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Show ' T Longing for the Moon By CYNTHIA BLAIR i . -it (CopyriKht.) I' T WAS rt colrl, rainy 1:iy j one of tfiose (lay? that ore hard to endure, j And Emily Kutbn's life wus o far j from being sutisfaetiry tlmt It didn't ; clve her Hie least bit of help when slio left tier office Ht imon mid faced the prospect of wnlutna t'.rouli the rain ! to the noisy, crowded restaurant which j w'iis tlie best eating plnce she could ; afford. She hud n Job, not a very good one. mill one tlmt didn't pny tier very well; she remiiided herself quite frequently tlmt she was lucky to luive any position posi-tion at all. In an effort to appropriate It. And she had a home llu.t Is, she j bad a room In a large, uncomfortable, badly run rooming ho-.i'-e. ' Those weren't the things that really bothered her, however. She Could have endured them. The trouble was I that she wanted big things. She want-! want-! ed to travel. She might as well have j longed for the moon, she told herself, ! Hst she walked along the grimy streets j that day. And then the moon faced her, so to speak. In the shape of a Inrge window win-dow full of travel booklets booklets advertising trips around the world. There was a blackboard on which were written the temperatures of various enchanted places that day. There were pictures of people going In bathing, bath-ing, playing tennis, doing all the delightful de-lightful summertime things. Emily stood for Ave full minutes staring at that window nnd Its contents. Then she boldly opened the door beside the window and walked Into the travel comnanv's ofllce. "I I want to ask ehnut your round-the-world tours," she told the youn innn behind the desk. He wn5 delighted to tell her nil nbout the roiiud-tbe-world cruise. Snllinj; from Xew York on .Tanuiiry or she- could Join the ship la'er In San Fnmelsco !f she didn't! care to no through the I'mianu cnnnl. Llv-Inc Llv-Inc on the ship was Just like bel'ns In a wonderful hotel. "Yes. of course; very comfortable," family agreed, feeling like n traitor. He thought she whs likely to take one of those trips thought she had money enough to. And fdie was deceiving him ! He'd never have thought so If she hadn't been wearing that suit her cousin had given her, an expensive suit. Emily wns fnsclnnted. She stnyed hnlf nn hour, tnlklng with blm. Wonderful Won-derful ! he must have mnde the trip himself several times, since he knew fo much about nil those enchanted places! She asked him finally how many times he had made It. Then came a confession. He'd never tnken It nt all! "Hut I'm so crazy about'travel that I'd rnther work here for less money than I could get somewhere else. Just to be In touch with what I want to do," , he told her. "Longing for the moon that's what I'm doing, I guess." "Oh, me, too!" cried Emily, forgetting forget-ting that she was supposed to be n young woman with money who could take a trip around the world If she wonted to do It. "I'm crazy to travel, but I can't afford It. I guess I'll never see those places and I feel as If I'd give anything In the world to see the Taj Mahal before I die!" It was a short step then to the rest of her story. They were old friends when Emily left the office, with an armful of fascinating booklets under her arm. She hiniled to the cheap little restaurant, and wns half through luncheon when a friendly voice said. "Do you mind If I sit here?" It was the young man from the travel office. She was delighted to see him. He slid Into the chair across from her,' and they began their conversation conver-sation just where they'd left off. He walked back to her offlce build-ins build-ins with her, and when he said gnod-by gnod-by he bad asked If he might come to see her, and she bad said that he might. They had an argument to finish, fin-ish, you see; he thought It would lie better to go around the world one way. and she preferred the other. He came that evening to the dingy rooming house, and they sat In the parlor and talked eagerly. When he left they had decided to Join a French class, an Inexpensive one that Emily lyiew about you really had to speak French If you wanted to travel ! That was In December. It was February Feb-ruary when they discovered that they both wanted something else more than they wanted to travel. The something else was each other. Even though they, couldn't afford to marry they could be In love a luxury richer people than they could not afford. And t,ben one day the moon fell Into their laps. He came rushing to Emily In the cheap little restaurant -What do you think r he cried. "It's come. I'm promoted. They're going to send roe with one of the cruises, the Mediterranean one; somebody always goes, to act as head man for the com-pany-i take charge of the people who go on the trip, yon know; gee that they have a good time on shipboard, that they all go ashore as they should all that. Sort of courier, you know. Ill 'be sailing next week." "Oh, how wonderful!" cried Emily. "Yes and the best part of it Is that I've been given a raise, and can take my wife," he added. "Come on give up your Job and let's go buy that trunk we saw for sale yesterday. Longing for the moon has brought It. to us." |