Show 0 r 1 a a by WENDELL BROOKS the over stuffed lady in the purple dress had fingered every necktie on the counter and had rusty mcgonegal the clerk pull some two dozen boxes ot of assorted neck wear out from behind the counter had asked rusty a dozen times whether or not he thought green would woul d go well with blue and finally had turned away from the tie bar sucking on and mum bling something about not wanting to buy anything she wan t fust just sure of and that three dollars was more than she wanted to spend on henry anyway rusty sighed he forced a smile as he waited on the next customer all this and heaven too he thought As it if he didn dian t have enough on I his As mind already enough meaning one particularly cute bit of femininity that was jockeying the number one elevator at the large aige loop depart ment store miss annabelle brunette five foot two but it wasn gasn t only the person of miss too dies that rusty was thinking about no it was the fact she had only the day before purchased a red and white polka dot tie from him I 1 want a tie that will look well with brown hair she d said dim I 1 A rusty a eyes bulged out the polka dot tiel pling brown hair and brown eyes and rusty had red hair red hair and blue eyes and here all the time he d thought to top it all off the floor manager had just made the rounds an noun bouncing cing they would remain open until 9 0 clock nine 0 clock on the night before christmas to accod last minute shoppers it was too much nine 0 clock and he d made a date the week before with annabelle they were going to take in an early show and wind up the evening dancing at the aragon but if she were more interested in brown hair and brown eyes if she d sold out to hosiery well he didn dian t care if the store stayed open until mid night serve her right she d have to work too I 1 no lady these are all the ties we have no we haven t got any special numbers tucked away any where I 1 assure you rusty felt fe lt like yelling that if the woman t find a single tie she liked out of the some laid out in front of her she was well he didn dian t know what she was but he was fed up life had suddenly become meaning less and time dragged on he wondered how annabelle would act but he dlan didn t have time to think about that because anna belle was suddenly standing right in front smiling I 1 took a break wasn gasn t it mean of that old manager to make us stay open when we had a date rusty kept his eyes down on the showcase amm hm he mum bled she was talking like there was nothing at au all wrong just as if she d never even thought of another man in the world well I 1 ve got to dagli dah back see you at nine anim hm hin women they were all alike he looked up sullenly at the retreating figure of the slim brunette his eyes wandered up past her trim wais to her hair why rusty a eyes bulged out the polka dot tie tiel there it was neatly tied in a bow on the back of her head holding the locks of her hair in place and all the time he d thought yes sir be he grinned as he slipped a tie into a gift box tor for a fellow standing at the co counter unter that tie will wear you for years I 1 know you re going to like it and merry christmas Christ masl 1 |