Show A I 1 jolla dooley McFarl ancs husband richard disappeared in world wr war 1 I leaving her with two children she and her father ln in law john I 1 Nic mcfarlane Farlane have tried in vain to mid find tome some trace ol of richard either cither dead or auve twenty ave years later ric la Is 27 and serving in the th army of 0 world war if while JIU JIB 26 professes an interest in gordon a youns young lieutenant julia still till clings to the belief that richard may yet yette be odive alive and refuses to have film declared legally dead ner ncr greatest rea test worry Is that her daughter might marry spans thus thos becoming an army wife subject to the tame same grief she has ha endured tor for a quarter ot of a century with of richard charter CHAPTER 11 julia twisted her hands together john I 1 she began abruptly alc ric have i a furlough when he came amei home he traded for some other mans pass jill told me the old mans mustache e twitched ili 1 I suppose if they put him in the guardhouse guard house send him a fruitcake with a file in it it if they put him in the guardhouse his chances for a commission are re gone might be a good thing thine being a buck private might be good tor for him he stood up glared down at her fiercely dooley you spoiled that boyl 1 I know w 1 julia said heavily but he was all I 1 hadl had he needed me jill she was always s elf sufficient like you ashes a mcfarlane the me mc farlines Far lanes stand on their own feet but that young richard hes another dont say it john I 1 julia begged pain in her eyes weve put that bitterness away dont let it come alive again but it is coming alive again whether you want it or not ive seen it for years I 1 warned you that that boy was growing up like his father 1 I was avas his mother julia reminded him ill ive ve heard that tool anger swift and n dark bark rode the old mans face he rose and towered though he be was four inches shorter than she for years I 1 heard that t and I 1 strong enough to defeat it so now this thing starts all over again heres another mcfarlane wearing the uniform of his country and wearing no honor with it julia smiled dryly without mirth do I 1 hear a big ig wind blowing who hid the switches id like to know when he was little when id cut stout ones and laid down the law who sneaked upstairs with suckers and gingerbread you roar john I 1 I 1 know you like a book dooley be said grimly no matter what you say im going to court next term and file that paper ive listened to you long enough youve got a right to a life of your own and im going to see that you have it julias face drained swiftly and out of the whiteness her eyes were embers no no john L I 1 wont let you do it ILI lie he twisted his bis mouth you cant stop me if I 1 want to do it julias voice came hoarse and thin 1 I think I 1 can stop you and I 1 win will hes been gone twenty five years if he be were weke legally dead everything would be cleared up youre a fool a weak sentimental tool all right she sighed im a fool leave it like that john I 1 she walked away setting her boots down firmly john I 1 watched her go frowning A beautiful woman a fline fine woman too good tor for that worthless man she had married the man who had been his own son ill do it any anyway wayll 1 he said aloud then he leaned back and thumbed tobacco into his pipe dave patterson rode his horse slowly across the great dam on his right the power lake slept silvery and flat under the stars a skittish young bass flinging himself as an offering to the trail 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 ered away hysterically teri cally when the horse snorted at them every fence post glistened white and beyond the wire the dew shone on rectangular roots roofs of rows of low houses the homely farm smell was definite now the mixture ot of pigs and hay and cattle pond dond that gave dave a feeling of nostalgia A naked bulb burned above a late gate shadowed by dark old trees and dave got down and tied his ir orse opened the gate and passing through closed it carefully walking across the shorn quiet quiel grass to the house behind high windows soft 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 ana faded the mortar melting sadly from between the tired bricks a little shelf of 0 a porch with spindly railings failings rai lings sagging now it was pil lared and rp restored stored and proud with wilt a sweep af pf p drive between betge en ivied tone stone posts and the fanlight above the he doors door learning leaming julia mcfarlane had done all that born a mcfarlane and married to a distant cousin of the same name she had dragged the old place back from desuetude alone except lor for the tumbling fumbling peppery encouragement of old john I 1 me farlane Par iane julia was slender and calm and merry but indomitable with it and tor for a long time longer than he be liked to reckon dave patterson knew that he be had been in love with her not that he had lot let her know to dooley he was good old dave whose farm and handsome old brick house had been swallowed up by the encroaching power project who was a big bewildered now uprooted from the land that pattersons Patter sons had farmed for generations trying to find himself again by running a bank and not being very happy at it he was forty seven and thinning on top and one knee was stiff so the army would not have him and his first wife had been dead tor for so long that her memory had faded to a small silvery shadow he crossed the porch and opened a trench french door without knocking and instantly a young man in the tan 1 I could get lost mighty easy in these hills bills breeches and olive auve drab blouse of the air corps with a silver bar on his shoulder jumped to ids his feet A dark young man his hair cut short and disciplined with difficulty with a good pair of honest blue eyes hello dave said 1 I thought you were ric at first I 1 thought he must have got his shoulder hard ware mighty quick how do you do sir the soldier showed very white teeth in a quick smile im spencer gordon I 1 used to be a friend of bics before the war when 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 protocol im dave patterson lived on the next place till the TVA drowned me out so youre in the air are you not now they grounded me for a while to teach aerodynamics in TS technical school sir but I 1 have my wings and I 1 hope to be back in the air before long 1 I assume youre here to see jiu jill yes young gordon flushed 1 I met jiu jill at ridley field two weeks ago but ric and I 1 were in college together seems like a century ago were going to some dance I 1 think met jiles mother yet yes sir ashes upstairs helping jill dress I 1 met the grandfather too hes out somewhere now tending a sick pig A sick pig Is a catastrophe on this place the lanes raise the finest hogs in tennessee my people were farmers too mississippi cotton mostly but my father and mother died when I 1 was very young ric doing now dave asked Is he going to try for the cadet corps he washed out I 1 think some minor point or other now hes trying for officers school so I 1 hear I 1 dont see him often a big post down there and you rarely hear bear much about a man unless hes in your own squadron young gordon stopped abruptly as heels clicked on the polished stairs in the big mirror in the hall dave could see the reflection of jill coming down she paused at the door and dave saw the young lieutenants throat twitch and his eyes glow as he sprang to his feet jul jill was the prettiest thing alive dave decided but not beautiful as julia was jill said hello dave I 1 it hear you come in I 1 thought spang was down here alone hating me lor for being so slow are you spang dave asked im spang they hung that on me at college excuse us sir if we wa take off jill said we have to drive the station wagon it has plenty of 0 B gas in it but dooley says to remember that the urea tires have to last all winter 1 spang took her elbow with a proud proprietary air good night sir glad to have seen you you look very decorative you two dave approved the military is at its best with something fluffy alongside more pleasing to the eye no doubt spang amended but not quite so effective as an oxygen mask and parachute I 1 hope you know where this dance Is remember im a country boy irom from down the delta I 1 could get lost mighty easy in these hills jill knows every hill dave told him 1 I should ive hunted chingua pins on them and got chiggers on practically all of them have I 1 fun kids kid dave went through the hall to the toot foot of the stairs there he intoned in a clr firm carrying voice 1 I could lust just sit here and talk to myself or I 1 could go home oh hello dooley I 1 thought maybe gorie gone to bed julia leaned over the banister at nine I 1 dont do that any more I 1 wake up at two a m and think too much ill be down in a minute she came presently trailing a flowered chintz house gown her hair was roughened her eyes looked a little shadowed this Is my sixth change of costume tor for today she sighed as she dropped into a chair when are you going to ease off this strenuous business and what you need is a drink not tonight dave it stimulates me too much I 1 cant sleep but fix one for yourself and you can make one tor for john I 1 too hell be in presently no ice tor for him he hates having it bump against his bis mustache As for this strenuous life it wont be over ever soon I 1 fear they put fosters boy into one A today I 1 argued that he was essential sent ial that we had to raise food for our army but old mr corbett you know how pigheaded pig headed he Is and always stiff with the letter of the law asked me if I 1 wanted to keep this farm for my children or let the nazis have it dave went to the kitchen came came back presently with two tall fail glasses so you revised your decision about letting jill run around with the army he said what can I 1 do dave ashes a grown woman I 1 cant put her in a convent she has to have fun ashes twenty six years old sounds incredible it the span between two wars richards last leave before he went over and I 1 was so young and so heart torn and so terribly in love and so unhappy with it I 1 cant believe that that agonized nineteen year old thing was 11 II two babies and no home no husband nothing till you came and found me and john I 1 brought me back here I 1 dont want anything like that tor for jin jill I 1 dont want that loneliness tor for her sitting at home watching the man mail waiting freezing with dread every time a messenger comes down the street and I 1 dott dont want her to have what ive had for twenty five years silence 1 not even to know not to be certain whether it was quite right either to grieve or to be resigned but what can I 1 do nothing dave agreed I 1 we cant live other peoples lives tor for them no matter how much we love them id like to live your life differently if I 1 could but I 1 like my life wrong with it its empty oh 1 I know what youre going to say youve crowded it full of work and responsibility youve raised ric and jill and taken care of john I 1 and a few hundred bundred pigs youve made this tarm farm a success but what does it get you dooley you personally it gets me just that dave success what else is there what else beside accomplishment work that is of value to me and to the world what else is there dave has his little secret dave could have said theres love dooley but he knew he would not say it sometimes he was certain wearily that he would never say it lie he had loved dooley for so long but even now after a span of 25 uncertain years he had bad never mentioned it to her because he knew instinctively she would have drawn herself into a shell and their friendship which had bad come to mean so much to both of them would have become strained possibly even ended he said sometimes I 1 think youre a wonderful woman dooley and then there are times when im convinced that youre a sentimental idiot twenty five years and not a word and still you wont give 1 up TO BE CONTINUED |