| Show FICTION GHOST ON AV by RT KOBERT ROBERT a mcblair LL ey TN N THINKING ot of it afterward 1 nettle nettie brainard could never get nd rid of the feeling that the light actu ally did change in her empty tea room the telephone on the cashier cashiers s desk rang although it wag was nearly noon all of broadway near union square seemed to dim to a queer eerie twilight Is oils this miss nettle nettie brainard a man s voice inquired yes nettie said into the inspru ment are you the daughter of bena min brainard deceased and nettle nettie sharp yes yes I 1 am Is your mother there she s busy in the kitchen just now shell she be busy for half an hour who Is this Us please this is thomas sharp your uncle tom nettle nettie gasped uncle tomi but but but you are deade the man mans s laugh had a hollow sound not quite he said but five years ago up home in maine we got a registered pack age nettie insisted her voice shaking slightly it held four brit ish bonds and bis his your passport clamped stamped in chinese and russian and a letter from harbin signed by jerry angus saying that you had the man laughed again now nettie don dont t be so upset by chist anything may happen in the par east besides I 1 left home twenty five years ago before you were born well said aid nettie swallowing now don t say anything to your you r mother I 1 want to speak to you alone be right over 1 he hung up the light seemed to flood back into the deserted tea room heavens above 1 nett nettie ile said aid aloud uncle torn alive alive after aul allt what ever shall I 1 say to him why does be he want to talk to me alone why it s like hav ing a visit from from a ghosal I 1 across the street her mortal ene mies the two quick lunch places with their neon signs and their bar gains in coffee and doughnuts now became friends for once they as cured her that she was not in some timeless world of the spirit instead she was in the bustling world of to day where a girl of twenty two who loves a young doctor way back in her home town Is glad to stand by her ailing mother in new york and try to make a tea room pay in a section where there Is no room for tea rooms uncle tomi nettie said again all she could remember of him was that he was a black sheep or some thing worse her own father be bena na min brainard never would permit his name to be spoken this w was as because over twenty five years ago tom sharp nearly had broken off benamin brainard s engagement to nettie a mother tom charp had brought home tome some ruffian named jerry angus and had introduced him to his sis ter nettie at a time when her fiance benamin brainard was out of town on business nettie sharp then a girt girl of seventeen had found jerry angus the irresponsible wast rel more enchanting than her bust nes and absent fiance her par ants ended that romance but not before jerry angus and nettie sharp pledged eternal devotion in a secret meeting arranged by the black sheep tom sharp it was a heartbreaking farewell jerry angus and tom sharp left together to hunt gold in alaska and after that adventured in the far east young nettie sharp married benamin brainard after all and had one child nettie before bena min brainard died tom sharp became an occasional rambling letter from some unknown far eastern place then from har bm bill his passport and his legacy had come to ids his sister now tom sharp was alive again and hurrying to see his sister s daughter just then the front door opened in stepped a bouncy stocky gray haired man I 1 well nett e he said heartily come sit by your uncle tom yes you ve got your mother a bright brown eyes he led her to one of the yellow tables yes yes my dear no one likes to be visited by a ghosal he roared with laughter it was poor jerry angus who played that joke on me left me with no passport and no money the crazy fool he glanced toward the ditc kitchen hen but I 1 austri t waste time like this I 1 found you by phoning the doctor in the old home town the same name but the son of the one I 1 used to know that s how time flies 1 he ile told me about the operation your YOU r mother needs which requires money he told me more nettie something about himself but that was confidential nettie nettle s hearty stopped beating was it some other girl what did he tell you she cried never mind but look nettie this cash came from smuggling arms in a good cause let it do some good he laid a brown envelope in net tie ties s palm his band hand she noticed was weathered and had on its back a large strawberry birthmark but uncle tonal she protested now bowl now he got up ot of course you t take ten thou sand dollars from just anybody 4 I 1 i L t f aa w 41 ir t 41 na lie ile laid a brown envelope in nettie s palm his ills hand she noticed had on its back a large strawberry birthmark you ve too much pride for that I 1 hope but blood s thicker than wa ter child besides if you and your mother must have a tea room this will win let you have one back home take the advice of a wanderer nettie marry settle down don t miss love when it comes by he kissed her roughly on the mouth then he was gone leaving nettie feeling that this visit from one mourned as dead simply could never have happened the kitchen door opened nettle nettie s mother came in how can I 1 begin to tell her nettie thought I 1 couldn coulden t hear what that man was saying her mother was talk ing but his voice seemed to be one I 1 had heard as a girl I 1 kept ex pecking you to call me nettie I 1 wondered if I 1 would know anyone I 1 hadn haan t seen for so long like your uncle tern torn well I 1 suppose I 1 would know him she sat down and picked up a fork As for jerry angus she went on the boy who wanted to marry me years ago I 1 would know him anywhere he had a strawberry birthmark on the back of his left hand she cut off a bit of lettuce why are you suddenly looking so happy nettie do stop mooning dear and bring your mother her tea |
