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Show The Fief ion BAYING THE MOON Corner THE ALPHA, Alpha, Alpha, Alpha fraternity at Boynton univer-ilty univer-ilty is responsible for the fate of Percival Oakes. It happened this way. During his freshman year the AAAA' pledged Percy to membership, member-ship, and initiated him into the mystic three R's. (Rites, Rituals and Regulations.) Percy took it like ( i a man. When ordered or-dered to imitate 3 -Minute a dog howling at Fiction the moon' he did I his ? level best. The result was astonishingly as-tonishingly successful. Percy surprised sur-prised even himself. The brother AAAA's cheered loudly and clamored for encores. Percy obliged a second time and a third. He was immensely pleased with the applause and at the attention atten-tion he attracted. The next day, en route to class, Percy was stopped by a grave-faced sophomore and asked to give his imitation of a dog howling at the moon. For a moment he hesitated, conscious of a circle of grinning faces that had silently formed about and she was as popular as she was beautiful. This was discouraging and disheartening. Percy could offer of-fer nothing; she had her pick of the college. TT WAS one of the Saturday night informal dances at the college gym. They had been dancing together to-gether for perhaps 60 seconds when Delia looked up at him and said: "Aren't you the boy who can imitate im-itate a dog howling at the moon?" Her eyes twinkled. Percy reddened to the ears. He felt a chill, a horrible apprehension. "No," he bleated. "No! Whoever told you that is crazy!" Delia didn't press the subject, but Percy knew he was sunk. He let a month slip by before he could conjure con-jure enough courage to ask for a date, felt pitifully grateful when she assented. Within the following month he kept five dates with Delia, but it was always the same; the "thing" was always there between them. He thought she must think him ridiculous. She pitied him. During the intermission at the Dartmouth victory dance, Percy and Delia strolled out onto the now dry ice-skating rink and sat down on the bulwark and looked up at the moon. Because of his great and hopeless love Percy was moody, unhappy, thoughtful. Suddenly he was startled by the petulant tone of his beloved. "I think it must be wonderful," she said. I'What must?" asked Percival. "To be able to imitate things. I mean, anyone can play football, or learn to skate, or dance well, but it takes genius to be able to imitate things." "Do you mean that?" "Why, of course I do! I've always admired people who have creative ability. Genius. Of course I mean it!" She looked squarely at him, and the last trace of doubt vanished from Percy's soul like mist from a river bed before a rising sun. He stood up, he threw back his head, he looked at the moon and from his throat there came the clear, deep, rich tones of a baying hound. him, faintly resentful of the fact that the brothers of the A AAA had made public the discovery of his hidden genius. He glanced once more into the grave face of the youth who had accosted him and then threw back his head and bayed lustily. A mighty roar of applause greeted the rendition. There ' were cries of "More!" "More!" Percival obliged a second time and then once more. Returning to college in the fall, Percy had completely put from his mind the cause and fact of his last year's popularity. There were other and more important things to occupy oc-cupy his interest. He was now a sophomore, with all the rights and liberties and sensations of importance impor-tance that are synonymous with that lofty position. Best of all, he He looked at the moon and from his throat there came . . . rich tones of a baying hound, was now unhampered by the 30-odd 30-odd freshmen rules that had last year cramped his activities. One sophomore caused Percy's brain to swim. Here was loveliness and intelligence and femininity all combined. Unhappily, it took him a fortnight to negotiate an introduction. introduc-tion. Her name was Delia Winter, |