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Eugenet Eugene i , . 9fighri . , t > { Wright 9fighr WrightTOECAUSE 9fighrBECAUSE BECAUSE TOECAUSE he had a problem on onhis onhis onJLJ his mind that morning mornmg Louied Lomed LOUIe Lome d dn do t give much attention to the theman theman theman man who got in his cab except to tonotice tonotice tonotice notice that he had an old t red face faceand faceand taceand and looked as though he might have havemoney havemoney havemoney money and when he heard his rus pas passenger passenger passenger senger say Grand Central he hepulled hepulled hepulled pulled out from the curb in m a hurry hurryand hurryand and swung do vn vu a side street to toFourth toFourth Fourth avenueHe avenueHe avenue avenueHo Ho He hadn t had a decent fare tare that thatmorning thatmorning thatmorning morning and h s t me would be up upat upat upat at noon Grand Central he knew knewI knewwould knewwould I would meter about seventy five fiveI fivecents fivecents fivecents I cents and if his fare tare v as in the theI thehurry thehurry thehurry hurry he seemed to be and he got gothim gothim gothim I him there on time he might get a aquarter aquarter aquarter quarter extra making makmg It a dollarAt dollarAt dollar dollarAt At Twelfth street seeing seemg some somekind somekind somekind kind of ot a demonstration ahead othJm ofhim of ot _ him hJm Louie tried tned togo togo to togo go down a sideThIS sideThis side sidePL ThIS ThISstreet PL- PL PLstreet , - street to avoid be betog belms ing tog held up but the theWeek's theWeek's theWeek's theWeeks Week's Weeks Week'sstreet ' ' street was filled WIthtrucks withtrucks with withtrucks trucks and be he had hadBest hadBest hadBest Best no choice but to tallin fallin tall fall _ in ] Ime lme me behind bebmd the thefiction FIChon Fiction theFIChon theFiction stalled uptown traf traffic traffic tratfie fic His mouth drew drewdovn drewdown drewdown do\vn do vn down \ at the corners cornersand cornersand comersand and his hands t ghtened ghlened on the thesteermg thesteering thesteering steermg steering wheel as he read the SJgns signs SJgnsand signsand signsand and banners a group of ot demonstra demonstrators demonstrators demonstrators tors were carry ngDarn ng ngDam Dam Darn fools he said Ain Am t we wegot wegot wegot got troubles enough right nght here wIth wIthout without without out people v ' orryin C'rrym Crrym about what goes goeson goeson goeson on in Spam and China cruna and them themI themother themother themother other foreign torelgn countriesA countries countnes ? " ' I A taint tamt faint smile played o\ o 0\ 0 os oer 0er \ er his pas pasI passenger passenger passenger senger s gr m sagging saggmg face He had hadmade hadmade hadmade I made a large donat on to torelgn foreign foreignrelief foreignrelief relJet relief himself hIDself ! he remembered rememberedabout rememberedabout rememberedabout I about three months ago He could couldmake couldmake couldmake make good use of ot that money nowYou nowYou now nowYou You don t believe he asked askedm askedin m charity ? Not that kind kindl landl ! Louie Lome exhibitedhis e'thlblted ethlblted exhibited e'thlbltedhis exhibitedhis ' his strong troubled profile Not Notwhen Notwhen Notwhen when there s a people m in this country countryneedIng countryneeding countryneeding needIng it just as much as they do doover doover doover over thereTHE there thereBHE BHE THE MAN gazed admiringly admlrmgly at atLOUIe atLouie atLome LOUIe s thick lustrous hair the thehealthy thehealthy thehealthy healthy color of ot his neck and cheekYou cheekYou cheek cheekYou You he said look strong and andhealthy andhealthy andhealthy andhealthyI healthy healthyI I d be m in a pickle plchIe Louie told toldhim toldhim rum him if i1 I wasn warn tIn t tIn In what way wayLou ? Lou e a shrugged You can t sup support support support port a family tamJly on part tune tlme in the thecab thecab thecab cab business busmess And then his rus body bodyseemed bodyseemed bodyseemed seemed to grow rigid between hIs hIsshoulders hisshoulders hisshoulders shoulders I m a blood donorFor donorFor donor donorFor For a few tew moments the man was wassilent wassilent wassilent silent his eyes were reDectIve reflective reDectIveThat reflectiveThat reflectiveThat That s interesting mterestmg he said finally finallyI I m sure its it s appreciatedYou appreciatedYou appreciated appreciatedYou You might think so Louie Lome gave gavea a short laugh The last guy I gave gavemy gavemy gavemy my blood to thre v me out of rus his rusapartment hisapartment hisapartment apartment . . He was practIcally practIcallydead practicallydead practicallydead dead If It I Id d refu retu ed to make the thetranstuslOn thetransfusion thetransfusion transtuslOn transfusion he would have d ed edThey edThey edThey They wouldn t have had time hme to get getanybody getanybody getanybody anybody else And yet because I Icouldn Icouldn Icouldn couldn t pay him hID hum ! a month and a ahalf ahalf ahalt half s back rent lowed I owed him he had hadme hadme hadme me thrown out in the street-turn street turn street-furni furni streetfurniture street - furnitore ! ture wife and k1ds-everytiling k1ds everytiling kids-everything kids everything k1dseverytilingThat kidseverythingThat kids - everything everythingThat That seems unfaIrUnfaIr unfairUnfair unfair unfairUnfairl Unfairl UnfaIr I ! Lome LOUle s hand tightened tightenedover tightenedover tightenedover over the steering steermg v . wheel heel How Howwould Howwould Howwould would you feel if i ! the guy that thatcracked thatcracked thatcracked cracked down do\vn do vn \ on you was wall mg ing mgaround ingaround ingaround around the streets with your blood bloodin bloodin bloodIn in hun'i huni him hID ! ' ' ? And this guy s rich He Hedldn Hedidn Hedidn dldn didn t need the money He d gwen given gwenfive givenfive givenfive five thousand bucks to the Red Cross Crossa a couple of ot months before betore He s got gotmore gotmore gotmore more real estate in m New York than thanhe thanhe thanbe he knows what to do w thLOUIe thLome th thLouie Louie Lome put his cab in gear The Theparade Theparade Theparade parade had moved on Traffic was wasI wasbegmmng wasbeginning wasbeginning I begmmng beginning to thin tilin out ahead I m mJust mlust must Just lust ] praying praymg that some day I 111 II ll meet meetthat meetthat meetthat that guy There s some th ngs I d dlike dlike dlike like to tell rumYou hunYou him rum hun himYoud You Youd d recognize recogruze recogmze rum-thIS rum thIS hum-this hum him - this man mani manU man11 i U ! you saw him9 him9Only him ' ? Only by his rus picture in the ne vs vspapers vspapers vspapers papers They had him rum hum all covered coveredup coveredup coveredup up when I gave him hID ! the transfusIOn transfusIOnOnly transfusionOnly transfusionOnly Only his arm was sticking stIckmg out out.Louie outLouie . . LOUIe Lowe crossed Fourteenth street and andswung andswung andswung swung into mto the outside lane to make up for the lost time tIDe ! But I 111 11 ll meet meeth meeth h m some day he saIdFor saidFor said saidFor For some time bme the man behind behindhIm behindhim behindhim hIm gazed directly through the thewmdshleld thewindshield thewindshield wmdshleld windshield He seemed to be un unaware unaware unaware aware of ot the fact faet that his face was wasIn wasin wasin In full view VJew of ot the rear vis on mlr mir mlrror mirror mirror ror He looked very old and very verytIred verytired verytired verytiredI tIred tIredI I see what you mean be he said saidfinally saidfinally saidfinally finally and Lome LOUIe could just lust barely barelyhear barelyhear barelyhear hear him rum above the no se of ot traffic trafficI I suppose we do pay too much at attentlon attention attention tentlon tention to . what v.hat vhat s going gomg on mother mothercountrIes in other othercountries othercountries countrIes and overlook sometImes sometImeswhat sometimeswhat sometimeswhat what s going on right nght under our ournoses ournoses ournoses noses But we mean all right It s seas seas seas eas er tor for us to grvp gIVE ' to an orgamza organza organzation orgamzatIon organization tIon that s rigged up to help groups groupsof groupsof groupsof of people than it is to look 100'1 1001 ' : around aroundyourself aroundyourself aroundyourself yourself for tor people who need helpciIF help helpTf -/Tf Tf - / YOU VT TT irAKA to 4A meet n AA the * 1 1A A vn n n "IF IF ciIF " were man manyou manyou * you gave your blood to and anddldn anddidn anddidn dldn didn t know him hID ! you might thInk thInkhIm thinkhim thinkhim hIm a pretty decent kind kmd of ot a fellow fellowA fellowA fellowA A man isn Jsn t generally thoughtless or orbad orbad orbad bad Just lust ] ust because he s rich rJch Suppose Supposehe Supposehe he was caught in a Jam ] ] am himself hIDself ! and andneeded andneeded andneeded needed every dollar he could lay layblS layhis laybis blS his hands on Suppose a group ot of otbanks ofbanks ofbanks banks were going to foreclose on onrum onhim onhim rum him and he d lose everything he had hadIn hadin hadin In the world if they did ' ? A fellow fellowhke fellowlike fellowlike hke like you-young you young you - young and healthy why whyyou whyyou whyyou you could afford afIord to lose a mlllJOn million mlllJOndollars milliondollars milliondollars dollars You could make it back backagam backagain backagain agam again if you wanted to and if you youd youd youd d dn do t want to you could do some sometiling something something tiling thing el eBut eBut e eBut But when a man gets along in inWe inide inlife We ide and then loses everything he s sbeen sbeen sbeen been working workmg for for forty torty or fifty fiftyyears fiftyyears fiftyyears years it s apt to be quite as big a ashock ashock ashock shock to him as it Jt was to you ) sou ou to be turned out of ot your apartment In Infact Infact Infact fact some very good men aren t table table table able to survive such shocksFor shocks shocksFor For all you know that man may maybe maybe maybe be dead You may never see or even evenhear evenhear evenhear hear of ot him againWith again againWith With a strange tee feeling lIng m In hIs hIsthroat histhroat histhroat throat Louie Lome turned his cab mto into intoForty intoForty Forty second street and drew up be before before fore Grand Central station The guy guyseemed guyseemed guyseemed seemed to kno Iwo v what he was taIkIn talking g . . . . f 1 1i i 1 4 4rr I 4I rr , , . / = eJ eJ1 y1 /1/ 1 / 1q / ' q F ; JT JTF JTr r ' We IVe got troublcs troubles enough right here , ' nfd said Louie I about he thought And suppose thIs thIsman thisman thisman man had dIed-after dIed after died - after he d g ven yen rum him rumhis himhis himhis his blood D ed with WJtb his rus blood in hIs hIsveInS hisveins hisveins veInS He d never thought of ot that thatbefore thatbefore thatbefore before And he didn dldn t like lJke it some some- somehow somehow . - how howI I guess you re right he said saidhIs saidhis saidhis hIs head lowered lo\\ered lo ered \ \ as he tore the slJp slip slJpfrom slipfrom slipfrom from his rus meter and handed it backAfter backAfter back backAfter After all he didn dldn t kno v me from fromAdam fromAdam fromAdam Adam I guess we all make mJS mis mJStakes mistakes mistakes takes takesA . A strange smile lighted lJghted the man sface sface s sface face H s hand trembled as he drewfrom drewfrom drew | from his rus wallet his last hundreddollar hundreddollar hundred hundreddollar dollar bill and pressed it foldedmto foldedinto folded foldedinto into mto Lome LOUIe shand shandIt s handIt hand handIt It s never too late he said ta tl to totry tatry ) try to rectify recWy those mistakes1 mistakes -1 1 .1 1 . - , |