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Show Spooks Dees It i By GAIL F. WHITEHOUSE j McClure Newspaper Syndicate. ! WNU Servlc. ! f?OR two hours, now, the boy in the 1 blue serge suit had sat almost motionless, head thrust forward, slim shoulders hunched, the sole occupant oc-cupant of the line of SHORT bencnes that bor- dered the artificial SHORT With half blinded ft eyes he stared down 5TORY at the shiny toes of his new oxfords the oxfords his father had sent him from the store for graduation. Graduation! The boy jerked his gray cap lower over his eyes and swallowed hard. "What's the matter, kid? Grandmother Grand-mother dead?" Mechanically the boy pulled himself him-self upright and started up at an apparition ap-parition in pink, rather soiled but jaunty pink. with exaggerated length of pink hose. "Did you speak to me?" he muttered. The girl regarded him with curious curi-ous eyes, her mouth widening in a good natured grin. "Go back to sleep, kid," she advised, ad-vised, getting to her feet with studied stud-ied nonchalance. "Ain't seen a black dog 'round? Pink ribbonVj Name Spooks?" The boy shook his head. With listless eyes he watched her as she sauntered down the path and disappeared dis-appeared around a clump of birches. Again his shoulders hunched drearily forward. "Ex-schuse." Once more the boy was aware of an intruder. Why couldn't they leave a fellow alone? Sullenly he looked up and glared at a ponderous figure swaying uncertainly in front of him. "Thisch seat oc-cupied?" queried the voice thickly. "Yes!" snapped the boy. "Use your eyes!" "Shleepy," confided the fat man, lowering himself heavily onto the bench. "Leth's take 11 T nap." Dully, for a moment, the boy scrutinized scru-tinized the good-natured profile of his bench partner in disgust, then forgot him in a deeper disgust at himself. Idiot! Fool! Commencement week and fired! He never wanted to see any old hard cider again. What fun was Senior Prom anyway, when you didn't have any girl to take? He'd just meant to sort of cheer up some of the other fellows who didn't have any girls either. He chewed nervously at his finger nails. One thing was certain, he wasn't going home. His father " would want him to go into the shoe store, but he wouldn't do It. Choking miserably, the boy kicked blindly at the turf, but his foot, instead of coming into contact with hard earth, struck something softly alive. There at his feet sat a very small, very friendly black pup, a bedraggled length of pink ribbon trailing from his collar. The boy stooped and instantly gathered the soft, wriggling body into in-to his arms. "Didn't mean to, old pup," he apologized, and Immediately his face was covered with wet, doggy kisses. The boy's self-control was shattered. shat-tered. "Nice old pup," he sobbed, then glanced furtively at his bench mate. But the fat man was dozing happily. Gradually the ache in the boy's throat lessened and he looked at the little dog with appraising eyes. "Got a pup at home looks most like you," he informed him. "Only mine's got a little round white spot between his eyes. Gee, old pup, you ought to see that dog tag me 'round." (Unconsciously the boy'i shoulders straightened.) "Can't go anywhere but that dog thinks he'i got to come, too. Guess he'll be pretty glad when I come " The sentence jerked Into silence. "Why, he'd never thought" The boy's pent up emotion burst forth in uncontrollable sobs; tear trickled down the little dog's neck, and the bedraggled pink ribbon became be-came warm and moist Presently the boy's head lifted. He thrust his hand into his trousers' trous-ers' pocket and when he drew it out again he regarded the contents with calculative eyes. "Just five dollars and seven cents," he announced, jumping unceremoniously un-ceremoniously to his feet "Pup, I'm going home." Beside him the fat man stirred and yawned prodigiously. "Nlthe day," he ventured affectionately. "Leth's have li'l nap." And trailing down the path a girl in an abbreviated pink dress approached ap-proached with languid steps. "C'me on, Spooks," she shrilled. "Ain't you 'shamed desertin' your old momma that way?" With his tail hugged meekly between be-tween his legs, Spooks departed. |