Show FICTION BETTER wt LATE I 1 r P B I 1 by y STEVENSON ea porter W ELL im certainly glad youre not seasick when I 1 first saw you leaning over the rail I 1 sold said to myself that you must be seasick though I 1 see how anybody could get seasick with the water so calm the way it Is our room steward says that anybody that gets seasick in this kind of weather be safe on the lake in central park hes a regular comedian and and that reminds me how much do you think I 1 ought to up tip him the room steward I 1 mean im not one that dont have to count my pennies but still I 1 want to do the right thing as to tipping you see this is the first time weve been on a boat my wife and me I 1 mean of course weve taken a trip up the hudson with the kids but I 1 guess you mention the hudson river kiver day line in the tame same breath with the S S goliath would you the kids thought it was grand though grown up and married now with kids of their own except judy that is and she hardly had time not having been married quite a year yet but it dont seem more than yesterday that they were running about like ilke a bunch of wild indians and getting into all sorts of mischief time cei certainly flies its getting hot it we must be coming into the tropics from the way it feels ever been down here before mr I 1 dont think you mentioned your name did you arthur well im glad to know you mr arthur my names bentham id like you to meet my wife some time too her laying in that deck chair down at the end ashes making believe ashes reading that book but ashes sound asleep the salt air seems to tucker her out As an I 1 was saying time certainly ties flies now you take me why it seems its only the other day that ellen and me were getting married and here we are grandparents of six already weve been married thirty five years it dont seem possible but what it Is au all right why say I 1 can remember the wedding lust just as 9 plain as it if it happened last week it much of a wedding yu you know no fuss and feathers besides ellen and I 1 and the minister there was only the ministers wife and the church janitor tor for witness but I 1 can still see the five of us standing there in the chapel with the sun coming through a high window and falling failing all around us and turning everything golden I 1 remember ellen specially she was so pretty and little when I 1 look back I 1 think ellen and I 1 been crazy getting married the way we did my gosh I 1 have a cent to my name it was all I 1 could do to scrape up the money for the wedding ring engagement rings and honeymoons and all the fixings were out of reach as s tar far as we were concerned I 1 felt pretty bad taking her right from church to a a week furnished room A wonderful girl like her deserved better and I 1 told her so A big wedding a reception at the waldorf the old waldorf you know and a honeymoon at niagara falls was little enough to her but she just laughed it if I 1 wanted such truck she says edve married mr astor and not johnny bentham the way she is I 1 mind so much not having a big church affair or a reception afterwards but gosh a wedding without a honeymoon I 1 mean it made me feel kind ot of low not being able to provide even that you know marrying ellen was the making of me I 1 was just a shipping clerk at the time but she made me study bookkeeping and when an opening in the company came along I 1 stepped right in im head bookkeeper now of course that so much theres only one other bookkeeper but being head of anything is pretty good these days I 1 always say A couple of years back when id been with the company thirty five years they put on a dinner for me at jack demp and gave me a watch here it Is see what it says to john W bentham my full name for thirty five years of devoted service atlas paper supply co mr stover the president made a speech I 1 did too but I 1 was too choked up to say much you can bet id stuck around to get that watch if it been tor for ellen and the kids too of course when you get to be a family man you got to tend to business kit short for christopher was the first then roger cynthia anthony and judy the baby nice names aint they ellen picked em out all grown up now fine young men and women if I 1 do say so myself but there was times when you just wondered if they ever would it was just one thing after another sick or healthy they had bad you up to your neck in bills well last year our company did pretty well and they gave all the old employed emp loyes a months pay for a bonus at christmas first bonus wed had in years so what did I 1 do well I 1 figured with au all the kids married and no one to take care ot of but ourselves that we have any real need for the money so I 1 breath a word about it to ellen you see id been seeing these cruise ads in the papers and I 1 thought to myself just the thing for ellen and I 1 twelve days nassau jamaica and cuba and up I 1 say anything till about two weeks before we were to tail sail then I 1 broke the news new well you knocked ellen over with a feather first thing thine I 1 knew she threw her arms around me johnny bentham she says are you out of your mind no I 1 says ays and I 1 robbed a bank neither so I 1 told her all about the bonus well she stul still thought I 1 was crazy spending all that money on a little trip she says do you think were millionaires johnny ill never put toot foot on that boat now a fine how dydo I 1 says making out im insulted A woman refusing to go on a honeymoon with her hus husband bandl 1 well she just looked at me and I 1 just looked at her and first thing you know she threw her arms around me and began kissing me and what did the two ot of us do but end up laughing and crying like a couple of kids gosh morris mama I 1 says if its better late than never aint it say will you look at them porpoises |