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Show I A Picture ; 1 ; Christmas j By Cbra Agee Hays I feO CUUISTMA3 eve Marlon S3 surveyed her apartment ' J f 1 wreaths of holly In the wln-' wln-' I i dow I tD7 tree with ; VJi colored lights In the II Ting ljrl room. For three Christ muses rSfiM all alone she'd done this. " Even baked a chicken to well make it leem Chris tmasy. Anyway, she wasnt hungry or homeless. Marlon's smile was wistful and perhaps a little bitter. There was no one In the whole city to share ber Christmas. She'd worked op to a good Job, but her business acquaintances acquaint-ances all had their own family festivities. festiv-ities. How the girls who worked under un-der her had planned and chattered for the lost week I They called Marlon "Miss Morris" and were timid before her. Of course, she couldn't break the tee with, "I'm only a lonely girl I Oont think of ma aa a boss. Let me share your fun." Marlon paused, now, as she passed "Jack's" picture on ber table. Playfully Play-fully she screwed np ber face. She'd get hint a present, of course. A a cigarette case with his Initials expensive ex-pensive but simple. That's the way the girls at the office sounded. And he'd get her a She dropped the enlargement en-largement and hurried to rescue the potatoes scorched for supper. Lost year "Jack" had been a present pres-ent from herself. Ber brother, Ben, thousands of mHes away, had sent a snapshot of himself taken with a young man. "My pal and I He's a real fellow," Ben bad scrawled across the back. Marlon had studied the fine face In the picture and yearning born of a long unrealized dream of romance stirred her. Finally when last Christ- ! mas came she bad guiltily cut her i brother's picture off and had the otb- j er enlarged, tinted, and framed. "The color of bis eyesr asked the : artist "Oh r brown," she said and ! blushed. That was what she wanted j him to bare. She had called hlro j "Jack." And ever since "Jack" bad j been ber confident, ber pal, ber fiance, i ". . . Here on Business. . . . Told jj Ben I'd Look You Up." The long evenings passed more easily 3 when she looked into the large brown eyes and dreamed of the time she and "Jack" might have a home of their ; own. But, tonight, another empty Christ- ', mas eve, Imaginative Marlon with j twinkling eyes, became matter-of-fact ; Miss Morris f the office. 'It's rldie- 3 nlnusl" she scolded. "Completely in ) love with a picture I I must be losing i my mind I" Vlndlcatlvely she thrust j "Jack" Into a drawer and sat down ? to make herself read and forget ' Suddenly the door bell rang. Marion opened the door cautiously. Then she ; gasped. v When David Bruce entered be won- dered why the attractive sister of his pal stared at him as if she coutd not , believe ber eyes and sank weakly Into J a chair. ? ". . . Here on business. ... Told ? Ben rd look you up," be ex- plained a little nervously. "Shouldn't have broken tn on your Christmas a I perfect stranger I ah was a little lonesome, I guess . . ." ! Marlon manned to say softly, "I'm glad you came." And David, looking at ber felt that, somehow, she was. 5 There'd been lots to talk about 5 David leaving late, anticipated with actual eagerness the dinner with ber tomorrow. And Marion's heart sang aa she got up early on Christmas to "get things done." David came early, too, and Marion, pinning a towel around htm, let him help. It seemed natural She and he bad been friends 5 In ber Imagination so long I The aft- g ernoon passed swiftly. In the evening thej went to a theater. g When they returned, "A look at the K tree before yon go?" Invited Marlon. S David stepped in for a look at i? Marlon. Be Bushed and glanced down, g "I I told Ben if bis sister was as attractive aa the picture be g showed me, Td want to bring ber back with me and" He looked up seriously. "Please don't think me iS cheeky. I've got to return so soon and well, she's better than the pic- & ture. I . . ." A minute later be held ber in hla arms. "Ob, Jack I" Marlon gasped In nap- g py confusion and then flushed. But j David's brown eyes bad read hers and what her lips said didn't matter. 5? & till. Wwira Nitiim Cnoa. |