Show The Fiction f THE RIGHT LOOK Richard H. H By Wilkinson Corner er I I II TRACY RT ACY clawed his way up over the slippery ledge threw his skis and poles on the ground and sat down panting Generva laughed merrily I what city life does to y you o u she chided S HS e a e el Minute You cant can't take I 3 Minute 3 Fiction it any more I For a fact I cant can't h he e grinned Phew What a climb Skis are no good up here If were we're going to the top well we'll have to hobnail hobnail hobnail hob hob- nail it up We can quit and go down she said Her voice held the barest hint of a taunt She hated herself for it Quit nothing Just because Ive I've been away for two years you needn't think you can stump me Tracys Tracy's eyes flicked over the girls girl's slim wiry figure Boy you always could take it he admired Ever since we were kids Ive I've had to hump to keep up with you The reference to their childhood escapades brought on a flood of re re- grets Two years ago he had left lefther lefther lefther her with a brotherly clap on the back and a firm handclasp She had almost hated him He Be had gone down to the city to become an architect Then hed he'd written about Jessica She was a singer sing sing- er in a night club He lie had fallen fallen fallen fall fall- en madly in love with her His Ilis letters had been full of their romance Generva had wanted to tell him to stop writing his everlasting prattle prattle prattle prat prat- tle about a silly night club singer Didn't he know that every word was wasa a knife thrust in her heart You know he said suddenly youre growing more lovely every year ear Gen Some day soon a mans man's coming along and and and- She laughed out 1 loud 0 u d and scrambled to her feet Come on City Man weve we've got to get going if we want to make the top and get back before dark Tracy grinned and yanked himself himself himself him him- self up the first steep ascent Before he had gone 10 feet he realized that it was a foolhardy business Without Without Without With With- out ice picks and ropes climbing was hazardous He started ahead again and then stopped Above him maybe 30 feet away he could make out the blurred form torm of Generva The blurred outline stopped He listened for her reply but if she called the wind drowned it For an instant her hobnailed boots were clawing against again t the ice Then she came coasting down the incline reaching ng frantically for bushes that slid through h her hands Tracy made a lunge His hand caught at ather ather ather her ski jacket as she whipped past held felt it slip through his fingers A strangled cry escaped his lips stricken Horror-stricken he watched her reach the ledge and flip over its edge disappear In a moment he was back on the flat ground looking over the edge not daring to hope Fifty feet below he made out a agreen agreen agreen green patch like a wisp of cloth caught in the gnarled branches of a hardwood shrub I TT IT T SEEMED like hours before he found footing against a rock 10 feet from where Generva clung to the hardwood shrub Directly beneath beneath beneath be be- neath her was a foot chasm Tracy slipped the handle of one pole through the wheel of the other tightened the strap on his wrist and cast out across the ice At his second attempt Generva grasped the slim bamboo bam bam- boo Take it easy he called You have to swing down like a pend lum him then slowly upward i She nodded and released grip The impact of her pour poun pound almost caused him to lose his gri But he held beld on The moment s I Iwas was below him he began p pi pull upward hand over hand In a r m ment their hands touched and was safe on the rock i Tracys Tracy's hand reached for tor h he There was a queer light in eyes It HIt just came to me he sa sal said what this old world would be without you Gen I mean mean- mean mean-If gulped gulped I I never realized it Her eyes were misty Darlin Darling you dont don't have to Ive I've been wai ing for you to look like that for 1 I years f I |