OCR Text |
Show THE FIFTH OF AUGUST I ?sdrJr By Helen Longworthy i Anna had always been a devoted housewife and mother so it came as a shock to her that her family could be so indifferent to her needs at a time when she felt they should be generous and helpful. 1 ANNA FAR RANT read the letter three times. It didn't seern believable. be-lievable. Nothing, she decided, had made her so happy since the day the war ended. But it was like Anna Farrant to fold the letter neatly and go on about the business ot getting dinner din-ner for Jim. Ruth and Lillian without with-out even so much as taking time to call one ot them on the phone to tell them the good news. It was after dinner that she told them. It came all In a happy rush of words. "Belle Mandrel has asked me to visit her. Imagine! clear across the country." There was a long silence. It was Ruth, the librarian, who spoke first. Ruth was as proud of her knowledge knowl-edge of Important People as of books. Almost reverently she breathed, "Not the Belle Mandrel T" Anna felt cross for an Instant. Her memory of Belle Mandrel was the happy-go-lucky girl of their college col-lege days. Ruth was thinking of the Belle Mandrel who was an impor tant adviser to the politicians and who last week visited the king of England. "Fuss and feathers," said Anna lightly, "I'm not afraid of Belle . Mandrel. In fact I think .I'll ." The words hung in the air. "Of course you'll go," Jim finished fin-ished heartily. "The girls and I will manage. Do you good!" He gave her a beaming smile that after twontv-flve years still gave Anna thrill. "Think of all you'll have to talk about, too." Lillian chimed in. It was like Lillian, the teacher to think of that! Anna knew that Lillian's Lil-lian's fifth graders would be told the big news early tomorrow. "When is the great day?" Jim asked. "The fifth ot August," Anna answered an-swered almost like a pronouncement. pronounce-ment. It had been easier than she had hoped. They were the finest family ever to be in favor of her going on that long trip. In the days that followed Anna was to retell her plans for the trip dozens of times. Everyone was interested in-terested to find that she was a friend of the great Belle Mandrel. There was a short write-up in the newspaper about Anna's trip. Lillian worried over what she would do without a big supply of the satin slips her mother made for her. In her competent way Anna told her that she would make an extra supply before she left. Fussing Fuss-ing over the satin, she knew she could have told Lillian to buy her slips at the store but Lillian had been babied too long, Anna told herself her-self with a happy smile. Very shortly Ruth, knowing she would be cook while her mother was away, fretted that she would be left with lots of canning. Anna assured her she would get It in before she left. The house, of course, must be spotless. It was in one of the few breathing breath-ing spells Anna allowed herself that she rummaged around In her clothes closet and decided that scarcely any ot her clothes were suitable for the fifth of August. They were fine for small town church societies but Anna wanted to look nice when she started on the trip. The family would want her to look well too. She wondered if one of the girls or Jim would slip her a nice check and suggest she buy a new outfit. It was going to be funl There came the momentous day that Jim placed a very businesslike business-like envelope on her plate at dinner. din-ner. Anna opened it, expecting the check for her clothes. Instead it was her train ticket and sleeping car reservation. Jim gave a hearty laugh, "Just wanted you to be sure you could go," he told her, well pleased with himself. Anna opened her mouth to say she had known all along a ticket was required unless she walked, but how about some money? Then she decided to wait. The family would like to think it surprised her. At least it was comforting to know they were well able to provide for her. From then on every place they went Jim had her take the long ticket tick-et from her purse and show it olT. Anna's smile began to wear thin at the corners as the family forgot the check in their pride of her ticket. Coming home from a movie around the first of July Anna made a big effort to have Jim see a new dress she had noticed in the Bon It would happen that it was the very next day that both Lillian and Ruth "checked up" on her to see if the canning was done and the fussy slips all made. "Everything's ready but me!" Anna told them pointedly. . "Oh, you'll make it," Lillian assured as-sured her, comfortably. Anna wasn't sure that she wanted want-ed to. She wished for an excuse to stay at home. There were times when she admitted to a few doubts on whether she had the most thoughtful family, ever. The day that Anna began hauling haul-ing old suitcases from the attic Jim came home early. Anna was looking at the suitcases with disgust. dis-gust. They were relics. "Kind of old, aren't they?" Jim asked her. "They were old in 1900." Anna told him. She waited expectantly for Jim to say, "Here, take this, get yourself a couple of good bags." But Jim sat down to his newspaper. news-paper. Neither did the girls make any comment when the- saw the ancient suitcases. Anna was desperate. From her jewel box she removed the broach her mother had left her years previous previ-ous and hurried to the Jewelry store. Her thoughts were bitter. That she should be forced to pawn her treasured broach to provide just ordinary clothing for her trip! She wondered if old maids really deserved pity after all. The jeweler was an old friend and looked at her in wonderment ( Xxav kit- Lillian was opening a jewel case to display a pair of earrings. "To match your good broach," she explained. Ton store window. There were two but Anna much preferred the one with the white collar. Always she had pointed out her wants to Jim and he would say, "Go get it." But tonight Jim seemed too tired to even glance at the store window. Anna was quiet for a block, waiting wait-ing for Jim to say, "0. K. Pick It up tomorrow." INSTEAD Jim began talking about a week-end fishing trip planned for mid-August Anna almost gave up hope. On the fifth of July she spread out material on the kitchen table and began pinning a pattern on it. She had always hated making dresses for herself and would not have attempted this time if her family had been cooperative. In an hour Anna was crying softly to herself. The dress was going to be unsatisfactory, and besides what of a coat, hat, shoes and all those extra things? Remembering the many times she had outfitted them all to the last detail, Anna could have shook them, separately or together. togeth-er. She would not actually ask for money if she traveled In a burlap sack, she told herself. when she asked to sell the broach. He stalled around and finally offered of-fered her ten dollars. Silently Anna An-na put the pin back In her purse. Her last hope was gone. "It's something like the earrings Lillian bought here last week." the Jeweler told her. Anna never knew what she answered. an-swered. So Lillian was decking herself out like a a totem pole and meanwhile letting her mother go next to ragged on her trip! The fact that she had not shown the earrings at home proved that she was ashamed of her own greed. . It was evening, at last, the family fami-ly sat relaxed and contented after one of Anna's usual good meals. Relaxed, all but Anna. "I don't know how we will manage man-age without you," Jim said from the davenport. "And only a week until the fifth of August," Ruth chimed in. Anna was silent. Her mind had been scurrying, trying to think of an excuse not to go. She wondered if she should plead a sudden sick spell. The family's thoughtlessness was sufficient cause for a sick spell. Lillian went to the hall and came back with a loud thumping noise. There was a moment of silence and then the three shouted almost in unison, "Surprise!" Anna turned in her chair slowly. Suitcases, the newest kind, were In Lillian's hands. "Open them," Lillian said gleefully. The two suitcases were carefully packed; full ot new dresses, long housecoats, house-coats, satin slips, filmy underwear. Anna even saw three pairs of new shoes wrapped in towels. She gasped and looked at the label of the top-most dress. It was too much to expect that the things would fit. "0.1, they'll fit," Ruth told her proudly. "We certainly checked and rechecked." She unfolded one dress and Anna saw It was the companion dress to the one she had forced Jim to view. Trust Jim to remember the wrong onel Anna was stunned. She tried to say, "You were wonderful," but the words stuck. Lillian was open-In open-In p a Jewel case to display a pair oi earrings. "To match your good broach," she explained. That brought a tear to Anna's eyes. They had tried to help. They had been thoughtful. In their way. The anxiety they had caused her they would never know. Ruth was proudly showing her the fussy silk underwear that Anna An-na didn't like. Jim was beaming all over the place. Anna still couldn't find words. "We thought we would save you time," Ruth told her. Lillian felt playful and teased, "Why you wouldn't even have thought of your clothes until August Au-gust fifth!" |