Show I I fl V TO B 1 fl Li DOLL By BS GENE FOR GILBERT LUCK I PALMER PALMER ALMER soared through the sky a 1 i A with a light heart He was leaving leav leav- tag ing ng a hard life behind years of W r hand mouth hand mouth to-mouth existence years of depending on occasional charter trips and the students able to pay the high rates on n his big machine The future opened before him He would get a new ship one of those range long all metal Jobs go in for long distance competitive races ADd And he would have a looking swell looking girl with a pile of dough to pay poy the bills Dills He glanced at the Instrument board saw that everything was all right The cabin ship roared steadily stead stead- fly ily over Connecticut at four thousand thousand thousand thou thou- sand feet There were scattered Clouds beneath him but not enough to hide the ground His luck was breaking right for the first time just right Reaching up he patted the mascot swinging from the roof on a length of ribbon It was a small doll black of face with two pearl buttons set In the satin for eyes a piece of red silk stitched across the lower half of the face for a 1 mouth It was garbed In n a loud plaid dress green andr and r red That stuffed rail little figure had been hanging In this ship for lor over two years ears Palmer had come to believe believe belleve be be- lieve it was lucky The girl who had loaned him the down payment on the machine had put it there He had bad met her one summer when he had been barnstorming with a small old ship and they had knocked blocked around together for three months She had been pretty sure of hersel herself Palmer recalled loaned hiM money talked about how we wc wore going to make a fortune with the tha larger ship He Ile recalled the night when they had won the doll at a small car car- nIva niva r In one of the toss ring games He had made up his mind already t. t to pull out sometime soon And Ith it 1 t h had d a annoyed him somewhat to see her having such a gay time But Buthe Buthe he be could not tell her there was no need to say ay goodbye tearfully and have her bawl and carry carryon on in front of him On their way home she had bad insisted insisted in in- that they hey go to the geld field where his ship was staked down downIn In the open and sit in the cabin for a few minutes She had been i f big and light blonde and sentimental tal Just before they had left the I cabin she had pinned the thin thing g to the upholstery on the ceiling our luck Eric she had hada a said As long as she's there well we'll always be safe sate Palmer had smiled kissed he herand her herand r and taken her home At dawn of o f the same morning he had tak taken take n noff oft off and come East He had never neve r returned Once in a while a letter from her had caught up with him but he had not answered What was the use He had intended to t p send her back the loan when he her het f r t could He was grateful for the help lf i and everything But how could he be explain without hurting her that J they were just not suited to each other When the letters had bad stopped coming he had thought that she had understood Then some fellow who had known them both had handed him a clipping without a word She had been killed in a crossing accident It seemed that her car had stalled on the tracks and that she had made no effort to get out The fellow evidently thought she had done it on pur pur- pose Palmer knew better That t girl had bad had character she would not have done away with herself 1 t over a few hundred bucks and a broken engagement He had been tempted to take fl iv that doll down Then he had reat reasoned rea rea- ti t Boned that It would be In a way I K Q 1 1 i N 9 Y f e y U f He lie Jerked the doll loose and tossed It out through the open side window I an admission of remorse And he had nothing to blame himself for The doll had brought him luck at last Eleanore She had looks and background and money Furthermore Furthermore Further Further- more she had the kind of a spirit he liked which he needed close to him To her a ship wasn't something something something some some- thing to work for a small house I Ifor for an ordinary living She enjoyed what he enjoyed fame her name inthe In Inthe inthe the papers She loved him all right but she would always understand that he must take talce long chances A AHEAD HEAD he saw the small field where she was waiting They would drive to her home be married married mar mar- ried Tied and fly away He tipped his left wing banked lazily over a field A bright spot of color detached de ds- detached itse itself from rom a long sleek dark car Eleanore waving her scarf That was service service already already His girl waiting for him with a sixteen cylinder bus complete with chauffeur His spirits surged higher This was a private airport no inspector would be around so he was safe sate In m giving her a show He slammed the motor full on nosed down then hauled the ship up and over in a tight loop He leveled off and eased her around a few wing wing wing-overs wIng and and overs-and and level flight again Something caught his eye the doll swinging from the roof root grinning grinning grin grin- ning He smiled and slapped it like a punching punching bag bag a few times glanced at nt his altimeter He Ire still 11 had fifteen hundred feet One last las t stunt and then he could land H He circled the field once more swung g around and when he was almost over over ov ov- o oer w er the car shoved the throttle fulon fullon full ful on and dove In a screaming fall The moving doll again attracted his hi s glance Eleanore had tightened her lip lips when he had told her it was a souvenir from a dame before h he got serious with her It might b be tactful to ditch It scarce now now scarcely now scarcely the memento for a perfect honey honey- moon A s small an sacrifice to lov love e He reached out Jerked it loose an and d tossed it out through the open ope n side window and pulled the wheel el back to neutral Eleanore was standing still b by y the side of the car he noticed an and d he decided to level off No need t to frighten hor her He hauled back further fur tur- ther on the wheel It yielded an Inch inc h and and stuck He pulled again agam harder hard hard- ha haer er and the wheel stuck the stuck the wheel e l stuck stuck- He must get her nose up lev leveloff level e el he off off he was doing better than t two wo hundred and the ground was clos close Too close I Caught between the horizon horizontal tel stabilizer and the counterweight ht for the elevators the small mall black blac k doll in the loud green and red plaid dress seemed to widen the grin ather of at her scarlet satin mouth |