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Show i Play -Off . i By WILLIAM RAIXEY ; McClure Newspaper Syndicate. ! WW Features. : i T T. STEVE WESTVIN'S pass al- j 1 ' lowed him to leave the convales- : 'cent center at two-thirty p. m. He : boiled. He'd be late. Ensign Davis, the paper on the bulletin board read, challenged the winner of the center's cen-ter's golf tournament. At two p. m. at the Level HiU Country Club. Steve breezed out the gate and i.imed until the bus came along and he clambered in. He griped about ihe situation to the bus driver as they 11 "lied over the warm southern . ,u- ;ryside. "Always you have to - business with some red tape inder behind a desk," he growled. I won the tournament, fair and : iuare. I accepted this Navy up-iart's up-iart's challenge for today at two o'clock. The recreation dommittee sent word I'd be there. Then they gave me a pass to leave at two-thirtyl two-thirtyl Don't they want the honor of the Army upheld?" "Maybe it's part of the idea to keep you boys relaxed. Not in a hurry," the bus driver said, seeking soothing words. "How's your boy?" Steve asked. "Had a letter yesterday. Still in the Pacific," the man said. Steve had had no experience in that theater of operations. He had eaten desert dust, and moved on until un-til he was tagged for shipment in the other direction Anzio. A pretty bad arm, but they did a neat reconstruction reconstruc-tion on it. He blessed them for that. When he won the tournament on the center's course, he knew he'd be going go-ing back some day to professional golf. Now this Navy challenger, this pretender to the golf crown between . the convalescent center and the Naval Na-val Hospital nearby Well, Steve ... was confident. , The bus ground to a stop at the . . country club. "Keep your left elbow el-bow straight and watch the ball," . . ' ' said, the driver, whose loyalty was " with the Army. ' "I'll win even with a cannon ball," Steve assured him. ' He wore brown flannels and hoped the Navy would be in exercise clothes too. He looked at his wrist watch. Three-fifteen. It might be 'iio much to expect the Navy to be V.' ( n't all. . : intensive inquiry at the clubhouse ..".'.ought" Steve' no knowledge of the . i esence or whereabouts of Ensign jjavis. . He decided the center would have to send a formal apology for his lateness late-ness and went out to the first tee alone. The course looked inviting. . He played good golf to the sixth hole. A girl, also alone, was leav-,'ing leav-,'ing the green ahead. Steve holed out and walked to the next tee. The girl had driven. She was halfway down the fairway, searching the ditch against the fence. Steve waited."' wait-ed."' Then he skipped his own drive and walked down. "Lose something?" some-thing?" he called, grinning, as he approached her. "The ball. The only one I had. One measly repaint job and I lost it!" She brushed long blonde hair from her face. Steve looked hard lor the ball. He looked at the girl the same way. He stopped grumbling grum-bling to himself about missing the play-oft". They couldn't locate the ball. Steve produced one and bounced it on the fairway. "Use this," he offered. of-fered. "Thanks," the girl said. "I was playing better than I expected. Then I put this drive into the fence. That's what happens when you stop concentrating." "I know," Steve said. "Play much golf?" she asked. Steve said he did, but hadn't until lately. No use being a bore about his pro efforts. He couldn't completely com-pletely suppress curiosity about how this girl played the game, however. But the way she looked in a gray skirt and yellow blouse would justify ; i performance. It turned out that ! jr game was up to her looks. That .as apparent in the first shot sha uiade with an iron straight to the jrcen. Site sank the first putt. At the ninth hole she said, "I'll nlay you through to the eighteenth. That is, If I don't lose the ball." "You'd better not," Steve jibed. It was Ellen and Steve between them now. Neither one remained more than two strokes up on the other for very long. Stove was playing briskly brisk-ly and enjoying the companionship as well as the sport. At the seventeenth seven-teenth they were even. Steve held out his hand. "Last hole, Ellen. May the best girl win." Her smile was very warm, and they played the final strokes carefully. Three apiece to the green. Ellen canned out in one putt. Steve watched her fondly. A great partner, part-ner, he thought. He took two. That's what happens when you stop concentrating. Steve thought, as they sat in the nineteenth hole with a pair of frosty glasses. But it had been a pleasure to see her win. He was wondering how to ask her for a date. "It was fun." Ellen said. "I'm not angry at that soldier for not showing up. Ensign Ellen Davis had her game anyway." "Who's that'.'" Steve asked, nearly near-ly dropping his glass. "That's me. I'm a WAVE at the Naval Hospital." Steve decided he wouldn't tell Ensign Davis who lost th play-off until she saw him in uniform when they had the date she made with him then. |