Show J L LOST R 1 S Bt 1 7 LaV LOVER it R 1 il 2 iii- iii b Z f l' l Julia Jana Dooley McFarlane l husband Richard disappeared in World War I 1 leaving her with two children She and law John I. I McFarlane her ber father law father In have bave tried In vain to nod and some trace of Richard either dead or alive Twenty five tin years later Rie Is 27 7 and serving servIn In the army of World War II while Jill JIU 26 G professes an interest In Spang Span Gordon a young lieutenant Julia JulJa cUn clings to the belief that Richard may yet be alive and refuses to have bave him declared legally leally dead Her lIer greatest worry la is that ber her daughter might marry Spang thus thUI becoming an army wife subject to the same grief she has hu endured en dared dured for a quarter of a century with out oot wore word of Richard CHAPTER II Julia twisted her hands bands er John I. I she began abruptly Ric uRIc didn't have a furlough turlough when he be came home He traded for tor some other mans man's pass Jill told me The old m mans man's ms m's mustache twitched I suppose if they put him in the house guard-house you'd send him a fruitcake fruit fruit- fruitcake cake with a file in it IU If flU they put him in the guardhouse guardhouse guardhouse guard guard- house his chances for tor a commission are gone Might be a good thing Being a buck private might be good for tor him He stood up glared down at her fiercely Dooley you spoiled that boy boyl I II I know Julia said heavily but buthe buthe buthe he was was all all I had bad He needed me Jill JW didn't She was always self self- sufficient like you a McFarlane The Mc- Mc stand on their own feet teet But that young Richard Richard Richard-he's he's hes another another another an an- other other- Dont say it John I. I Julia begged pain in her eyes Weve put that bitterness away Dont Don't let it come alive again But it is coming alive again whether you want it or not Ive I've seen it for tor years I warned you that that boy was growing up like his father tather I UI was his mother Julia reminded reminded reminded re re- re- re minded him Ive heard that tool Anger swI swift t and dark rode the old mans man's face He rose and towered though he was four tour Inches shorter than she For years I heard heard that And I wasn't strong enough to defeat it So now this thing starts all over again Heres Here's another McFarlane wearing the uniform of ot his country and wearing no honor with it Julia smiled dryly without mirth Do Do I bear hear a big wind blowing Who hid the switches Id I'd like to know when he was little when Id I'd cut stout ones and laid down the Jaw law Who sneaked upstairs with suckers and gingerbread You needn't roar John I. I I know you Bike a book Dooley he said grimly no matter what you say Im I'm going to court next term and file that paper Ive I've listened to you long enough Youve You've got a right to a life lite of your own and Im I'm going to see that you have bave it Julias Julia's face tace drained swiftly and out of the whiteness her ber eyes were embers No uNo No John I I. I I wont won't let you do it it itHe He twisted his mouth You cant can't stop me if I want to do it it Julias Julia's voice came hoarse and thin I think I can stop you And AndI I will willi Hes uHe's been gone twenty-five twenty years If he were legally dead everything would be cleared up Youre You're a fool tool toola a a weak sentimental fool tool All right she sighed Im a fooL Leave it like that John I. I She walked away setting her boots down firmly John I I. I watched her go frown frown- Ing tag A beautiful woman a fine woman too good for tor that worthless man she had married the man who had been his own son Ill do it anyway he said aloud Then he leaned back and thumbed tobacco into his pipe Dave Patterson rode his horse slowly across the great dam darn On his right the power lake slept silvery silvery silvery sil sil- very and fiat under the stars a skittish young bass flinging himself himsel as an offering to the frail platinum moon and falling back to mint great coins of shadowy quicksilver A Remarkable Woman Is Julia At the lower end of the lane young pigs got up and skittered away hysterically hysterically hysterically hys hys- when the horse snorted at them Every fence tence post glistened white and beyond the wire the dew shone shane on rectangular roofs roots of ot rows of ot low houses The homely farm tarm smell was definite now the mixture of pigs and hay and cattle- cattle pond that gave Dave a feeling of ot nostalgia A naked bulb burned above a gate irate shadowed by dark old trees and Dave got down and tied his hla hI horse orse opened the gate and passing through closed it carefully walking across the shorn quiet grass to the house Behind high windows soft sott lights glowed and the house itself loomed starkly white under the aged trees Dave remembered the way it had looked not so long ago Old and faded the mortar melting sadly from between the tired bricks a little shelf shelt of at a porch with spindly railings sagging Now it was pillared pil pil- lared and restored and proud with witha a sweep of ot drive between ivied stone posts and the fanlight above the door gleaming Julia McFarlane had done all ail that Born a McFarlane and married married married mar mar- I ried to a distant cousin of ot the same name she had dragged the old place back from tram desuetude alone except for tor the fumbling tumblIng peppery encouragement of at old John I. I Mc Mc- Farlane Julia was slender and calm and merry but indomitable with it and for tor a long time longer than he liked to reckon Dave Patterson Patterson Pat Pat- Patterson terson knew that he had been Inlove in inlove inlove love with her Not that he had let her know To Dooley he was good old Dave whose farm and handsome old brick brickhouse brickhouse brickhouse house had been swallowed up by bythe bythe bythe the encroaching power project who was a big bewildered now uprooted uproot uproot- ed from the land that Pattersons had farmed for tor generations trying to find himself again by running a bank and not being very happy at atit it He was seven forty and thinning on top and one knee was stiff so the army would not have him and his first wife wite had been dead for tor so long that her ber memory had faded to a small silvery shadow He crossed the porch and opened a french trench door without knocking and instantly a young man In hi the tan I r l 1 1 L 1 t l lo lr A r I o J r rI I I could get lost mighty easy In n these hills breeches and olive-drab olive blouse of the Air Corps with a silver sliver bar baron baron baron on his shoulder jumped to his feet A dark young man his hair cut short and disciplined with difficulty with a good pair of at honest blue eyes Hello Dave said I thought you were Ric at first I thought he must have got his shoulder hard ware mighty quick How do you do sir The soldier soldier soldier sol sol- dier showed very white teeth in a quick smile Im Spencer Gordon I used to be a friend of Ric's Ric's be be before fore tore the war When hen Old Friends Get Together Before you got those Dave grinned and indicated the silver bars Now no friendship with men in the ranks eh Old military pro pro- tocol Im I'm Dave Patterson Lived on the next place till the TV TVA A drowned me out So youre you're in ha the theair theair theair air are you Not now They grounded me for tor fora tora a while to teach aerodynamics in TS that's that's technical school sir But I have my wings and I hope to be back in the air before long I UI assume youre you're here to see Jill Yes Young Gordon flushed I Imet Imet Imet met Jill JUl at Ridley Field two weeks ago but Ric and I were in college together Seems like a century ago Were We're going to some dance I think Met Jill's mother yet yeU Yes sir she's upstairs helping Jill dress I met the grandfather too Hes He's out somewhere now tending tending tend tend- ing log a sick pig A sick pig is a catastrophe on this place The raise the finest hogs in Tennessee My people were farmers too Mississippi Cotton mostly But my father tather and mother died when I was very young Ric doing now Dave asked Is he going to try for tor the cadet corps He washed out I think think some some minor point or other Now hes he's trying tryIng trying try- try Ing for officers officer's school so I hear I dont don't see him often otten That's a big post down there and you rarely hear much about a man unless hes he's in your own squadron Young Gordon Gordon Gordon Gor Gor- don stopped abruptly as heels clicked on the polished stairs In the big mirror in the hall hail Dave could see the reflection of at Jill JiU comIng coming com com- ing down She paused at the door and Dave saw the young lieutenants lieutenant's throat twitch and his eyes glow as he sprang to his feet teet Jill was the prettiest thing alive Dave decided decided- but not beautiful as Julia was Jill said Hello Dave I didn't hear bear you comp come In I thought Spang was down here alone hating me for tor being so slow Are you Spang Dave asked Im Spang They hung that on cm me at college You'll excuse us sir if we take off Jill said We have to drive the station It has plenty of B gas in it but Dooley says to remember remember remember re re- re- re member that the tires have to last all winter inter Spang took her elbow with a proud proprietary air Good Goodnight Goodnight night sir Glad to have seen you You look very decorative you two Dave approved The military military mili mili- tary is at its best with something fluffy alongside More pleasing to the eye no not doubt Spang amended but quite so effective as an oxygen mask and parachute I hope you know where this dance is Remember Remember Remember ber Im I'm a country boy from down the Delta I could get lost mighty easy in these hills Jill knows every hill Dave told himI himI him I UI should I Ive I've hunted chinquapins chinquapins pins on them and got chiggers on practically all of at them Have fun tun kids Dave went through the hall ball to the foot of the stairs There he intoned in a firm carrying voice I could just sit here and talk to myself Or I could go home Oh hello Dooley I thought maybe you'd gone gOlle to bed Julia leaned over the banister At nine o'clock I dont don't do that any more I wake up at two a a. a m. m and think too much Ill I'll be down downin in a minute She came presently trailing a flowered chintz Her hair was roughened her eyes looked a little shadowed This is my sixth change of costume for tor today she sighed as she dropped into a a. a chair When are you going to ease ot off this strenuous business And what you need is a drink Not tonight Dave It stimulates me too much I cant can't sleep But fix one for yourself and yourself and you can make one for tor John I. I too Hell He'll be beIn bein bein in presently No ice for tor him him him-he he hates having it bump against his mustache As for tor this strenuous life lite it wont won't be over soon I fear They put Fosters Foster's boy into One A today I argued that he was essential essential essential es es- es- es that we had to raise food tood for our army but old Mr Corbett Corbett- you know how pig-headed pig he is and always stiff stif with the letter of the law law asked asked me if I wanted to keep this farm for tor my children or let the Nazis have it it Dave went to the kitchen came back presently with two tall glasses So you revised your decision about letting Jill run rim around with the army he said What can I do Dave She's a grown woman I cant can't put her ina in ina a convent She has to have fun She's twenty-six twenty years old Sounds incredible doesn't it The span between two wars Richards Richard's last leave before he went over and I Iwas Iwas Iwas was so young and so torn heart and so terribly in love and so unhappy with it I cant can't believe belleve that that agonized nineteen year old thing was II Two babies and no home no husband nothing till ll you came and found me and John I. I brought me back here I dont don't want anything like that for Jill I dont don't want that loneliness for her sitting at home watching the mail mall waiting waiting waiting wait wait- ing freezing with dread every time timea a messenger comes down the street And I dont don't want her to have what Ive I've had for tor twenty-five twenty years years years-si- si silence lence lencel Not even to know not to tobe tobe tobe be certain whether it was quite right either to grieve or to be re re- re- re signed But what can I do Nothing Dave agreed We uWe cant can't live other peoples people's lives for tor them No matter how much we love them Id I'd like to live your life lite differently if I could But I like my life lite What's wrong with it Its empty Oh I know what youre you're going to say Youve You've crowded crowd crowd- ed it full of ot work and responsibility Youve You've raised Ric and Jill and taken taken taken tak tak- en care of John I I. I and a few hundred hundred hundred hun hun- dred pigs Youve You've made this farm farma a success but what does it get you Dooley Dooley you you personally It gets me just that Dave Suc Suc- cess What else is there what there what else beside accomplishment Work that thatis is of ot value to me and to the world What else is s there Dave Has His Little Secret 1 Dave could have said sand Theres love Dooley But he knew he would not say It Sometimes he was certain wearily that he would never say itHe it He had bad loved Dooley for tor so long but even now after atter a span of 25 uncertain years he had never never ever mentioned mentioned mentioned men men- it to her because he knew instinctively instinctively instinctively in in- she would have drawn herself hersel into a shell and their friendship friendship friendship friend friend- ship which had come to mean so much to both of at them would have become strained possibly even end end- ed He said Sometimes I think youre you're a wonderful woman Dooley And then there are times when Im I'm I convinced that youre you're a sentimental tal gal idiot Twenty-five Twenty years and not nota a word and still you wont won't give up TO BE CONTINUED |