Show ti S 5 fiCTION rT REWRITE MAN MANBy 1 I I R j IL B By HILDA PHELPS HAMMOND ND eo net S I. I M MARTY ARTY HENDRICKS tapped his pencil on the desk and glanced I nervously at the wall clock Only S twenty minutes more before the I dead line for tor the afternoon Star and not a n story worth a rap had come in lover over the telephone Not that Marty Hendricks usually worried about I whit kind of at story came in over the wire He had always alwa's had magic inI in his fingers magic fingers magic that let him take I the bit of at news from police I stations or fire houses and write re-write it into a regular Arabian Nights tale But today things had been dif dif- dif dif- I ferent Today Marty Hendricks had overheard a conversation between I the city editor and the Chief and his whole world had crumbled Say the Chief Chiet had said as asI I Marty paused a moment outside his j i halt half open door I to sharpen a aI aI I I pencil This Th I I 15 w wrong r 0 n g with I Weeks Week's Marty He used I I to be the best I Best write rewrite man inI in inthe I the whole I Fiction South C Could a u I d I take a s story tor y over the the wire end ond turn it into a piece that made madea a sob sister out of at every woman But Buthe's Buthe's Buthe's hes he's gone to pieces pIeces pIeces-hasn't hasn't written a good story for tor months Ive noticed that myself the city editor answered as Martys Marty's heart thumped Guess hes hes he's gone stale Twenty-five Twenty years at a are re rewrite rewrite re- re write desk will do that to a man i Well hell he'll have to spruce up or give up the Job the Chief growled Theres a young man asking for tor that job and they say hes he's a dandy doesn't perk up wed we'd better better better bet bet- ter put him back on some light work and get that young tell fellow ow The conversation had trailed on but Marty had not listened to any anymore anymore anymore more a of it His hands were trembling trem trem- bling hUng as he found his way back to his desk and there was a lump hi irs his throat that he couldn't swallow no matter how hard bard he tried He Marty Hendricks the best write re man that the Star had ever had I about to be ditched He sat down at his desk and tried to think what It would mean to Sarah Ann 1 If he lost this job Sarah SarahAnn SarahAnn Ann was a good wife wife wife-a a mighty good one ne She could make a dollar go further than any other wife he knew but even Sarah Ann had a ahard ahard ahard hard time getting all the things the kids needed out of at his salary And If that was cut no telling how they'd be able to manage Six kids they they ate up a lot six kids did And now pow that Marty Junior was heading for tor college they had to put puta a little aside every month Yes six kids were an awful lot TOO lot TOO MANY he thought as he glanced down at the snapshot pressed under the glass top of at his desk There they I were were Sarah Sarah Ann and the six of them He turned his eyes away from tram the snapshot and glanced at the wall clock If 11 a story would only come come- Just one story that would let him show the Chief Chiet what he could dol do dolAh Ah there An-there there was the telephone now nosy S it J 1 He lie remembered there was a bi bicycle bicycle hi- hi cycle and a boy at his house too He picked up the receiver and cleared his throat Hello he said Yes An accident at St. St Charles Avenue and Adams Yes Ive I've got cot it What's that Boy ten years old no hope a bi bicycle bicycle bi bi- cycle and a car yes whose boy Dont Don't know yet I see He lIe put down the receiver and pulled his typewriter towards him His fingers reached for the keys Ten minutes to the thc dead line now hed he'd have to hurry Hed He'd have to make it a good story this might be the last story hed he'd ever write re-write l if he didn't make it good i-i i HIS HIS eyes strayed again to the beneath the snapshot glass Ten years old why that was just the age of at little Andy Perhaps the boy looked like Andy perhaps perhaps per per- haps he had blue eyes and red checks cheeks and a nose that turned up His fingers began to play upon the keys of at the typewriter typewriter lightly lightly as though someone else were writing Funny he thought that the words should slip off of the keys so fast tast now he didn't even have to think The story was writing Itself writing itself this way He might have been mine That's what every man and woman in New Orleans should think when they read about the year ten boy who will never ride a bicycle again It happened at St. St Charles Avenue and Adams Street in hi the City of ot New Orleans but it happens every day in hi every city o of America It n was only a second-hand second bike but bike but the boy must have thought it as handsome as any bicycle that ever came out of ot a department store His father probably didn't want him to have it and his mother probably didn't want him to have it either But mothers and fathers have soft hearts and so this mother and father father fa fa- fa ther couldn't bear to say no to him although their heads must have told them that they were svere fools tools to send a child of ot ten into that line of ot traffic The bicycle was painted red and the handlebars were still silvery when they found the pieces But the wheels of at the bicycle were as crumbled crumbled crum crum- bled and twisted as the body of at the small boy The police pollee haven't reported reported re- re ported yet who was to blame for forthe forthe forthe the accident but WE know It was the fault of at nil of at us the us-the the fault of at modern civilization which allows cars and trucks and little lads on bicycles to ride together on the same streets He might have been your kid kid and and he might have been mine What are arc we going to do about It Marty stopped a moment and reread reread re rc- re- re read the last line It was a funny tunny line to end a story with he thought a a wrong line perhaps The Chief Chiet might not like It He started to change it but he First of ot all because he couldn't think of at anything else to say and then too because he was in a great hurry all at once He snatched the paper from the typewriter and fairly ran to the city editors editor's desk The city editors editor's eyes traveled over the page Pretty good he announced when he had finished reading it A little too much editorial editorial edi edi- tonal flavor to It but youve you've perked up Marty why wheres where's he gone gone For Marty Hendricks HAD gone He had made the elevator in nothing noth noth- ing lag flat and he was already shooting down in hi the lilt lift He wasn't wonderIng wondering wondering wonder wonder- ing how the city editor liked the story story and and he wasn't caring whether er the Chief Chiet liked It or not He was remembering that there was a secondhand sec see hand and bicycle at his house house house-a a bIcycle bicycle bi bI- cycle that was painted red and had silvery handle bars Of course there were thousands of ot bicycles like that in New Orleans he told himself as the elevator stopped and let him out But he had to be SURE Sure that he and Sarah Ann still had time to take that bicycle out of circulation 1 I Jobs weren't important Marty Hendricks thought as he ran along the street and hailed a passing street car Not a bit important compared compared com pared to a boy with blue eyes and nd rosy cheeks checks and a turned up nose He could get another job job but but he couldn't get another kid like Andy Not anywhere in the whole world And six kids weren't too many No Sir said Marty Hendricks to himself as he swung on to the car step Six kids are JUST EXACTLY EXACTLY EX EX- RIGHT |