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Show I all FICTION IMPROMPTU M 1 -13 By FLORENCE BAUCH it" 11 T JOINED the crowd gathered on the bridge watching the crew dragging tlie lake above the dam. "Who are they searching for this time?" I nsked as I pushed closer to the rail. "Young Doc Warren," several answered an-swered at onre. I had never seen young William Warren, but I knew about him the whole town knew about him. He had joined the army with our National Na-tional (Irani. The boys were still singing his praises. lie had been through a lot at the front and had won the complete devotion of his men by his untiring efforts and unceasing good humor. He had returned re-turned to hi? father's clinic almost Immediately upon his return to the States. I had heard little about him in reicnt months. "What ahout the woman they were drj.gging for yesterday?" I asked. "They found her earlier this morning. I'lnin case of suicide. I!ut when the boats were coming In to the dock over there by those willows they found a man's hat. It had his name inside William Warren." "And about the same time," another an-other put in, "the police find this car on the bridge, out of gas and nobody around." He pointed to a green sedan that several officers were shaking down. "They find a driver's license on the steering post In the namo of young Doc Warren. They figure something has happened hap-pened to the Doc, so while they radio headquarters for a check the boats lower the grab hooks and start working again." I edged my way over near a couple patrolmen who had arrived from headquarters. Calls to Doc Warren's home, his office, the two hospitals, all brought the same response: re-sponse: he wasn't there. His wife had told the officers that he had left home early, before she and the children were up. He had come home late after an emergency operation, seemed unable to relax, and had spent a restless night. She had awakened while he was dressing dress-ing ai.d asked If he had a call. He explained that he was just going out to clear the cobwebs from his mind. He had kissed her goodby. She had thought no more about it until the police called. I moved back to the rail to watch the boats as they trolled slowly toward us, the grappling hooks searching the lake bottom In the lane between them. The water was plenty choppy, a cold raw wind had been blowing out of the north since yesterday. Nothing about the scene semed urgent. The boats moved slowly. The crowd just stood and watched, coat collars turned up against the wind. A young boy had crawled under my arms to press himself against the rail, excited by his first-hand experience with tragedy. "They got BomethinV he shouted, and the crowd came to life. All turned toward the men in the boats, watching watch-ing with a strange fascination, waiting wait-ing to see what was being dragged , out. Someone said, "That's him!" when the men pulled the thing loose from the hooks. "They put him In a gunny sack!" We saw the men In one of the boats peering Into the Back. Then one of them, looking up at us, pulled out and held up a decoy some hunter had lost. There was a murmur mur-mur of relief, of restrained amusement, amuse-ment, and the crowd settled back again Into their coat collars. Someone commented, "This Jumping Jump-ing off bridges is getting to be an epidemic." Another one questioned, "How do you know he jumped? Maybe he was pushed." Another said, seriously, "That's right. My boy knew him. He wasn't a coward. If he's in that lake he was murdered." A siren wailed and the crowd fell back to make room for another patrol pa-trol car which drew up alongside the green sedan. "There's Old Doc Warren," someone in the crowd said as an elderly man stepped out of the car. I worked my way toward the cars. I could hear Old Doc Warren talking. talk-ing. "Yes, this is his car. He has been working hard too hard, but what doctor hasn't these days? So far 'as I know he has no enemies, but I don't believe my son would commit suicide!" There was another stir of excitement. excite-ment. I threaded my way back to the rail to see if this time they had reiilly found him. The boys in the boats were having hav-ing difficulty hauling in the lines, but when the catch broke water we could see it was just a log. As they dropped it back the shrill whistle of the interurban reminded me that I was already late for work. I reluctantly pulled myself away and headed toward town. Down the road I stopped at Thil's Phii-Kr-Up. I liked Thil and I could save the city gasoline tax. "Where's the boss?" I asked the young attendant who dashed out to wait on me, "up at the lake watching watch-ing them drag for the body?" "Gosh, no!" exclaimed the boy as he fumbled with the hose. "Has he been having a time! His wife had a baby this morning, a week before she was expecting it!" Just then Phil came out of the living quarters in the back with another an-other young man. Phil was beaming like the traditional proud father as ho pulled his hat down firmly. The other man didn't seem excited. I heard Phil say, "Hey, Doc, you forgot your hat." Ho turned to go back. But the other man laughed. "You were too excited to notice that I didn't have one when I walked in here for gas. The wind blew it off as I stepped out of my car on the bridge." ,V&pf A; WbT? n had ki88ed her goodby. She 'Yu-- vKiuy? na(' thought no more about it jfe. Tvt Mnta ,he P,ice called. |