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Show FICTION BERTHA CORNER By Richard Hill Wilkinson ' ' ' ROY was correcting his English IV mid-year book reviews and the whistling annoyed him. It came from the alley beneath the window at the end of the f" 1 I hall. It had begun 3 -Minute early that morn-Fiction morn-Fiction ins- a bTl cheery whistle, measured, high-pitched. high-pitched. Presently he could stand it no longer. He was not a violent man, but as he descended the back stairs there was a grimness about his mouth. Roy emerged into the alley and ' headed for a high board fence, from behind which came the measured whistle. He went through a door in the fence and stopped short. A voice said: "Hi, kid!" Suspended from a peg In the fence was a cage and in the cage was a parrot. As Roy stared at it the parrot par-rot emitted a shrill, piercing whistle. Roy was in the act of opening the cage door when someone shrieked. He turned to see a girl with red hair and blazing brown eyes rushing at him. "Don't you dare touch that cage! Who are you? What are you doing here? You were going to harm Bertha!" Roy blinked, "Yes," he said calmly, "I was going to wring Bertha's scrawny neck. Bertha's whistling annoyed me. It was driving me crazy. All morning long I have been trying to correct cor-rect my English book reviews. If the book reviews aren't In by tomorrow I'm apt to lose my Job." The girl's eyes brimmed with tears. "I'm sorry," Roy said. "Unless "Un-less you remove Bertha from her present location I shall insist in-sist on bashing in her stupid head." "I'm sorry," said Roy. "Unless you remove Bertha from her present pres-ent location I shall Insist on bashing bash-ing in her stupid head." The redhead gasped. "And I'll bet you would do it, too! It's only on bright days that I place Bertha outside. Otherwise, she has to stay in where it's dark. If you don't believe be-lieve me, come and see." Roy realized that she was appealing appeal-ing to his better nature, if any. He permitted himself to be led Into the house. The room, where abode the girl and Bertha, was truly a gloomy place. "I concede the point," Roy admitted. ad-mitted. He stared at the girl closely. close-ly. "I should think on warm days you'd want to get out into the air yourself." "I do. I spend nearly all my time home so Bertha could have a sunning. sun-ning. Tomorrow she won't bother you at all." "Tomorrow," said Roy, "I won't be here to mind." He scratched his chin. "Look here," he said. "What kind of work are you looking for?" "I used to be a librarian," said the girl. "A librarian!" exclaimed Roy. Would you like a job correcting English IV book reviews?" The redhead's eyes grew round. "Do you mean why I'd adore such a job!" "By the way," he said, "I haven't asked your name." "It's Roberta Cameron. And 11 you want these papers tonight, 1 think you'd better let me get to work on them." IT was in October that Bertha had first aroused Roy's ire. Two weeks before Christmas he asked Roberta an important question. She shook her head. "I couldn't marry you. You don't like Bertha." "But I've really grown fond oi Bertha!" Roy cried. "Why, if it weren't for Bertha, I'd never have met you." The day after this, Berths caught a cold. It was bright and warm In the morning and Roberta Rob-erta left the bird outside while she went to town. At noon It turned cold and began to rain. Attracted by a series of hoarse shrieks, Roy rushed Into the alley, seized the cage and returned re-turned indoors. Bertha died the next day. "I I suppose," said Roberta, "3 shouldn't have put her out." Roy stared. A thousand thought-galloped thought-galloped through his mind. But h( had the good sense not to mentiot them. Instead he picked up Ro berta's hand and Roberta smiled. |