This is the New Yorker Fiction Podcast from the New Yorker magazine.

I'm Deborah Treesman, Fiction Editor at the New Yorker.

Each month we invite a writer to choose a story from the magazine's archives to read and discuss.

This month we're going to hear Stephen Polansky's story, Legg,

which was published in the New Yorker in 1994.

When the ball left the bat, a weak fly, he had raised his hands, palms out,

signalling Dave to stay put.

Hold up, Gomer, he shouted, but it was too late.

Dave had committed himself.

The story was chosen by David Gilbert,

whose own stories have been appearing in the magazine since 1996.

His second novel and Sons was published last year.

Hi, David.

Hi, Deborah, how are you?

I'm good.

So Stephen Polansky is the author of a novel called the Bradbury Report,

as well as a collection of stories.

But he's published only one story in the New Yorker, and that was 20 years ago.

So what made Legg come into your mind so quickly when we talked about doing this?

Well, it was a story that's kind of stuck, you know how you can have songs that get stuck in your head,

you know, those earworms.

They're also like storyworms that get stuck in your head.

...