Show k J S THE FICTION CORNER THE RUG I By VIRGINIA SULLIVAN TOMLINSON TOM LINSON j jI T I KNEW the Farraday family be I I I. tore lore It happened I knew themI then them I first when I was nine and Ellen Ellei EllenI I Farraday was eight and in hi my class clas at school There were two other I 4 children Skippy the baby who I was five and Dora seventeen Jus just i entering business school Dora was wa I engaged to marry Danny Wright I who ran the station service In town Mr Farraday was branch manage of our local bank Such a nice quiet man people said If 11 only that wife wile of his were not such s a fool tool I didn't think Mrs Farraday was wa wasa wasI waa I a fool I liked her The sprawling I old Farraday house with its sagging sagging sag sag- ging ging porch was always in lit nce need of repair the shabby room living would be cluttered and dishes unwashed unwashed un un- washed but Mrs Farraday was wa never too busy to plan games foi for rainy afternoons or picnics in summer summer summer sum sum- mer in their rickety old car She was little and quick and dark with rather kittenish ways always thinking up something new and exciting ex cx like citing like the dress she designed the th thEaster for ifor Dora that won the prize in Easter parade There was nothing I loved more than going over to the Farraday house whenever I had the chance Saturday mornings they always had pancakes Sundays they had sausages sausages sau sages and Boston baked beans and applesauce in a blue glass dish And they had bad laughter A great deal oi of laughter laughter except except when Aunt Abbey came to call Aunt Abbey was Mr Farraday's aunt a very rich very unpleasant old lady who lived In an imposing granite house at the erid of town It was no secret that she disapproved bitterly of the entire Farraday fam fam- lly ily Why she visited them nobody knew unless it was because of all aU her relatives they refused to be impressed impressed im im- pressed by her money or upset by her caustic tongue They merely accepted her all but Mrs Farraday Farraday Farra Farra- day who seemed to like having Aunt Abbey around Curiously enough it was wac of if Mrs Farraday herself that Aunt Abbey most bitterly bitterly bit bit- terly disapproved My nephews nephew's wife isn't fooling pretending pretendIng pretend pretend- me shed she'd say Always ing to be so gay What's she got to tobe tobe tobe be happy about Id I'd like to know I If my nephew had married a sensible woman hed he'd have amounted to something by now I 1 declare my mother said it it gives me the creeps the way that old lady looks at Mrs Farraday I believe she really hates her She hates them all aU my ray father said because they've got what she never had The have contentment All Aunt Abbey has is money and when she's gone they'll have that too Only they Because when Aunt Abbey died the year Ellen Farraday was nine rune she left them no rio money at all Her entire estate went to charity with one exception She left Mrs Farraday a rug It was an Oriental rug exceptionally large and lovely golden in color satiny to the touch starred with dusty pink flowers Its a shame hame people said laid when those children need money so But of course they can sell the rug Its It's valuable and Orientals are In vogue Then a dealer offered Mrs Farraday for her rug The town rejoiced for the Farra Farra- days This meant college for theS the S children and money to fix up the old fJ house But to the amazement of everyone Mrs Farraday stubbornly stubborn stubborn- ly refused to sell celL She had bad always admired that rug she said Shed She'd been as surprised as anyone when Aunt Abbey had left it to her She I had always thought Aunt Abbey disliked disliked dis- dis dis liked her all those unkind remarks she used to make But now she was grateful for the rug and meant to keep it Since the narrow living room atthe at atthe atthe the was too small for the rug Mr Farraday was persuaded to sell the home and rent a 11 house with larger rooms Their old stuff duI looked pretty shabby against the rug so with the money from the sale of the home they bought new furniture And after awhile because of ot the friends they acquired in the new surroundings the bought a new car too I saw less of Ellen now except at I schooL Gradually my visits to the W I u I Ic c rc fi A iF I 4 c 3 r. r cr I S I I a a I II I I IN S. S Shed She'd taken Skippy Ski to the picnic hadn't she Sh She should not have LQ S gone off with t that a beau of hers I I leaving the child alone by the lake lak had ceased partly because because be be- cause my mother disapproved of Dora Farraday's new friends Dora had always been a sweet docile little thing ambitious to get along Now No she had given up business school She had even broken off her engagement to Danny Wright Dora had a new beau now one shed she'd met through her crowd Nobody liked him but he was rich and he gave Dora a good time He had a weak handsome face and a loud scoffing laugh Id I'd see them together as I walked home from school dashing around town in his rakish car or going into Vans Van's Place for drinks People felt sorry for Danny Wright Hed He'd been so crazy about Dora and always so glad to have Skippy and Ellen around ORAS ORA'S new beau didn't like cull chil DORAS DORA'S D dren He objected to Skippy trailIng trailIng trail trail- Ing her about Skippy was six now I Ivery I very spoiled and rather a nuisance but it seemed hardly fair to blame Dora entirely for what happened at at atthe atthe the Elks' Elks picnic that year Everyone Elks' Elks picnic that year Everyone said though that it rt was Doras Dora's fault Shed She'd taken Skippy to the picnic picnic pic plc- nic flue hadn't she She should not have gone off of with that beau of hers leaving the child alone by the lake My father was one of the men wh took Skippy's little body out of th the water that night My mother sat sal with Mrs Farraday when the they brought him home Dora Farraday Farr didn't come home at all She sent a 8 telegram It arrived just as they were bringing Skippy's body into the house Dora had left Skippy alone by the lake to elope to NewYork New NewYork NewYork York with her new beau Ellen continued at school she had always been very quiet And after awhile Mrs Farraday went about the town again holding her head very high smiling her fixed gay smile Only Mr Farraday seemed 1 changed chanced He aged visibly that year Nobody was surprised when the cold he caught just before Christmas Christmas Christ Christ- mas turned into pneumonia The doctors said that he just hadn't the will to live Dora came home when her father died Mrs Farraday sent her the money Doras Dora's husband had left her herand herand herand and Dora had been working in New NewYork York clerking In a store People I thought that perhaps shed she'd stay home now since her mother needed her but nobody really expected she would Danny Wright was married now to one of Doras Dora's former classmates class class- mates a plain little girl with adoring ador ador- I ing lag eyes They came to Mr Farraday's Farraday's Farra- Farra days day's funeral sitting closely to-l to together together to- to gether In the church The week after the funeral Dora went w-ent back to tol her job in New York and the day after she left Mrs Farraday came camei to see my ray father about selling her rug to pay her bills My My- father did his best but this was a depression year year and and nobody had money now for Oriental rugs The five thousand dollars he finally got from a dealer barely paid for fort Mr Farraday's funeral and fort fori Mrs Farraday's debts Mrs Farraday Farra Farm day got a job at the hotel Her salary included room and board so that Ellen could live with her too It was storming hard the day they moved down there We left lett them alone and drove home through the snow covered town passing the old Farraday house on the way No No-i Nobody body lived in it now Tears crowded crOWded behind my lids as we drove slowly by They were happy In that house my ray father said A great pity they ever moved out of it If IL I Aunt Abbey knew what she was doing when she made that will then she must be laughing now in her grave My mother moth r spoke suddenly I That it iU she exclaimed She Shedid did know what she was doing And Im I'm surprised that I never though thought of it before What do you mean My father stared at her Her voice had sounded sound lound sound 1 ed strange S She knew exactly what she was wa doing my mother said And wherever she is she probably I Is laughing I Aunt Abbey knew that Mrs Farraday would never be able to resist living up to that rug |