| Show WE FICTION ION corner THE PORK BANDIT by DEE RANDALL OSEY COLLINS as you knowis N NOSEY the number one egoist of the day just as napoleon once laid claim to the title but that was back in the or century and no body bothers much about him any more except those who like to bigand dig and delve into musty old history books napoleon had only an empire to conquer nosey had a newspaper office and an ever loving tillie as his territorial grounds it a true it proved rather eapen sive ive this ego building business but no matter the cost nosey is ac claimed as a self made man one of the finest men on the staff of the daily gazette besides tillie and the newspaper office it must be revealed nosey has still another love she now lay cozily in her private retreat the right hand drawer of nosey a desk there was a quiet purr as nosey patted the soft dirty white fur on darmie D e r m i e s neck dermie was the this nickname for hy po A name week s fitting to the over sized cat because best you really had to s stick tick a needle in fiction her to make h her er istir stir there was only one other thing that would rouse this re flexing feline that was the mell smell of boloney or liver even from the farthest corner comer of the ink city room originally from the restaurant on the corner where she was expected to rid the place of mice and make herself generally useful she had found refuge in nosey s comfort able desk drawer the clatter of dishes and hustle bustle of the crowded restaurant had proved too much for her sensitive nerves nosey stopped his tender patting this annoyed dennie dermie no end rials ing her head which was more en ergy than she cared to use she perked a quizzical eye at him dermie nosey spoke seriously if we could get a beat on this pork bandit case wed sure have some thing dermie a answer wae was an assent tog ing hiss seven butcher shops in seven days nosey went on that s a record for any criminal he s plenty nervy too sent them all a notice beforehand he s got the cops in a quandary must be a ghost bandit here he snickered scornfully at the idea of a ghost ransacking a cash register and sticking etick ing a butcher knife in a man a back what puzzles me nosey went en on with his one sided conversation is how he gets in and out with the cash right under their eyes and why does he always pick on pork stores the same cham all the time if we could get to the bottom of that we d be getting some place dermie s boredom with this con was evident she settled back on the comfortable pillow in stalled in the drawer but not be fore looking at the empty plate be fore her soon she was snoring peacefully she knew the plate would be filled later on plate she I lt it t out a growling tuss hiss and rousing herself waddled off in dign antly she used to such shabby treatment nosey had no tune time to worry over this breach of friendship in der mie s indignant stamping off in tact fact she was back in a few moments rubbing her face against his pants leg as a reminder of her gnawing vitals she hadn haan t been fed in two hours nosey paid no attention to her pleading he was waiting for the stranger who was to visit him at precisely three clock as the note stated a tall shabbily dressed man appeared his dark hair was sleeked neatly back but otherwise he was hardly a picture of sartorial elegance mr collins you received my noted nosey noticed the stranger strangers s vad nt aorl 4 v 4 X ts 4 the stranger s hand quivered nervously as nosey motioned him to a chair nosey read and reread the un signed note on his desk maybe be able to get a lead out of this after all he reflected some butch hutch er has received a note saying his store would be next he was coming in to speak with the editor the edi ech tor had turned the whole business over to nosey disgustedly news seldom walked right into a news paper office leads that came in by mall mail might better have been called misleads usually some quack seeking publicity grim determination could be seen in the set of nosey a features the editor had faith in him he would have to get to the bottom of this thing As number one egoist he felt certain he could A N INDIGNANT public was be coming boisterous in their ment denials of this pork bandit who slew and robbed at regular daily intervals the editor had hinted at a bonus or something equally satis tying financially to the guy who got a lead on this story it would sure come in handy nosey dreamed next month he and tillie were getting married A glint of happiness filled his ally placid eyes sweet tillie with her flaxen curls and how she could cook cooki nosey a mouth watered in an of the daily meals like those he bad had already sampled at tillie a little apartment dermie opened drowsy eyes and looked reflectively at the still e empty hand quivered nervously as he beckoned him towards a chair he took the paper the man handed him I 1 im m manager of the store on east street received this note early this morning I 1 left the place and hurried right down here as soon as I 1 could didn dian t have tune time to change my clothes he looked down apologetically your store will be next this afternoon the note read it was signed the pork bandit nosey scanned the writing care fully nothing there to give much of a clue have you seen the police no sir thought I 1 d speak to you first they seem to be getting no where fast be he laughed ruefully there has been a note before each crime you know he reminded him nosey absentmindedly absent mindedly pat ted dermie s neck she stirred looked languidly at the visitor and dozed off again nosey asked him a lot of ques eions and the visitor seemed acx ious to supply all the details pos sible I 1 im in flattered you have so much confidence in us nosey told him will you pardon me a mo ment while I 1 get my notebook 1 want to jot down all the information you can give me now nosey never bothered with a notebook any old piece of copy paper did for the hottest scoop outside the city room nosey headed for a telephone booth he made a call picked up a notebook from a protesting stenographer and returned to his nervously waiting visitor he wrote down sentences bously making sure to dot every I 1 and cross every t to anyone looking on it was evident nosey was stalling for time it was only a matter of a few minutes before the two husky hirsky cops arrived A pair of handcuffs were clinched on the now sputtering tor for who demanded to know the meaning of this here boys nosey addre addressed s sed the cops is your pork bandit he kind of sneered over the name as only a real egoist could da do the man suddenly stopped bat ahng how did you know he asked well you see nosey drawled his five feet tour four swaying bently you said you just came from your pork store when der mie woke up and just went back to sleep again I 1 knew tha was a be lie if you had really corn com from there she would have beer over there sniffing your pants anc licking your leg maybe ev even en chew ing a piece out of it its it s past hei meal time now he smiled dewi fondly at dermie who had stirred at mention of her name looking ex at the empty plate he went on then you told me some details that the police have carefully guarded from the public nobody but the pork bandit himself could have known them the man hung his head cL espair angly I 1 used to own half of the chain of stores he spoke bitterly until my partner swindled me out of my share it was the only way I 1 knew of to get back what really be longed to me for a moment nosey s gaze was sympathetically sympathetic aUy bent towards the man mans s back as they led him away then he returned to dermie have patience old girl he pat ted her head when he returned there was an extra cushion in der mie s drawer domicile and a brand new plate it has two sprightly mice painted on it this has caused no end of concern to dermie who minus her once sharp teeth cant can t figure out just how to bite into the little rascals she doesn t have any trouble with the extra helpings of boloney though |
