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Show I I StrangerIn Stranger Stranrag er erIn In Town TownBy By Sarah larr Jane lane ClarkT1M Clark ClarkBIM T1M law saw Joa Joan first as she fh * stopper stopperJ stopperin stopped stoppedin topiIn in at Du Vail VaU 8 s grocery groceryMother BIM JIM . J Mother want wanta wants * a T bone steak steakthe t akind * . the kind she abe alway always lets gets ( ( , , . and andpound a apound 1 1pound pound ot of bacon ' Her Tolcv voice war warthat wthat was wastl1at , tl1at that delightfully deUghttully hUlky husky hu ky kindJim kindJim kiad kind kiadJim Jim having havUlI finished ftnished his purchasegot purchase purchacigot . got out hli his money lowly Iowly Slowly ( * counterup counted counter countedup countup * up the amount of hl his purchase purchases * and andlooked ant antlooked anlooked looked over his chang change * carefully carefull1 be- be before be before b bore - < fore ( ore he h pocketed itShe itShe it itShe She looked like a grand glrL girL . Hwished He Hewished Hr Hrwished wished he knew her ber But he h was wastranger * HeI a astranger r rstranger I stranger In the big city and he hhave * d dhave d dhave have to wa t Couldn t rush thlnss thing thlnsswith thlnwith | | : with a girl like that And perhapshe perhaps perhap perhapssbe perbacshe sbe she had a boy friend alreadytin alruady already Un- Un tin Unconsciously tinconsciously uiconsciously - consciously he slowed down at the thecorner thecorner thcorner corner of his apartment bulld buUdmg building buUdmgStupid buildingStupid nStupid | Stupid to have to eat ' nil I'll Ill all alone the thenight thenight thnitht night before ChristmasJim ChristmasJim Christmas ChristmasJim Jim turned to look back at the theatore thestore thtore atore store ( he had just jusl left , , . and foundthat tounthat found foundthat that the girl fir ) had overtaken himHello himHello him himHello Hello there you going coin < my myway myways mway7 way ways " he asked I m a strangehere stranger strangerhere strangerhere here and it s mlhty mighty ( lonesome atChrtstmas at atCl1nstmu iChristmas Cl1nstmu- Cl1nstmu Chrtstmas- Chrtstmas , - Cl1nstmuBut ChrtstmasBut But the firl girl with a cool Ex Excuse ExBuse Elcuse cuse Buse me please hurried onJim on onJim Jim s a cheeks burned He hadnl hadnlmeant hadn hadnmeant t tmeant meant to be fresh reallyHe really reallyHe He turned the corner and enterethe entered enteredlie the lie doorway of his apartment Then Thenhe Thenhe Theh he he saw the girl ( iri the third time She Shewas Shewas Shwas was Just openlne opening the door and going goingup go coinup in , up the stairs She lived hved in the sambuildlne same samebuilding samendlding building ndlding with himHe himHe him himHe I himI He ate his solitary supper in his hisne hione : one ) ne room kitchenette apartmeniThen apartment . . 'Then Then ' then what was there to dog do " Ws Hls Wsfirst Hlslrst Hifirst first lrst Christmas away from home homeHis homehis hom homHis His Job here was so 51) 51 ) new that hetadn he hehadn hhadn hadn tadn t dared to ask tor for time off of ! tXO to togo toto go to home borne Well he supposed he hecould heould hcould could : ould fo go to a showBut showBut show showBut But when Jim got out onto Dela Delaware Delaware Dellware ware Place he almost chanfed changed bis his bismind hisHind himind mind Hind A snow had beun begun ( to faD tall fall . , a aI aheavy aLeavy heavy Leavy leisurely leisurel1 snow with big biglake / ) /lake lake akes lakes lakesaw I w ' " 3 . aw aww $ ' _ L w I , . . . r s I I . . I II Y ; t tp p . try t ft f ' " a There was a bumpand buinji bump BBM and a crash as aso aaa a . au o armful of ( packages packaC"es packaCes " landed laB e l 00 on 00I 00the onhe ; the he IJewalk sidewalk I that made a thick carpet on thistreets the the.treets thi thistreets .treets treets streets . and sidewalks already icyfrom icy ic ; i ifrom from the drizzle of the afternoon afternoonI afternoonHe afternoonHe afternoonHe I He hesitated a minute about start startRig startinc iDg Rig out on such a nifiht night then think thinkIng thinkfog thinkin , Ing fog < of the lonely room he had just jus jusquitted jusquitted qUJtled quitted he shrugged his shoul shoulders shoulders ders and started up the street streetWith streetWith streetWith With his Ills 1 t I ead down he trudgedthrough trudged trudgedthrough trudgecthroueh . through the snow plowing his way waywith waywith waswith with difficulty ae-nnst ae nnst ag.llnst agllnst against . - the th slronjwind strong slronj strongWInd stroniwind , WInd Too late he saw a dark flur flurdirectly figure figuredJrecUy figuredirectly { ' directly dJrecUy in front of him There was wai wasa waia wasa ' a bump and a crash as an armful of ofpackages 01 01packages o : packages landed on the sidewalkStartled sidewalk sidewalkStartled sidewalkStartled Startled Jim looked lookt.d looktd . into the faceof face faceof tactof of the tirl girl he WdS was w is IhInklng thinking thinkln < about aboutHIs aboutHis aboutHis HIs face red with emburassment embarrassment embarrassmentJim emburassmentJim embarrassmentJim , Jim picked up her bundles bundlesStrante bundlesStrange bundlesStrange Strante Strange to say the tirl girl laughed laughedamusedly laughedamusedly laufihecamusedly amusedly Why go around barg bargmg bargtng bareing mg tng into people this way way1 " ' ' It s just justmy justmy juslmy my luck Christmas ChTlstmas eve to have my mybundles mybundles mybundles bundles all scattered and a little littleruefully littleruefully Ilttliruefully ruefully some of them brokenSay brokenSay broken brokenSay Say that i s a a shame You YOI } mustlet must mustlet mustlet let me replace anything that s brok broken broken broken en ' . Jim insisted Really I m aw awtully awfully awfully tully fully sorry ab ut lit this I was fac facing faclog ( acIng ing log the snow and had my head down.I downI down . . . 111 I 11 never forgive myself it if you don t tlet tlet Ilet let me do this last minute shoPPIng shoPPIngwith shoppingwith shoppiniwith with y6u yOu I am Jim Sheridan from fromDubuque fromDubuque fromDubuque Dubuque working for ( or the TimesWell TimesWell Times TimesWell Well I m Joan Slegfred I ve ye vebeen yebeen vbeen * been feeling feelmg sorry for the way I Isquelched Isquelched 1squelched squelched you a while ago So I 1 mglad m mglad mglad glad of a chance to say so Her Hereyes Hereyes Hereyes eyes were bright and sparkling and andher andher andher her cheeks glowing from the coldWalkmg coldWalking cold coldWalking Walking Walkmg down the busy streets streetswIth streetswith streetswith wIth a 8 pretty girl replacing Christ Christmas Christmas Christrnas mas decorations that had been beenswashed beensmashed beenswashed swashed smashed In the faU fal- fal fall faland - ! and being allowed al allowed allowed lowed to help put them n the tree treelater treelater treelater later was a lot belter better than g log ing logW ingto ingto W to a picture piclure show how alonp alone Andhen And \\hen hen when whenJoan \ . whenJoan henJoan Joan 8 s cheerful fr rr ft endly clldly mother motherasked motherasked motherasked asked the homesick home'llck homellck ' lad to lave lavedinner I 1 ave avedinner avedinner dinner with them IhE'm IhEm ' next ddY day d iy Jim tell tellthat ( ell ellthat eitthat that he was no loncr longer ( a tr fr ( r endlecstranger endless endlessstranger endlessstranger stranger in a big city a 10 in thai that thaiChristmas thatI thaiI I Christmas hrlstmas u . VMS as a time lime f ( pedCC peace p ? < cc a d dgood dgood dgood good w 11 II after aUN alloWNU all0WHO all allC o-WNU o WNU 0-WHO 0 WHO C - - WNU S-tv S tv Serv S . - rv c cor to - - - |