would have found on any number of neighborhood taverns.

As he went with the last ball, and he did, you could tell he was just doing everything he knew how to do. Intense concentration, flipper action. And finally, bang, he was past 242.050. And his first words were, I love this machine. I go back to the line, it's a city coming off the street in need of a drink. I think that's what I would have found on any number of neighborhood taverns.

And it would have been quirky in the sense that people are quirky. But the mirage was never meant to last.

And it would have been quirky in the sense that people are quirky. But the mirage was never meant to last.

We ended up, when it came time to write it, which is quite a moment to suddenly have said to yourself, my goodness, I have to write this now. The pile of memoranda was taller than Pam. But you asked me whether I felt scared at the start of the project. If I felt scared at all, I felt scared at this point. There's an old saying in our business, if you've got a good story, tell it.

We ended up, when it came time to write it, which is quite a moment to suddenly have said to yourself, my goodness, I have to write this now. The pile of memoranda was taller than Pam. But you asked me whether I felt scared at the start of the project. If I felt scared at all, I felt scared at this point. There's an old saying in our business, if you've got a good story, tell it.

If you don't have a good story, write it. This is a good story. All I had to do was tell it.

If you don't have a good story, write it. This is a good story. All I had to do was tell it.

It looked like any other tavern in the city. The beer was cold, the broth was hot, but the Mirage 731 was never quite what it seemed. I was down in the city room, and the papers came up, and hot off, well, you know, as long as it's hot off the presses, it's actually wet off the presses, because if the papers are anything off the, at least out of the press run, they're a little wet.

It looked like any other tavern in the city. The beer was cold, the broth was hot, but the Mirage 731 was never quite what it seemed. I was down in the city room, and the papers came up, and hot off, well, you know, as long as it's hot off the presses, it's actually wet off the presses, because if the papers are anything off the, at least out of the press run, they're a little wet.

But the papers came up, and after one story, I walked, I was walking down, it was a place, a row of desks in the city room we called Murderer's Row, because the columnists were... in a row, and they were all reading the Mirage story because the papers had just come up, and they all looked at me and gave me a thumbs up, and I thought, gee, that was nice. They really liked it. That was terrific.

But the papers came up, and after one story, I walked, I was walking down, it was a place, a row of desks in the city room we called Murderer's Row, because the columnists were... in a row, and they were all reading the Mirage story because the papers had just come up, and they all looked at me and gave me a thumbs up, and I thought, gee, that was nice. They really liked it. That was terrific.

And I later found out they were giving me the thumbs up because I got the word ass into the paper.

And I later found out they were giving me the thumbs up because I got the word ass into the paper.

The blizzard of 79, which paralyzed the city in ways that it became obvious the city was not delivering services. And they say that that was the one-two punch. Corruption, yeah, it's corrupt. And now the mayor wasn't even able to keep the streets plowed. And that's why he went down.

The blizzard of 79, which paralyzed the city in ways that it became obvious the city was not delivering services. And they say that that was the one-two punch. Corruption, yeah, it's corrupt. And now the mayor wasn't even able to keep the streets plowed. And that's why he went down.