Show Char Chance c r A ABy Telegram Seri 1 By William Irish CHAPTER 1 OFTEN think what a a. strange I thing chance hance Is I I often otten wonder wonder wonder won won- der what would h have ve happened if I 1 had picked the name above it the name below it Or any of the others Nothing probably But Butout Butout out of all of them themI I singled out that one How 7 1 Why 7 Chance It was an ad In th the paper piper The paper was in a waste-bin waste in the park And I was in the park an on n th the bum To make it worse I It was young enough yet to Je refuse se to take tako it lying down The old are resigned I I Iwas was sore with a burnIng burning burn burn- ing big sense of or injustice bitter about it and ripe for Cha Chance ce And Chance got its devious work in I came along a certain pathway in the park I c came me t to andI and I sat down Nearby there was a a. paper bin I went over to this one one and looked into it to see if I could find a discarded newspaper to rend read There was one in it standing on end I took that one out went vent back to the bench with it started meandering meandering me me- through it I 1 CAME to the ad It would have been impossible to miss it took up half haI the page It must have cost costa a good deal to insert but the state banking law 1 I found out later required it Ita It said Standard Savings Bank List of dormant accounts unclaimed un us- claimed for 15 years or more And then the five columns of names each with the l last t known address given next to it itI I let my eye stray over them desultorily Money waiting for each one And most of them didn't about it Had forgotten or were dead or had vanished forever into the maw of the past Money waiting waiting wait wait- ing big money saying Here I am come and get me I started to turn the page to go on with my idle browsing My last thought before the list passed from sight was a rueful Gee I wish I was one of them An And then sud suddenly enly so unexpectedly unexpectedly it almost seemed to come from somewhere outside of me I Well VeIl why dont don't you be 1 My hand turned J the page back again The first thing hing they'd ask m me was what the original amount was How was wasI I going g to answer I That at didn't stop me I wasn't going to I j Just st didn't know now that was all After 15 yea years s wasn't it natural if Id I'd forgotten If It I didn't remember having the account account account ac ac- ac- ac count itself until I saw my own name in the paper how could they ex expect ct m me to recall how much was in it That t took k care of that I N. N EXT I Id I'd d. d have hav to verify my I Ident identity in some way pr prove ve it it They weren't us going to ta tor hand o pney- pney to tome me f on n J Justh w did did J thC y check cheek I couldn't inquire ahead that would be tipping Upping my hand I had to prepare prepare prepare pre pre- I pare pare myself unaided the best I i could I Every depositor has to sign his own name on a reference card First of all aU handwriting That didn't worry me so much handwriting handwriting hand hand- writing can c change ange in 15 years If It the discrepancy turned out to be too glaring I could always plead some disability during the intervenIng intervening intervening inter inter- years rheumatism or joint trouble that had cost cast me the use of my hands for a while and forced me to l learn arn to write all over again I r might get away with it Something else did worry me though Every depositor is asked his age when he opens an acc account u t whether its it's transcribed in his his- own handwriting handwriting handwriting hand hand- writing or r that of ot the bank cial How flow was I to guess the right age that went with wIlli any y of these names That was one thing I 1 couldn't plead forg forgetfulness of ot Another requirement the given name of one parent preferably the mother That was another thing you didn't didn f forget all your life I An impossibility Here were two factors in which the laws of chance h nce were manacled had no no opp opportunity op op- p p w whatever to operate in my favor For a minute or two I was was' wason on the point of giving the whole th thing g up upI up I wouldn't let et myself I said to myself Dont Don t. t quit Dont Don't b be yel yet low Some way may come up tip of get ing around th those sa two hitches I II I A i 4 l I V k- k kI I bV 4 j 4 t iJ 13 M MI I 1 1 Which name Who was I going to be One name mme bring me a thousand dollars the next one un might bring only twenty c S SOl 0 o I WAS going to do it it I had nothing to lose everything to gain and here I went But now the most Important thing of all nit Which name Who was I going to be In one way it didn't make much difference which one I picked In another it made all the difference in the world One of these names might bring mc me a thousand dollars the very next one under it might bring only 20 One Ono might spell immunity immunity its rightful owner might be dead the very ne next t one might mean sure fire exposure But there was no way of controlling this it was ruled by sheer Unadulterated unadulterated unadulterated un un- adulterated chance That being the case the way to choose was wasby wasby wasby by sheer unadulterated chance as well I 1 turned the page over covering the ad I took a pin I had In my lapel and I circled it blindly a couple of and then I punched it through from the back Then I turned the page back again with the pin skewering It It and looked to see where its point was pro pro- It had pierced the e c of Nugen Nugent Nugent Nu Nu- Nu- Nu gen gent t S Stella I GRIMACED got r ready ady to try 1 it again That w was o one e ethi thi thing g I couldn't be a woman Then I to IQ look k closer loer as asI I withdrew withdrew withdrew with with- drew the Ithe the pin Nugent t SteU Stellar in T n trust for L Lee e Nugent Read st st. Good od enough She probably was wa dead and he must have been been beena a kid at the time That made it a alot alot alot lot more plausible ble I would have hav had a hard time shaving 15 years off my ray own wn right age ge without putting myself back into short pants I folded the paper and put i it itIn itin in my pocket That was WW me from now on Sink or swim win or lose Ilose th that t was was me Less than an hour later I was reconnoitering Read street on the odd numbers side I came to halfway down the block and right after that there was a width triple vacant lot Gone from the face of the earth But I wasn't ready to give up yet I loitered there scanning the other oUter buildings roundabout They were all pretty old If there had ever been a building m in that thai vacant gap these survivors were easily its contemporaries e But you cant can't ask a building questions I watched the people that occasionally occasionally occasionally occa occa- came or went from the doorways Kids were no good to me Neither elther were the younger grownups I needed someone good goot good and old Finally I saw what I I wanted She was about 70 and shed she'd come to one of the gr ground ground- und und- floor windows in the building directly directly di di- di- di opposite the empty space I 1 SAUNTERED over trying not notto to th C seem ee J too oo anxious anxious I didn't know how to begin but the thi like children you dont don't be quite so wary with tl tipped my hat rm Tm a a aman man looking over likely a development maam sight couldn't have been lor l'or tc l' or Id I'd never have got a awi that ill in my B shabby I c Could you tell teU me abo long ago the buildings v v were torn down They weren't torn d 1 J piped They had a big fl ft once and then they just away what was left of the ward jj Oh I see I said couldn't tell me about j jv long ago that was 1 Ages ago go That t was even we moved around h Ii weve we've been li living g her here the theof theof theof of anybody on the whole I turned and drifted a a didn't wan want to ask q eat anyone else eIse too many qu weren't good If It she hadn't nobody else eIse would I w better off oft than I had been I 1 roam roamed d aro around nd with ing Very far tar from the im n neighborhood I didn't z know what I was waD lookin that I was looking looking- for until Id I'd suddenly sight red brick building with a wide-open wide ramp for an sri There was a a. a Dalmatian out on ori the sidewalk lk in inI f fI fI I s stopped to caress rc c h from that I worked i in inless bite to less friendly hat chat ha with man sitting by in 1 his reading a y ne newspaper aper S O SOMETHING like Uke this V pretty busy busy these d days y Oh ph were we're still got get now and then j Had any real big ones coca Not lately That must st st. h have v b been n big one that took tOOk- tb three buildings overstreet over j street Know where I That was before m l said Yeah that wit from front what Ive I've li lies bagger No kidding I said ai to play with the Dalmat Dalma About what year was wu tl Oh Oh 15 15 17 y years ago to hear some of the old olde speak of it Spring of ot 24 Well Wen it it was wu either 24 Zt somewhere thereabouts ts 1 Continued tomor Copyright 1942 by Irish Distributed by tures Syndi Syndicate ate Inc |