Show uie 11 7 or I 1 1014 QUESTION by FREDERICK OF SKERRY ANGLES corner P TRIANGLE sure if you think am A geometrical figures but counting mary hill with the three men you d have a square wouldn t youa you anyhow we were on the wild river bridge job ob A nice change it was too with barret falls center only a mile away no construction camp in this picture you could get room and board in somebody s house or you could take a room only and eat out and the boys who hadn haan t been bee h too quick in grabbing a room and board took their morning and evening meals at the elite lunch that is those who had got a peek at what was inside the three sided counter I 1 did myself and mary hill was very good for the eyes fresh and sw sweet beet and cool looking she was in her white rig even on the hottest day and lovely to look at I 1 figured she was 28 23 or 29 that steel crew though was a new breed to mary hill A happy go lucky bunch as ready for a scrap as a frolic working hard and playing hard one night when I 1 was almost the last to leave mary said 1 I suppose the danger you fellows are in all day makes you gay and light lighthearted hearted when you get away from it men fall sometimes don t they not often I 1 said it looks worse than it Is A man is careful you get used to height by this time the competition for mary was all but general I 1 was on the side lines you might say being field engineer I 1 was some older than most of the boys not so much but enough to make me conscious of the difference jack benz ben clem sask and dave johnson seemed to be favored benz a good looking wise cracking chap eventually mo mary s time dave johnson was the quiet seri serl ous kind and an A 1 bridge jack but now that he seemed out of the running he quit coming altogether clem sask and benz were not talk ing working from both ends we were now almost ready to join steel jack and dave jave and clem were together on the down river truss they d put the head of a strut or a a diagonal in place for the riveters then go down to bolt the foot dave was on a hanging platform below when jack went down leaving sask to tighten the bolts jack had no sooner stepped on the platform t tune time to anchor his safety belt when clem sask dropped a spanner clem let out a yell but that seven pound spanner was on its way and bounced off jack s head and jack toppled to follow it down to the river all of him but his legs was off that six by six platform but that was as far as he went be cause dave had grabbed a sus pension line and had thrown him self across jack s legs then he reached down the other hand and took a fistful of jack s over all and whatever was underneath it and pulled jack back and it all hap bened while you d be striking a match an ambulance took jack to the nearest hospital a small one in small town twenty miles away I 1 gues guess they felt at t the tle hospital that this job on jack was too much for them because they delivered jack to a big city hospital we put it down as an accident but I 1 wished it hadn haan t happened be tween that part cular pair the news got to the elite before we did and mary shared the general gloom later clem asked for his tune time which was just as well A few days later dave began to eat again in the elite and I 1 quit staying late to look at mary when she wasn gasn t constantly on the move A few weeks afterwards we were practically finished with the bridge halt half the crew had left one night I 1 went to the picture house and saw mary and dave sitting a couple of rows in front I 1 figured that dave was making up for lost time after the show while on my way to where I 1 slept I 1 crossed the street just as a car popped out of a cross street I 1 9 got ot it in the right leg evidently a busted leg wasn gasn t too much for that little hospital in the next town anyhow that s where I 1 landed dave was waiting when they d got my leg set and in a cast I 1 had been wondering about him and mary but he was no talker but 1 I was sure I 1 d find out something from mary if I 1 could see her and I 1 did see her the next after noon she walked into my room not a minute after visit time began but is off he s getting crutches crutch eg for you now I 1 have it all figured out I 1 have a perfectly good house and oodles of room and nobody in it but my self except when ann james is there doing housework and that s where you go from here listen mary I 1 put in you ve been an angel of kindness but there s a limit I 1 know what these small places are mary and I 1 won t have you talked about on my ac count I 1 see what you mean she looked down at me and her eyes were dreamy of course it would be nice I 1 said nothing and she wagged her head and looked at the ceiling my heavens heaven st did a woman ever work harder for a mana man that t make sense what mana man I 1 said you youl who else for goodness sake 6 listen mary I 1 said I 1 felt all hollow inside don t kid me not about that I 1 in not kidding anything but bu t 10 1 Y 0 4 t T and jack toppled to follow it down to the river all ali of him but his legs was off that six by six platform the only news she let out was that dave had heard that jack was get ting on all right but would be laid up for a long time for three weeks mary came every day then the crew was through with the bridge and dave making a last evening visit was as deadpan dead pan as ever that puzzled me and I 1 banked on mary being less shut mouthed abhat AND ND thinking of her I 1 realized that once out of the hospital I 1 d see little of her I 1 had that load on my mind when she came next after noon looking pleased as punch she told me how the gang had bid her good bye the day before then she said I 1 had quite a compliment last night charlie dave asked me to marry him congratulations mary maryl I 1 said dave is a grand guy and I 1 meant it yes he Is she nodded he 11 make a fine husband for some girl who wants to worry about him while he s climbing over bridges but I 1 had to turn him down I 1 it U marry nobody I 1 have to worry about at the start that s that now look I 1 just talked with the doctor he je says you can leave here in two or three days but you 11 have to go easy on that leg even after the cast she reached out and grabbed my hand charlie you are dumb did you think I 1 was a district nurse or something coming here every day but I 1 could hardly speak I 1 thought weh well with jack and dave business dear she cut in I 1 own the elite lunch so why wouldn t I 1 build up good will with the customers you never asked me out not because I 1 didn dian t want to I 1 said but all those fellows jack and dave she gave a kind of snort you didn dian t think a woman would be in te rested in the only man around who t seem interested in her no so I 1 had to find out all about you from those others and you had to go and get yourself hurt tor for me to get a good chance at you listen I 1 said A minute ago you said you wouldn t marry any body who climbs bridges 1 I know I 1 did she admitted but your climbing days are over charlie so doc says that stopped me still I 1 could al ways have a good berth in the plant or some other plant my tongue seemed tied but I 1 managed to make it work would you marry me mary 9 she was off the chair like a flash and sitting on the edge of the bed holding my hands he s said it she laughed the dumb bunny has actually said iti it would I 1 so after all you might say that the uie aclair affair turned out to be a pen tagon aagon |