OCR Text |
Show I ISaIne Same SaIne Old Linea LineBy Line LineHy 'V- 'V V a " ' - 'VDy Hy Dy By LEALON 'IRTlN ' M 'I I 11 \ VRTIN \RTlN RTlN 1RTIN JRrdcciure JR JRMcClurc McClurc MeOure rdcciure Ncwsooper NeWSUDPcr Newspaper Syndlc"te Syndlcte Syndicate Syndlc"teWNU SyndicateWNU SyndicateWNU " WNU Feat Fent resHARRY rc res rescrowded . HARRY shoved through the thecro thecrowded cro\\ cro crowded croded \ \ ded streetcar and got off offjust offjust o just a block from the Recorder s of office offlee o flee fice A lady shopper shoppers s bag full ofhard of ofhard o ohard hard objects caught him in the side sideas sideas . as he be squirmed through the mob on onthe onthe o ; the platform plaUorm plaUormHe platformHe He grimaced and proceeded across " ! cross the street TI ere was 31\\ 31 always 31ays \ ays something something some thing about Washington Washmgton he though thought thoughtLucky thoughtLucky ) Lucky if nothing nothmg worse happened to toyou toyou you Then he remembered on the theverge theverge verge of lapsing lapoIng lapping into the old bitterthinking bitte bitter bitterthmldng thinking thmldng Peg he said aloud and andher andher an ; her name rang a bell in m his heart heartOf heartOf Of course everything everythmg fas was was ditteren cI1ferent different cI1ferentnow differentnow ! now nowWhen When he reached the build ng he hepeered hepeered peered through the heavy leases lenses ofhis of ofhis his glasses at the lettering lettermg over the thehntel thelintel hntel lintel The my m } ) opia opla that had put him himin himin ta in 4 F made it d difficult 1 cuIt to distaguis dISbngulsh distinguish dISbngulshthe distinguishthe ' the words but finally he read DIS DIStriCt District trict of ColumbiaHarry Columbia Harry pushed open the door andwent and andwent an . went in m He was thinking Well Wellit Wellit it won t be the same old queue herebecause here herebecause because the papers say this tIus busi bust business bustness bus : ness isn t rushing When he saw the thesIgn thesign th sign hie his mind mmd raced back over theyear the theyear year he d been in 111 m the Capital One Oneword Oneword word was responsIbleRecorder responsibleRecorder responsible responsibleRecorder Recorder s Office Follow theLine the theLine th thLine , Line of Arrows AIrows the poster saidThat saId saIdThat saicThat [ That word Tine 'line line 'Una Una ' ' I 1 It seemed as asif asif a aIt It if it had bad haunted tarn bun hum ever sincehe Since Sincehe sine sinehe he d come to a Government Bureau BureauH1s BureauHis His H1s hfe lIfe bad had been bounded and andhounded andhounded an hounded by lines hnes from the tune time he hettepped d dstepped dstepped ttepped stepped off the train at Union Station Station Sta tlon tion Bight Right then and there it had hadbegun hadbegun begun He Hed d gone to the baggag baggage baggageroom baggageroom baggagroom e room tor for his bfs luggage-and luggage and luggage - - and waited wafted hIs hIsturn histurn hi turn for an hour Sorry it Isn t there there here ' ' the clerk bad had told him finally finallyHe ' He Hed d gone back three timesandalways times-and times and timesandalways times - an analways always stood interminably-before interminably before interminablybeforehe interminably - beforhe c he retrieved it Each little l1ttle bit of ofdally ofdaily daily dally routine was slow and difflcul dlfficult difficult . , You were held up everywhere He d heard the city was appallmgbut appallingbut appalling appallmg but he hadn t beheved believed it was as badas bac bad badas bacas as all that-until that until that - until he d lived it if that thatwas thatwas was the word through six months monthsof monthsof monthsof . of it You came to your job balf half balfwhIpped halfwhipped haltwhipped whIpped And then It if you workedfor workedfor worked , for the Administration but he d dpromIsed dpromised promised Peg heouldn he wouldn \\ouldn ouldn \ t think tlunk thatway that thatway tha < way any more Again Agam her namemade name namemade nam < , made his heart ping pmg Peg had bad lifted hfted hftedhim liftedhim liftedhim i him out ol of It allJust allJust all Just over a month ago he d beer been beenready beenready ' ready to leave to shake off thewhole thewhole the thewhole whole sickening slckenmg business busmess There was wasthe wasthe the time he d stood for a solid sohd hourand houl hour hourand ' , and a half haft before his favorite favonte restaurant res restaurant , taurant waiting waItmg wartmg to treat himself tohis to tohIs tchis ' hIs once a month steak in 111 the swanky swankyBrillon swankyBrillon swankyBrillon Brillon cafeHe cafeHe cafe cafeHe He d been famished and almostdrooling almost almostdrooImg ; I drooling drooImg m In anticipation when thehead thehead the thehead head waiter beckoned One sir ? ' ' , This Tlus way sirWhen sirWhen sir sirWhen When Harry gave his order what whathe whathe whathe he heard was Steak SIr sir7 ? ' No Nosteaks Nosteaks Nosteaks , steaks sir Sold out Now the thecheese thecheese thecheese cheese souffleWhat souffleWhat souffle souffleWhat What was worse he was pursued pursuedeven pursuedeven pursuedeven even to the office Harry soon d scovered s sI scovered scovered covered that here too there werelines were wereImes werelines I Imes lines imperceptibJe Impercephble imperceptible of red redtape redtape redtape tape and protocol and frustralon frustralonYou frustrat on onYou onYou You tried to push an important piece pieceof pieceof pieceof of ork-and ork and work-and work \ work \ - and you ran into mvis mVls ble blebarbed blebarbed blebarbed barbed wire that stretched every everywhere everywhere everywhere where and you couldn t find your yourway yourway yourway way out of the mazeThen mazeThen maze mazeThen Then oddly it was red tape that thathad thathad thathad had brought him and Peg together togetherJust togetherjust togetherust Just Justhen ] \ when \\hen hen he had been planning plannrng to toqUIt toquit toquit qUIt t tMr i . iTMr ' TMr 'Mr Mr Herbert9 Herbert ' She was verybusmesslikea very verybusmesshkea verybusinesslike busmesshke-a busmesshke a busmesslike-a busmesslike - - a brisk bnsk little httle figure In m Ina ma ma a simple attractive brown linendresswhen Imen linen Imendresswhen hnendress dress-when dress when - when she first stood before beforebun beforehum beforehim bun hum Harry looked up-and up and up - - and Imme Immedlately immediately immediately dlately diately was enchantedYes enchantedYes enchanted enchantedYes Yes I m Herbert he admItted admIttedWhat admittedWhat admittedWhat What can I do for you youI you9 you9I ' I m 0 a Bnen Brien from Procurement ProcurementMr I I1r 1\r 1 r \ ! { r Herbert She waved a sheaf ofpapers of ofpapers ofpapers papers and her tone was sharp Do Doyou Doyou Doyou you realize reahze that this agen"y ageny agency " reqUIres reqUIresfive requiresfive requiresfive five copies of authorizations and andyou andyou andyou you ve ye prepared only four four7 four7And ? ' And so the war effort will bog bogdown bogdown bogdown down eh eh7 eh7"Mr ' ' "Mr Mr 'Mr " Herbert for your Informa Informatlon information mformation tlon tion documents prepared here mustfollow must mustfollow must/ must / ) follow a certain certam line hne You must mustadhere mustadhere mustadhere adhere to ItThe itThe it itThe The word line Ime did it Sit down downMIss downMiss downMiss MIss 0 Bnen Brien he said earnestly earnestlyAnd earnestlythen earnestlythen then And in no t me at all earnestlyI because becauseher becauseher becauseher I I her sympathy was as Irish as her hername hername hername name she d been won overShe overShe over overShe herI I I She said impulsively I m an old oldt oldt oldt t mer I think thmk I can help you If ifyou : you iflyou likeHe like likeHe ifl , . He hadn t t known of course what whatwas whatwas whatwas was to come the love thatould that \\ould ould would wouldgrow \ ftoulcgrow \ ouldgrow grow between them but he d dreached dreached creached reached in his deskhen desk \ / when \/hen hen iihen she d gone goneand goneand goneand and taking out the resignation hebad he hehad heaad had bad written carefully destroyed It ItFolloWing it . . Following the arrows Harry Harryrounded Harryrounded Harryrounded rounded the last corner This would wouldbe wouldbe woulde be ? It it ! ! He didn dldn t feel a bit nervous nervousHe nervousHe nervousBe He and Peg had laughed when they theyread theyread theyread read about weddings weddmgs dropping off in inWashington inWashington inWashington inWashingtonIt Washington WashingtonIt It s s one place you won t t have to tostand tostand tostand stand in line she said because It Itsays itsays itsays says here that for months the Mar Marnage Marriage Marnage nage riage License Bureau hasn t had hadenough hadenough hadenough enough to keep it busyA busyA busy busyA A guard s heivy he'lvy helvy heavy ' hand came down downon downon downon on Harry s shoulder Just a mID mm mIDute mmute mmutc ute buddy he said fall in lineover lme line lmeover lineover over there it if y } ) ou want a hcenseWhy licenseWhy license hcense licenseWhy Whyhy Why \ vhy \\hy hy why , Harry stuttered stutteredblinking stutteredblinking ttuttercdblinking blinking at all the people ahead of ofhim ofhim ofhim him I thoughtYeah thoughtYeah thought thoughtYeah Yeah I I know the man said pa patlently pahently patiently tlently hently but this Is June buddy , - - - - |