OCR Text |
Show THE sun shone bright through the half-frosted windows of the Perkins' Per-kins' hotel room. On his chair In the corner Ralph squirmed uneasily and avoided looking at Sheila. Sheila and Ralph were troupers. On the stage they were billed as Seabee and Perkins, but in private life they were Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Perkins. Sheila watched her husband thoughtfully for a few moments. Then she edged over and planted herself on his disengaged knee. "I don't know whether to laugh or cry," she whispered running her fingers fin-gers through his curly locks. "Friday "Fri-day we start. Ten solid weeks of straight booking. How much money have we, dear?" Ralph removed Sheila from his knee and stood up. "Thirty-three dollars," he announced solemnly after aft-er a careful inventory of his pockets. "And thirty of that goes for the hotel bill when we check out Friday." Fri-day." "I can't ask for an advance until we've played at least one perform- "The check," Ralph said casually. "I'll pay It now." ance. That leaves us three dollars to live on for three days." Before Ralph could question her or ask what she was going to do, she had popped one of the dollars into her purse and disappeared into the hall. In a half hour she was back laden with supplies. "There," she said exultantly. ex-ultantly. "Liver sausage, bread, butter but-ter and pie. Enough for lunch and dinner." Ralph stared and then suddenly began to laugh hysterically. His wife was indignant. "What's the joke?" she demanded tartly. Ralph finally got his breath and gave her a hug. "Darling, I couldn't help it. I was just laughing at the irony of the thing. How are we going go-ing to eat all this stuff? We haven't a knife, a fork, a spoon, a plate or a tablecloth. As a matter of fact, we haven't even a table." Sheila gave one weak little moan and threw herself on the bed. Ralph watched her stupidly for a moment and then suddenly his face began to light up slowly like a beacon. "I've got it," he roared. "Sheila, how much did you spend for all this?" His wife looked bewildered through her tears. "Seventy cents," she faltered. fal-tered. "Fine," Ralph beamed. "Coffee is fifteen cents in the dining room downstairs. No matter what you order or-der they send up a table with all the trimmings. We'll just ring up room service, order two cups and for thirty thir-ty cents we can have our feast." Sheila caught on right away. Carefully Care-fully she concealed the food under the bed and Ralph phoned down for room service. In a few minutes the waiter appeared ap-peared and laid the cloth. When he had finished he presented the menu. "Just two cups of coffee." Ralph gave the order carelessly. The man nodded mechanically and disappeared into the hall. In a short while he was back with a fragrant, fra-grant, steaming pot of coffee. He poured it into the two cups and retired. re-tired. Ralph and Sheila held their breath until his footsteps faded away down the hall, then they locked the door and dove under the bed after their supplies. Finally, when they had disposed of all the pie and sandwiches they could hold and after they had carefully care-fully boxed the remainder to keep until supper time, Ralph phoned for the waiter. He knocked softly at the door, entered en-tered and began to stack up the plates and 'remove the table. "The check," Ralph said casually. "I'll pay it now." "The check?" The waiter looked bewildered. "Yes, the check," said Ralph nervously. "Didn't you bring it?" "Why, there are no checks today," said the waiter. "This is New Year's day. Everything is on the house. And do you know," he added in a sudden burst of confidence, "you're the only people in the hotel that didn't order the whole menu." He shouldered the portable table and started down the hall. "Happy New Year," he called. Sheila and Ralph stood huddled to- i gether in the doorway. "Happy New Year," they murmured faintly. ; (McClure Syndicate WNU Service.) ! I |