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Show 11 FICTION CORNER WsV I- NO OTtiER WAY I J By W!LLIA;M cole closed It quickly. When he let go of i ; her she hung on to his lapels. j Ted spoke through her hair. "You j were saying something about some : guy named Lloyd?" JUDY waited until she could feel solid ground again beneath her. "Don't joke about it, Ted, please: The man wants to marry me." "He does?" Ted shook his head in wonder. "You don't say so?" This was more like it. This was Ted. Judy sighed. If she could only keep him like that. "I don't suppose I want to marry you?" Ted said. "I suppose my intentions in-tentions aren't honorable?" He was still smiling, but it was very much on the surface. "I suppose, sup-pose, if there weren't a darn good reason, we wouldn't have married long ago?" Two years, to be exact. Two years that could have been among the happiest hap-piest in their lives. "Tell me," Judy said. She tried to keep her tone light. "Just for the record. What was that wonderful reason again?" Ted turned away, wearily. "Let's skip that for once," he said. sitting on the benches around them a s thou gh they were directly responsible. re-sponsible. "Let rrfe tell you," he said, "you've got to be somebody to starve to death in this town. Do you think they'll let anyone starve? Nol You've got to have background. You've got to have a college diploma and a law certificate and an office to hang them up in, and then, okay, you can go ahead and starve." The woman on the next bench was eyeing Ted nervously. Judy stood up. "Let's walk a bit," she suggested. She slipped an arm through his and walked lightly beside him, a slim girl in a simple dark dress. Her brown eyes were troubled, as Ted hurried her along. He couldn't stay depressed long not when she was with him. When they were to- JUDY kept her eyes on the Jersey shjre line all the while she was talking. "I ... I don't know what to do," she said. "He asked me, if I could, to let him know tonight." She had tried to tell Ted about Lloyd Richards earlier that evening first, when they I met, and then when Triic they were having lnlS dinner in the cafe-Week's cafe-Week's teria but each time she had made the Best mistake of looking . at him. And then Fiction they were in the narrow park by the river, and she couldn't put it off any more. "He ... he says we could be married tomorrow," she went on. "He's staying in town another day." And there it was! She sat back and pressed her hands in her lap. She didn't want Ted to see how they were trembling. But Ted wasn't watching. His arms were hooked over the back of the bench and he was staring out on the Hudson. His short-cut hair and dark, brooding face stood out sharply sharp-ly against the cluster of lights from the Palisades. She reached out to touch him to clear that face, even for a moment then she fought back the Impulse. . . . "Oh, I'm going to kill him!" she thought wildly. "If he just sits there and takes it like that!" "I think you should do it." Ted said. Judy went limp. She dug her nails into her flesh and felt nothing. "I ... I promised I'd call him," she said weakly. "He'll be waiting." Imagine? Making a 'crack like that! She'd flx him good! "Why shouldn't you?" Ted said again. "This Richards can give you the things you should have." He straightened his leg and his heel tore a rut in the dirt path. "What can I give you?" Nothing, Ted. Nothing at all, you big lug. Only everything a girL . . . "What could I give you?" Ted went on. "You'd have some life with me. Dinners in cafeterias. Evenings in parks. On our honeymoon, for variety we'd go to a museum. You'd have some sweet life!" It sounded sweet enough to Judy, but she didn't say as much. This was the beginning of a familiar routine. There was nothing that could be done until it ran itself out 1 "A lawyer!" Ted said. He addressed ad-dressed the single star that hung dimly above. "Twenty-five thousand lawyers in New York weren't enough. I had to starve, too." It didn't do any good to tell him that things were bad all over, that they would pick up; that, after all, he was only out of law school a short time. It didn't do any good, when he was like this, to tell him anything. He glared at the people She slipped an arm through his and walked lightly beside him, a slim girl in a simple dark dress. gether, he was soon the real Ted. And that couldn't help but make a success. That was why it was important im-portant that they. . . . Ted freed bis arm and tried to drop it around her. Judy stepped aside. Ted looked surprised and drew her into the shadow of a tree. "Hiya, Judy!" He was smiling at her now. ". . . it's getting late," she said. "I have to call Lloyd." "Lloyd? Who's Lloyd?" She looked at him furiously. "We've only been talking about him for the last . . .!" "Gosh, honey!" Ted ran his hands back over her hair. "You're so swell." "Ted, now pi. . .1" Judy wrenched her mouth to one side and then She was as tired of the subject as he was. They had been over and over it countless times without getting get-ting any place. . . . Yes, Ted said, he knew all about it. Two could live as cheaply as one, sure. And Judy could keep her job. Sure. Okay, he said, he didn't think she could support him in the manner in which he had become accustomed. And so, until the time he could handle that end of it decently himself. . . . Judy knew it was useless, but still she persisted. She had used the same , phrases so often, she knew them by heart. . . . "Don't you see, darling, we'd at least have each other. . . . Those other things aren't important. . . . We'd at least. . . "Let's not discuss it," Ted said. "We'll just have to wait." "Why should we wait?" She clenched her hands angrily. "We don't know how long it'll be. I want to settle it right now! He turned back to her slowly. "I see. Before you speak to your friend, Mr. Richards?" She had forgotten about that, but now she met his gaze fully. "Yes, before I speak to him." "It's always good to have a guy in reserve, isn't it?" Ted said. She gulped in some air. All right, my boy! O. K.! She waved at him airily. "So nice to have known you,", she said, and walked away. "What was so nice about it?" Ted called after her. Oh, it was pretty nice, Theodore, don't kid yourself. But Judy didn't glance back. She crossed the drive and went on down the street. Back in the park there, she knew, he was miserable. And that made her miserable, too. But they couldn't go on like that indefinitely. There was no other way. Besides, it wouldn't last long. She knew his moods perfectly. Let's see now. She looked at her watch. Two minutes for despair, then the next two for thought . . . and then, in about two or three more. . . . She slowed down. She wasn't so sure now. They'd fought before and sometimes hadn't made up for days. But then he didn't have much to worry about. He could just let it slide. He could let everything slide. This time. . . . She was near panic when she reached the corner and then she heard heavy footsteps behind her. She caught a glimpse of Ted as she rounded the building. And his wild, frightened face was enough. The only thing that troubled her now was where they would live uptown or out in the suburbs. As for her conscience, that didn't trouble her at all. Consciences, sometimes, were pretty much of a bore. And as for Lloyd Richards-well, Richards-well, she wouldn't even have to call him. Lloyd knew her answer. She had given it to him that afternoon. |