OCR Text |
Show H-H"!-M"H'I I I-l-' I ! T MM T ' I! HAPPY I NEW YEAR But It Was Cold I ; ; By Clara Agee Hay3 J II It I"i"I"I"I"H-H-W-S"h'l"M"l"I"l"M"l"H- ppT, j RANT BARKER sneaked pj into his bedroom slippers IifS'l and bathrobe, slipped on a i&T : pair of rubbers at the back tlL-gjl door, and shivered out into the gray New Year's dawn. Murder burned in Grant's eyes. He forgot the sprinkle of goose flesh which covered him, the shivers which wrenched him as the frosty air blew up his pajaraa legs. Viciously, he tossed the revolver onto a bank of snow by the door. Too noisy 1 Some body'd hear, and tbere'd been so niuct-In niuct-In the papers. He picked up a stick That, would get him. Grant's teetli grated In hate. Stealthily he slippec1 alley-ward until he neared a large yel low cat. He paused. Better catch hirn -x. ..and call the Humane society to kill him. Then, nobody'd know. Tbere'd been such a fuss about killing pets already. It was like Rolland Watts to havi a cat and let him howl in people'? back yards all night. Grant remen. bered when they had been pals bt-fore bt-fore I hey had married and tried ll ing side by side. Now, they nevei spoke. Why should they? Watt-was Watt-was unreasonable. He'd even callc the police about Grant's dog! CouUn'' prove anything. Teddy's never bit ten anybody, let alone the Watt.-brats. Watt.-brats. Grant snatched at his yellow enemy. The cat darted through hi-hands hi-hands and up the alley. Barker hesitated, listening to i suspicious crunching of snow oetr him. Quickly realizing that his ye' low hair stood on end, his ankle red with the cold, were bare, and hi pajamas flapped below his ridiculou bathrobe, he slunk against the gurag-"Sh gurag-"Sh !" he heard. "Daddy, did you get Barker's dog?' called a childish voice. Grant bristled angrily. Sol "Sh 1 Not yet Go back to bed," a voice stage-whispered near him. Grant could stand no more. He lunged across a snowdrift toward the Bound. "So I" he said accusingly. Rolland Watts jumped back in astonishment. He, too, wore a frayed bathrobe. Under It Grant saw a trace of outing nightshirt and bare legs. Watts held a piece of raw meat Grant's teeth chattered In the cold. "Trying to poison my dog, huh?" ha sneered. Holland looked at the meat guiltily; guilt-ily; then glared, "What're you doing, yourself, with that stick after my cat, huh?" The two men stepped closer, menacingly. men-acingly. A tinkle halted them. Whirling, Whirl-ing, they saw the milk man eyeing A, them in amusement. He turned qulck-' qulck-' ly and respectfully. "Happy New Year, gentlemen 1" he called. Something Some-thing like the old boyish twinkle showed slowly in Rolland's eyes. "Honest, Grant, I didn't know the cat bothered you," he said at last. o - "Cosh, we'll shut him up nights after this I" Grant looked up. The rotund, baldisli man with the silly night shirt and the meat was, after all, old Rolland. He laughed. "I'm going go-ing to muzzle Teddy right away," ha said and dropped the stick. "Happy New Year, old manl Lord, ain't it cold?" (. 192S. Western Newspaper Union.) |