Show THI E F I 1 C I 1 ION ON CORNER OUT OF THE EMBERS by NORMAN STANLEY BORTNER L ET ETS S talk this th ng out L janice had said for good and all and he had agreed not enthusiastically he thought he knew what it would be like she was going to be very calm very noble very much the long suffering patient wife who will go no farther all right my dear if you want ant ne wie more talk I 1 rn game just so it doesn t end in another row he became slightly noble him self now that it was all over with them he was suddenly courteous he spoke to her in a tone he might have used toward any good looking woman not his wife where would you like to sit while you pronounce sentence 9 she knew at once she must have been thinking about that not here she said would you mind if we went down to the cabin the cabin how long bad had it been since he had seen the inside of that two roomed affair beside the river and what could this have made her weeks want to eo go there of all not best is in the e least he said we 11 need fiction wraps they dressed for the raw december day and went out the west door crossing the lawn she took his arm that was unexpected and also a little uncalled for he thought under the circumstances why should she make a game out of splitting up upa thinking that he stiffened and she felt it but she did not release his arm remember member Ke the first time we came down here together she asked can cant t say I 1 do you mean you don t want to it was after our honeymoon and you held MY arm her voice was low and uneven and somehow queer oh he said what a the mat tera getting a cold no not used to fresh air I 1 sup pose it 11 II be all right soon in the nevada climate you mean meana she did not answer maybe she hadn haan t meant that to speak of the advantages of reno while he remained east would not fit her present mood there had been times plenty of them when the important small niceties of conver bation between them had been for gotten giving way to bitterness and recrimination but he admi admitted eted she had never been crude to cover his own remark he said has the cabin been kept clean quite it s always in good order no telling when someone might want to use it there a s some wood there I 1 in sure and you remember how that fireplace heats will that a right I 1 do remember the worst of it was that he kemem bared too well all at once they had lived there he and jan for a while after their honeymoon the big house was too big too many people around too many distram eions from each other so they had moved to the cabin they had changed a great deal since then not in looks ten years wasn gasn t very long in themselves somehow but the cabin had not changed it was precisely as it had been then seemed a bit smaller but then time always does that to distances and arid d mansions men he ile busied himself with the kindling there was only one big chunk of wood enough for a little while the fire caught nicely jan held her hands to the growing flames feels good she said and when the chill chili had been taken from the room she sat on the sofa and 4 4 A t the ast time we came here 3 ou carried me through the doorway will asked him with a restrained al most tearful fearful little gesture to sit be side her he did and waited again very nobly for her to begin this last talk she wanted at last she did this is where we started will she said here in this little two by four do you ever think about that time thought of it just a moment ago he admitted we were happy then t we wea H HE E SHRUGGED suppose we were ere jan but I 1 in afraid we haven t been very happy since no not very and why will do you know how did we lose what we had then not that it makes any difference of course here we are and how we got here doesn doean t really matter or even who a to blame R bight ht will win right he st stared ed into the roar ing fire and considered that she was being exceptionally calm better than he had hoped the first day we came here you carried me through the doorway will I 1 remember thinking while you held me in your arms that no girl could have been happier than I 1 was at that moment no two people could have been more in love we were A ere don t laugh please we were like that fire is now just one con suming blaze of love for each other he couldn coulden t help smiling at that jan really was in a state to talk like that but it disappeared when he turned toward her she was so close to tears and now will look at us we ve made a wretched mess of things haven t we wea 7 damned if it we haven t he was nearly noble enough to admit fur thedmore ther more that it had been almost entirely his own fault but he didn dian t she might have agreed with him and then the row would start he was quiet tor for a long while and then he said but fires do go out even dually and I 1 gu guess e ss ours h has a s yes and what s the use of blow ing on cold ashes but that a why I 1 brought you here to the cabin will I 1 had the wild idea that somehow we could patch it up try again but we ve done that too often haven t we too often jan the room was hushed after that tor for many minutes hushed except for the crackling of the one big chunk and the rush 0 of f air through the chimney and nd even that slowly decreased the fire he had built and not replenished was burning out just like the fire jan has spoken of burning out it was a simple thing to throw more wood on a fire but was it so simple to rekindle their own flame he ile decided he was get ting morbid there were only deep red embers between the andirons when she rose I 1 told you last night that nothing would keep me from reno she said I 1 meant it then but will ill stay if you want me ill do my best to make us happy we were once maybe in some way we could be again she waited he ile did not move dd did not raise his eyes the embers glowed will I 1 said I 1 d stay if you want me to glowed must I 1 get down on my knees to youa Is that what you wanta glowed dully too late then all ali right dear I 1 U be packed and on my way in an hour would you do you mind li if I 1 kiss you goodbye 9 just tor for old times sake 1 I won t bother you any more he permitted it quite nobly and when she had leaned and kissed him full on the lips bps he turned away from her and toward the fire once more the door closed behind her awauld N HOUR she had said well he al would wait that long before going back to the house no use having more farewells he did not stir for a long while frowning at the fireplace the one big chunk had only a tiny bit of red ness along one edge the rest was cold gray ash smoking fitfully and not pretty to look at she had been right they had been exactly like the fire blazing up for a time and then cooling to drabness 1 I wont won t bother you any more what had she meant by that never see him again he realized sud denly that he WANTED to see her again it wouldn t be right not to you can cant t live with a person ten years and simply forget it like that maybe they could even be good friends after the divorce and have some of the tun fun they missed before without the ties of marriage or the restraints he knew he was being very fool tool ish thinking things like that it was all over and she would be strange and distant whenever IF ever they met 7 9 hardly jan was out of his life tor for good that was settled the cabin was getting cold he had no idea how long he had been sitting alone was the hour up he rose to stir his aching legs and con hunting more wood for the fire with the tongs he probed at at the the ashy big chunk and at his touch the wood which had seemed so cold so lifeless jumped into flames warm surprising beautiful A single touch bad had done that HIS touch he gazed open eyed and then in quick bounding leaps he ran up the hill and into the house up the stairs through a door he had not opened for so very long the hour kasnot yet gone jan he said jan you re as slim as you ever were ill I 1 carry you over again |