OCR Text |
Show THE RICH COUNTY REAPER, RANDOLPH, UTAH 1 ASK ME i a aomen . (W (W Jill McFarlane, 26, has fallen in love with Lieut. Spang Gordon. Her mother, Julia, is upset as her own husband, Richard, disappeared during the first war and she had hoped to spare her daughter from being an army wife. Jills brother, Ric, is involved with a divorcee and Jill goes to camp to Investigate the matter. Ric tells her he is on duty and unable to see her but while she is dancing with Spang they see Ric and the woman in quesJill tion, Sandra Calvert, together. finds Sandra an older, hardened woman. Later she is accosted by Captain Mackey, known at camp as "Old Cyanide." He tells her he knew her mother years ago. He looks vaguely familiar. CHAPTER VIII She might as well catch the afternoon bus, but she would have lunch first and then try calling Spang again to say good-bFew people were in the diningroom, a few commercial travelers, several lonely looking women whom Jill catalogued as officers' wives, a child perched in a high chair and being coaxed to drink milk by a g mother, and at a table secluded near a window was the blonde Mrs. Calvert. Jill went straight to her table. How do you do? she said coolIm Jill McFarlane, we met ly. last night. Mind if I sit here? I have a phobia about eating alone. Mrs. CalDelighted, Im sure. y. wan-lookin- afraid you might sure.. Sure, Im quite delirious about the army hadnt you heard? whether you could stand another dose of the army. Im quite delirious about the army hadnt you heard? Dont you know that all women rim dizzily after uniforms, especially if theyre all decorated up with brass and stuff? I did hear a rumor, but I thought it might be propaganda. Morale stuff, keep the boys happy, keep em singing while theyre marching off to war with blisters on their heels and shoulders. I hope Ric decides to stay on in Jill salted the vapid the army. soup, poked at rubbery lumps in it. A Warning He hates our farm, and he hasnt any aptitude for anything else. And, of course, he hasnt any money. He told me about your farm. It must be a lovely place quite a show place, he said. I was so interested in hearing about it. Its a pig farm. Jill was blunt. Ric must have let his imagination get the best of him once he got away from it. When hes there he loathes everything about it. We have to work awfully hard to keep it going. My mother works all day in overalls and a mans shirt. I got this blister hoeing beans. She exhibited her palm. Our farm help have gone off to the army, and even my d grandfather has to been embroiderso if has Ric work, ing tales to you about green lawns and pedigreed horses and stuff, just write them off as a homesick boys wishful thinking. Mrs. Calverts eyes were masked behind carefully trained eyelids. She put away her lipstick and the little mirror. She reached for her check and picked up her purse with a little. fingers that clutched , shown (W(W(W (V W (W (W(WV(U(W(V,(W(W(W(W(W(W The Questions jealous! I dont trust 1. What is a genre painting? out. Cyanide, for all his bars and med2. How does the United States no Oh, I may not go for hours. als. countries in the Will I see you again, Spang? Jill giggled delightedly. Youre rank with other of tea? consumption Sorry, he said slowly, while so funny, Spang. The poor old 3. What is a recidivist? Jills heart grew heavier, cant man looked entirely harmless to. 4. What song, first sung in make it today. Theyre running in me. .Just a lonely, unhappy old Clari, or the Maid of Milan, in Sunday classes on me, Ill be tied man. Hes not so old. I dont trust 1823, became popular over night? up all day. But I had a moment, 5. What is the capacity of the and I thought Id spend it with you. him any, Jill. Stay away from the Nice of Mr. Alexander Graham Bell fellow. Constitution, the largest transport to have fixed that for us, isnt it? Oh, Ill be going home right away plane in the world? 6. Where was the first commerWell put up a plaque for him now, on the afternoon bus. You dont know when youre leaving, Spang?1 cial telephone switchboard somewhere, Jill answered, making her voice light, not ' letting disapNo, I dont know, and even if pointment creep into it. Sorry I I did, I couldnt tell you, Jill and have to go without seeing you, you know better than to ask. Spang. Youll be fighting, wont you? Som I. Though I didnt know Gosh, I hope so! Im tired of this academic stuff. The Japs havent read any books, but look how they fight! Will you write to me, Spang? If I have a chance, I will. Will you answer if I write? How silly! Of course Ill answer. Pages and pages, all about the pigs. You can tell me what youre Poor little chest muscles so doing. What would she be doing? Waittight they feel squeezed . . . so sore from hard coughing it ing! Hung up by the heartstrings, hurts him to breathe? Quick, tormented by the inching of the hours! Mentholatum. Rub it on Oh, Spang, please let me have love to keep, a fire to warm chest, back, neck. Its warm, gently stimulating action myself by when the dark comes too have checked vert was cool, too, and definitely unenthusiastic. HI have the jellied soup, stuffed crab, and some coffee, please, Jill told the hovering waitress, then leaned her chin on her palms. You live here, Mrs. Calvert? In the hotel? Im a camp follower, she said. I followed my husband here my Then he was former husband. transferred back to the Islands, and I decided that I couldnt endure being married to him any more. So Im staying because when youre entirely alone places dont matter. And with all the boys at the field so .near theres less chance to be lonely, of course? Theyre such nice boys, all of them. I was an officers wife, badly cramped by a lot of taboos and military procedure, but now that Im free I enjoy being with these boys of my own age. My husband was years older, she added, and definitely a home tyrant. I shouldnt talk about him, poor Win, he may be in some ghastly jungle now in horrible danger! Nice of you to give so much time to Richard. Ric has always been more or less of a family problem. My mother was terribly worried about him until he enlisted. Rickeys getting on well, Im A quiz with answers offering ? Against Mackey I ate lunch with that Mrs. Calvert today. I simply crashed in, and I know now that I was awfully stupid about it. I told her that Ric hadnt any money, and She said, Spang, she looked at me with those cynical eyes of hers and didnt believe a word of it. It worries me, and yet I hate to tell Mother. If Ric gets himself into a mess let him wiggle out of it, counseled Might be good for him. Spang. Maybe hes depended on other people too much already. But it might break my mothers heart. I have to think of that, Spang. And she has had enough heartbreak for one lifetime. I hadnt thought of that, Spang said. You couldnt do anything about getting him moved to another post, could you, Spang? No, I couldnt, Jill. Im only a technical officer here, and those things are handled by personnel e inboards with a lot of volved. Mackeys on that board, e and he keeps the tightened up plenty stiff. I cant even talk to Ric, he wouldnt listen. Spang Calls to Jill said, By the way, I saw that Captain Mackey last night after you Say Good-B- y Nice to have seen you again. left me, Spang. He came up and introduced himself. He thought that Good-bshe remarked, rising. he once knew my mother. Shes quite sure that Ric is a rich Spang did not speak for a breath. womans son and that Im a med- Then he said, soberly, Thats an dling sister with my knife out for old line, Jill. All the old greedy throats like hers, Jill told spring it when they get their eyes herself. on a pretty young girl. Fatherly She put Ric out of her mind grimKnock em off their approach. ly and thought only of Spang, won- guard. dering if she would see him again. But he didnt appear to be inowned in me at all. He merely she terested that Everything lovely she had put on this morning. She had said that he knew a girl once in turned a hundred times before the Tennessee named Julia McFar-lanmirror, changed her lipstick twice, Thats part of the technic, Jill. worried at her nails, and pinned and But it could be true, you know. into the hair her exactly repinned a belle before she was right sort of halo so that every Mother was and it was 'war then, too, with should shimmer allure, married, curl when at last the telephone rang. Spang. You couldnt by any chance Spang said, Hello, Jill. I was be jealous? eighty-year-ol- red-tap- red-tap- v y, es , e. Im early! But though he said good-b- y half a dozen times, he did not speak of love. He hung up, with the same little flick as the salute he always gave when he left her. She breathed, I love you, But the click of the teleSpang. phone being disconnected left the whisper hanging in air, unheard, unanswered. After that she cried. Long and wretchedly, all alone, with the hot afternoon passing. The yellow leaves began falling from the apple trees and the sumac burned red against the fences. Jill crossed her booted leg over the saddle. The mare, Daves new saddle mare, was warm and saltily moist and lazy. I hate September! Jill said abruptly. Its a stupid month, that doesnt mean anything. It isnt summer, and it isnt fall. It just sulks through thirty days. All the flowers are tired, but they wont die, and the whole world looks shabby. People look shabby, too, in fady summer clothes or fall things that show dust and are smothery. If ever I do something completely mad and unforgivable it will be because its September and I cant bear it. Dave did not look at her. Julia was worried about Jill, her growing irritation, her restlessness, her impatience with everything. That isnt the answer, Dave, Not trumped-u- p Julia had said. jobs that she sees through instantly and does with that air of awful patience and thinly concealed contempt. She knew so well that there was no answer to the problem of Jill. The bloom of love, fruity and glowing, was upon Jill now, she was ripe with it, gilded with it, and every nerve and vein were vibrant with readiness, and she had not been chosen. Her loneliness was made brackish by the bitter distillation of disappointment, and tears too fiercely contained canker into acid and weaken the strongest spir- helps lessen congestion with-o- fi (! (W (W(WW (W (V (W ft. (W The Answers One dealing realistically with scenes from everyday life. 2. Fourth, 97 million using pounds. 3. A habitual criminal. 4. Home, Sweet Home. 5. It has sleeping space for 180 passengers or a military load capacity of 400 men. 6. In New Haven, Conn., on 1. January 28, 1878. 7. New York and San Francisco. GOT HIM DOWN? ut irritating childs delicate normal skin. At same time comforting vapors lessen coughing spasms. Copyright. 1940. Th Menthol turn Co. MENTHOLATUM GET QUICK! oooi boWng srsts&'-Jbiscuit tor bo'iot' 9cl0bbel if story i double O0 A TJ yen :.! - ..thot iSSl mmxrn I Guaranteed by l Good Housekeeping HHr A J&l IJauA. psUi&Dfud. ScuAitf Bui. VL.&. ScwinqA. Bauch.! it. Take her places, Dave, Julia I cannot do anyhad pleaded. thing for her. -- Jill Tries Her Hand at Cupid So Dave and Jill rode the hills on this first Sunday in September and when Jill had spoken her tirade weather she against the kicked her toe back into the stirrup and jerked the mares head up and said in a sharp and harsh voice, Dave, why dont you marry my mother? Because he said slowly she believes that shes still married to your father. Jill clicked her teeth. You know that hope is fantastic, Dave. Yes, Jill, I know. I never saw my father, she went on. He was in France when I was bom. Mother doesnt even know for sure that he ever knew that I was bom. She wrote letters but never had any answers. The letters didnt come back, nothing came back. Its grisly to think about Grandfather going over there and watching them open graves but in war things like that happen. Yes, they happen. Then we went to Washington and Mother and Grandfather spent days investigating records but there wasnt anything. And yet she sun-dru- nk , goes on waiting. (TO BE CONTINUED) ' (W(W(W(U What two cities are the terminals of the Lincoln highway? 7. Rub in Ben-Ga- y for welcome, fast relief from k y contains up to pain. Gentle, soothing 2V2 times more of those famous agents known to all doctors methyl salicylate and menthol than five other widely offered rub-inInsist on the original Baume Analgesique. genuine Ben-GaIt acts fast where you hurt , Also for Paio due to RHEUMATISM, MUSCLE ACHE, and COLDS. stiff-nec- Ben-Ga- pain-relievi- s. y, Ask for Mild Ben-Ga- y for Children. |