In a recent blog post, Dean Wesley Smith mentioned driving from Lincoln City, Oregon to Las Vegas, Nevada with a car full of marbles. Carefully packed to not “bang together.”

I looked it up.

It’s a little over 1,000 miles (1,610 km). And according to Google Maps, the quickest drive is 16 hours. Not that he drove the whole thing in one stretch.

I used to play marbles as a kid, but along the way lost all of them. I know I gave a bunch to an ex’s brothers.

Now I only have three marbles, and I dug those out of the garden. Along with a vacuum tube, a unicorn ornament with a broken horn, and a Tupperware cake knife.

(That’s what I love about archaeology. Unfortunately my house’s old cess put is under the pear tree so I mostly have to wait and see what the roots turn over).

I watched a bunch of YouTube videos of marble competitions and games. I’d forgotten how loud those games can get!

Anyway, it got me thinking…

And along the way, I wrote a story about the marble that got away. But in the meantime, you’ll have to make do with this haiku.

This photo is by Bruno Scragnon from Pexels, via Canva.

See more of my Haiku here.

Contribution