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Show April Fool Diamond ? s s By RUTH S. MYERS 1 McClure Syndicate WNU Features. TT WAS April 1, 1944, when Lieu-' tenant Jeff Webster left the jewelry jewel-ry store with the small velvet box tucked securely in his coat pocket. In private life Lieutenant Webster ; had been a salesman and very good ; one. Perhaps he might have been I described as the high pressure type i but, as such, he had netted a nice yearly income and that was "very important" as Lieutenant Webster would say. Lieutenant Webster had not been above pinching a penny and in so doing had saved and invested, in-vested, and saved and invested. He was now in excellent financial circumstances. cir-cumstances. He had known what he wanted; he had gone after it; and he had got it! In fact he had been so busy getting it that it was not until Uncle Sam called him that he had ever taken the time to give much consideration to love. It was at a USO dance that he met Becky Clark and fell in love very hard and very fast. There was nothing unusual about Becky. She was just a pretty girl with a tender smile and nice eyes. When Jeff put on the pressure he had no trouble at all in selling her the marriage idea. War was one tiling but with Becky waiting for him to come back, it had a greater significance. Life with Becky would be simple and complete. It was as he passed the dime store with its windows full of April fool cards that he thought about April fooling Becky. He would buy the most awful looking ring he could find, put it in the little velvet box and give it to her. Then, after a few minutes, he would show her the lovely little quarter-carat diamond, and she would enjoy the joke. It was only the night before that he had remarked: "Since we are absolutely abso-lutely certain this is the real thing, Becky, it's about time one of us picked out a nice diamond ring to seal the bargain. . How would you like that?" "Wonderful, Jeff!" Becky's eyes ) were starry "Are you sure," she had asked, "that you want to wait until the war is over before we get married?" "I'm positive it's best, honey," he had answered. "But how can we be sure? How do I know you will still want me?" Jeff had laughed delightedly. "Becky, you silly darling," he replied, re-plied, "this is the old-fashioned, enduring en-during love with us. It will last forever for-ever just like the diamond you are going to get! If it will make you feel any better, though, think of it this way. I'm too conservative a guy to sink a lot of dough in a piece of jewelry if I weren't sure I'd have you to parade it around for the rest of my life!" "I see what you mean," Becky answered thoughtfully. As he recalled re-called that conversation, Jeff nearly laughed aloud. What would Becky say when she saw the poor little five-and-ten ring? Of course she would see through the joke in a minute, but the fun would come when she opened the velvet box. That night there was an air of excitement about Becky that Jeff noticed at once and it pleased him to think that he sensed it and understood under-stood the reason. Well, no use putting put-ting it off, he thought. With an expansive ex-pansive smile he reached into his pocket and drew out the handsome case. "Here, darling," he said warmly. "This is hardly a surprise and I just know you'll be crazy about it!" Becky's expression was quizzical as she took the little box and opened it. For a second she stared in perplexity per-plexity at the trashy-looking ring. "I I don't understand " she began, be-gan, but Jeff interrupted her with a burst of laughter. "April fool, Becky!" he shouted and he rubbed his finger against the real engagement ring in his pocket. Just a moment more of teasing teas-ing before he would give it to her. He was enjoying himself so much. "Don't you like my faultless taste?" he asked. "Didn't I pick out a beauty of an engagement ring for you at the dime store?" Becky began to laugh her mirth was a little forced at first and then was real. "It was more of an April fool joke than you think, Jeff," she said weakly. "At first I thought you had really bought me an engagement engage-ment ring and that would have been terrible!" "You mean you don't want one from me?" gasped Jeff, incredulously. incredu-lously. "Of course I do, you goose," Becky chuckled. "I've got one. I picked it out this afternoon see?" And she held up her hand for Jeff to Inspect. "Isn't it just too beautiful, darling?" Becky continued. "I had it charged to you. It's a full carat blue-white stone. You've got a thousand dollar investment in me now, dear to come back to!" And Becky put her arms around Jeff's neck and laid her head against his shoulder. "Oh, Jeff!" she sighed. "You certainly cer-tainly did April fool me!" "April fool you!" he choked. "Becky, honey, you've got it all wrong. The April fool is on me!" |