Show KEEPERS FINDER by CHARLES PALMER f the chauffeur pulled the long black car over to the side of the dusty road and the elderly gentle man in the leaned forward to open the door for the two hitch hikers the slim nervous one with the beady black eyes sat on one side of the elderly gentleman the large sleepy one on the other f the elderly gent gentleman lemans s hands were folded benignly in his lap his friendly rather vague eyes peered at first one then the other he broke the silence my name is gentlemen and you youa the slim nervous one sat up sharply any relation to the van delmoor deri noor bank family yes said the elderly gentle man stroking his gray goatee I 1 have that honor if you call it one this then said the s slim lim one this is week s your lucky day best ain amt t it george the big one took fiction his hungry gaze from the passing orange trees long enough to grunt agreement and turned back to contemplating the luscious fruit the slim one fixed the elderly gen tieman with a gimlet eye and hooked a taut finger confidently in his lapel have you ever neglected the birthday of a loved one and spent sleepless nights of regret he probed intensely have you ever slipped up on remembering an an niver sary and gone to the doghouse as a result or failed to cong ratu late a friend on a promotion and gotten the fishy eye the next time you met have youa well yes apologized the elder ly gentleman I 1 have I 1 am a trifle forgetful at times adding deafen but then most people are ah ali pressed the slim one div ing the lapel an impressive shake my point exactly most people are like you forgetful and they suffer tor for it they suffer because they know the slight or omission was not intended and realize too to 0 that the neglected one is certain to wrongly interpret it maybe a long friend ship will be strained or a wife or daughter hurt but suppose you were to sudden ly find yourself in a position where those slights and omissions never happened any morel wouldn t you be delighted especially if it meant no effort on your part no strain no time in tact fact nothing beyond the payment of a very small fee teea the elderly gentleman nodded I 1 imagine most people would be as delighted as I 1 my point again cried the slim one now george and I 1 are at this moment on our way to los angeles to initiate just such a ice we plan to call it the tell you when co inc all you have to do is give us the names of the people whose annever saries you want to remember with the dates if you have them other wise we will look them up for you give us too the names of people whose promotions marriages births deaths and so on you want to mark with a gift or note and our clipping service will watch the papers and other sources of ifor mation when an item pops up on the calendar we keep in your name we notify you and for a small ad dit ional fee we will even write an appropriate note or purchase and forward a gift now tell me does that fill a long felt need the elderly gentleman s eyes were bright with interest amazing covert calculation well there a advertising office rent telephones and help livings tor for george and me all only until the golden flood begins to roll in say oh say five thousand dollars that should be sufficient to launch the business the elderly gentleman drew a checkbook from his pocket and un limbered his fountain pen the beady eyes glistened the elderly gentleman turned to the back of a check and began to figure the slim one exhaled sharply opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it in a few moments the elderly gen tieman stopped f figuring and looked out the car window stroking his goatee reflectively he shook his I 1 head slowly 4 no he said I 1 believe your calculations to be in error you will need at least ten thousand dol lars to get your proposition under way the blood slowly flowed back into the slim one s cheeks mr vander ar a V 11 7 okay he said I 1 bit then be he kissed the check regretfully and tore it up young danl man exactly what I 1 need put me down as your first sub scriber you seel see said the slim one you snapped at it so will others which brings us to the heart of the matter doesn doean t it george george turned from the oranges long enough to grunt a second agree ment and turned back to his con temp temptation lation an orange would go very very good just now the slim one grasped the elderly gentleman s lapel again emr mr I 1 called this your lucky day it is you being a have money which you are probably willing to treble on a proposition that can t miss george and I 1 have such a tion but no money now why can t we get together on this thing hmm remarked the elderly gentleman how much capital do you estimate your venture will win re quire the slim one inspected him with moor turned his checkbook over and poised his pen I 1 am a man of quick decisions be he told the slim one I 1 am con vinced of the worth of your idea and of your ability to carry it through your name the slim one supplied it and the elderly gen tieman wrote out the check tore it from the book and hat handed aided it to him and now I 1 see we are almost home if you young men will come in with me we can draw up some informal papers to cover the mat ter and then I 1 will have my driver take you on to the city to start yo your ur company the car swung from the highway and stopped smoothly A uniformed attendant hobbled from the gate house to unlock the ponderous iron grilles which effectively barred the driveway suddenly the slim one bent tor for ward his eyes rested on a small bronze plate set in the stone pillar sunnyside Sunny side home for the mentally diseased he read slowly choking as the words sunk in he turned toward george flicking a rather hopeless glance in his direction george turned away sadly to again appraise the oranges the slim one s eyes dropped to the flourishing sig nature on the check he still held in his hands napoleon he quoted his lips tightened murderously tor for a moment then he grinned sheep ashly okay napoleon he said I 1 bit your name am aint t but just to even it up george and me am t starting any tell you when service either because somebody else beat us to it a year ago see and all we wanted your dough for was to skip the country before the dicks caught up to us he kissed the check regretfully then tore it into little pieces and tossed them in the air watching them flutter down come on george I 1 he said or anges tor for breakfast the elderly gentleman watched them trudge down the ro road ad and stroked his goatee contemplatively as the car rolled up the drive it stopped in front of a brick building with barred windows and he stood beside the car tor for a moment harvey he said to the waiting driver wait here for me I 1 U be only a moment the chauffeur touched his cap re fully yes doctor be he said |