Fiction | January 08, 2024

Wish in One Hand 

by Amanda Rea 

At the biker rally, Blue bought tickets for midget wrestling. They were twenty-five dollars—too much, as far as Betty was concerned, especially given that the show was already underway. But it was her forty-third birthday, and he was eager to make the day special, so she followed him inside the tent. Together they threaded their way through the sparse crowd to find a place near the stage. It was mid–afternoon, and the tent was stuffy with trapped heat. Onstage, the wrestlers shone with sweat. Betty wasn’t sure which was Little Nitro and which was Beefcake—the poster outside had declared them archrivals—but she supposed the one with the pink mohawk was Little Nitro. She watched as he stalked the ring’s perimeter, rolling his shoulders to keep himself loose, while Beefcake stood in the opposite corner, drinking water. They eyed each other with seeming malice until a man in a referee’s jersey pushed a giant blow-up hammer through the ropes. Little Nitro grabbed it and charged, forcing Beefcake to toss his water out of the ring and run. With every swing of the hammer, Beefcake—bald and suntanned, dressed in a silver leotard—ducked or rolled in a choreographed way, and the hammer hit the stage with a cartoonish squeak.