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Show LOVE AND THE FLAW By June Reed Ruff THE narrow rxim was dim and still, severely styled, and subdued in color. At first, Edith could only make out blurred Images, Im-ages, the impersonal dresser across from the foot of her high, white bed;" and the- fuizy, pinkish-green pinkish-green blur of the Rose Joe bad brought for her. Joe was in the room too. She couldn't see him, but she knew he was there, sitting In the hard wooden chair beside her bed. Dear Joe. sober and silent, watching watch-ing her with hurt, pleading eyes. She wanted to reassure him, to tell him that she was all right, but the lethargy of anesthesia held her captive in its silent prison. The operation w:ts over. She was aware of bulky bandages and tight adhesive tape. . And somewhere deep inside, her body was screaming scream-ing in agony, but medical science had muted the tortured protest, shutting it away from her con-clous con-clous mind with drugs, so that stie heard it only vaguely, and without concern. Joe's lean fingers edged across the plain, . white bedspread to clasp her cold hand. If she opened her eyes, she could see his anxious anx-ious face. She could see his face even if she didn't open her eyes. Her sophisticated friends never understood why she married Joe, and she couldn't explain to them, because she wasn't quite sure herself. Edith Arvell, glamorous, talented actress, married to a rancher. A dull, slow-witted ex-cowboy. ex-cowboy. ... bat with his lack of general knowledge. She once told her friends that she and Joe hadn't shared an intelligent conversation In the entire two years of their marriage. But with Joe, she didn't really need conversation, the deep, Important Im-portant things between them were beyond words anyway. Why had It taken her so long to realize that? - When Edith opened her eyes again sunlight was pouring across her bed, and she didn't recognize the blinding white hospital world, with it's heavy, antiseptic and ether air. Finally, her eyes found a familiar, big-knuckled hand closed " protectively around her own pale fingers, and memory came back to her. She was in the hospital, and Joe was still sitting there on the hard white chair beside her bed. The huge diamond engagement ring he had bought for her sparkled in the sunlight, or was it the tears in her eyes that gave the effect of shattered light? She knew at last, why she loved Joe, and the knowledge was as brilliant as the ring on her finger. She had been a fool, thinking she loved Joe In spite of his flaws, when all the time she loved him BECAUSE of them! His lack of cultural perfection was the precious pre-cious flaw that magnified and made radiant the Illusion' of her own perfection! . "You all right, Eddie T" He bent over her anxiously. His clothes At first she said she married him for his money, and for the security it promised. She wasn't getting any younger, and all too often, fame tarnishes with time. In her heart of hearts, Edith knew that money was not all that bound her to Joe . . . But what else was thtre? Joe was so humble and unsophisticated. unso-phisticated. Sometimes Edith thought that was the most trying .part of their relationship. Her many and varied Interests In corn- were wrinkled and untidy, and his face was haggard from the long vigil at her bedside. She smiled and nodded weakly. "And Joe," Edith carressed his cheek with gentle fingers, "I love you." ... . His tired face seemed to glow with new vigor, and again she was reminded of the diamond. For as a diamond Is dull without light, so is a man without a woman's love to illumine the many facets of his life. |