Show 0 t haary PUGH me W 14 U 1 arif has hit the installment SEVEN the story so far depression slon maguire daughter ite 1 though he la is though 1 I mike all maguire Mini ir bapp henmi ygo o ley kathleen though engaged to 10 shir faffley ily a sister ts tom Kath kathleen leens ot of and mayor covington editor brother in I 1 hard eliy axy hit by the his HH daughter kathleen li is slump lump in real estate is serene itne and his wife mary etta irritated stated however over several things secretary talks ot of reno A easum would like her ton son abird brother alee alec younger airs unable to get a job Is connie mays the bankers banker taking marry up with a flashy blonde much CHAPTER IX maguire needed another alec ec frisk drink he needed it badly liquor rave ave him h a quick pickup pick up but un fortunately tuna tely liquor had a mean trick on him too soon and the of dying letdown was terrific the music gorgeous burbled myra alee alec regarded her sourly he aidna want to but quite suddenly he off every line about her loose gouged rouged ged mouth her hair was metallically yellow but next to the roots her under chin A was vas drab sagged unless she held it well up but bu t tomorrow would be another day rejected alee alec bitterly with absolutely nothing to do while his nerves crawled with boredom at least myra provided action she had to be doing something every minute that was why she bled her play playmates mates young matur tt tr men occasionally had jobs to go to lo myra herself had no serious serious occupation cu except her own amusement and she was perfectly will bg to pay the piper for the privilege of calling the tune ive got to have another shot before I 1 do a muttered alee alec when the music ended he left myra to rejoin their party ts as best she could and made his way ay a little blindly toward the exit marigold gardens had no lic license ense to sell intoxicating beverages so everybody brought his own it was like good old before days myra always parked a quart or two with her car she thought alee alec might have asked her to go along if he wanted a snort he was ras a queer youngster brilliant but moody and his temper was as erratic as a trick cigarette lighter myra had never quite figured him out perhaps that was why he intrigued her alee alec had not asked myra to share her own liquor because he wanted to be rid of her he had to do something which he dreaded myra would think it was a scream if she knew she would tell the world so alecs face looked a little haunted it was a ridiculous jam for him to have got into it was all myras fault anyway if she dared him and if he been three sheets in the wind it could never have happened he might be pretty thoroughly no good but he at heart that rotten at least he hoped not hell heill muttered alee alec maguire to himself and jerked open the door of the telephone booth he continued to frown at the blank blak all before him as he dialed a number kathleen cleared her throat at least she and alee alec always fought fair air he whirled recognized her smothered an oath and hung up the receiver before his connection could be completed it if it little sister he sneered out slumming with hot shot mays and the like of that I 1 thought you had more sense I 1 had to look twice when you came in im just believe the old eyesight that was alcohol not shock buddy d A alee e c went very red one in the fa fam i lys ilys en enough U g h he muttered why do dont t bucu you cut t it out then gene mays ay 0 never eve did a girls rep any ny good maybe you think I 1 like having people e refer to my brother as the boone divorcees latest gigolo the moment she spat out the word kathleen was sorry alee alec went vent so white she was frightened all right 1 he said in a thickened voice 1 you win im pu putrid arid rm im not aitto fit to open my trap no matte what you do I 1 admit it and stats that now will you beat it ive e got to telephone and I 1 invite an audience kathleena Kath leens lips quivered 1 I dinean lean it alee alec but gee buddy it breas breaks my heart when youre like this 11 alee alec looked away his handsome b boyish face was haggard his black yes a little des desperate im not awk arink now if that s what you mean te said gruffly 1 I know but dont go back in th ere re alee alec cut that bunch and surprise Eur prise mother by turning up at a decent cent hour for once yeah and lie awake till day light et rolling and tossing because in a too gosh awful blue to sleep he said bitterly what time is it nine ine fifteen b by y my watch and iain chain though I 1 dont guarantee it laid aia kathleen with a rueful 9 grin rin at the e wrist watch which she had won of wilh a prize essay on the be beauty auty i being altruistic in a grossly material world alec gro groaned eted blow he said sharply kathlee regarded him with par nar ine ked owed eyes you may as well tell toni what its all about she said bally do y because im sticking till you 19 alec again yain colored violently you 1 v 1 like e it ll 11 but if you yn must lust have ja ott wt st we ft eu e were all pretty liquored ore up this afternoon and eat yra wanted imle to do something diff dicter erea caal fat or a thrill rill so she dared me to for up SO e ody and make a date n t I 1 who a L 1411 knight 60 lou knightly Knigh tl tt gasped kathleen 0 4 alee alec nodded 1 I ought to be horse whipped he confessed miserably myra and the gang bet me thai that she would turn me down like no blodys business and did she alee alec hung his head no oh alee alec and now youre phoning i 9 her again for what to tell her im sorry but I 1 cant take her to the airdrome after all because ive broken my neck or something gee kathleen id never hear the last of it if I 1 stepped out with that little duggin sure ashes a duggin cried kathleen passionately her dads been the town sot for years and she used to play hooky from school because she decent shoes to wear and they live up over a beer flat down by the railroad shops and ashes never had anything but cuffs cuff s and abuse and ashes thin and homely and all eyes and scared to death of people like any other animal been mistreated but ashes also proud as the devil and sensitive and pitiful and ashes probably been thrilled to death for hours because you asked her out but that to you youre going to call her up and break her heart and make mincemeat of her pride good lord you dont think I 1 ought to got go I 1 what would laura say kathleena Kath leens nostrils dilated with wit h scorn shell probably ably think she C shell probably think she raised her son to be an idiot raised her son to be an idiot hut but I 1 believe shed prefer that to a cad alee alec drew a long breath ill never live it down he muttered but here goes he dialed his number and this time he waited for his connection this is alee alec maguire he said doggedly into the receiver will you please send some somebody body upstairs with a message to lou knight tell her ive been unavoidably detained and am going to be a little late but ill be there he turned away from the telephone 1 I hope youre satisfied he growled he did not return to the ballroom kathleen watched him going sulkily out the entrance and know whether to laugh or to cry he was lucky enough to catch a ride with len woods and sylvia mason who had decided to move on elsewhere they set him down on main street ar and 3 still scowling alee alec crossed the ral railroad road tracks and made for that unlovely part of town against which mike was always crusading in the clarions clarious Cla rions editorial page where one row of ugly shotgun houses all precisely alle alike butted against another and the streets were unpaved and dusty the yards small and cluttered and bare myra would be furious alee alec knew that but the stimulation of the alcohol which he had consumed earlier in the night had yielded to black depression and in his present humor he did not much care what myra elected to do about his cavalier desertion nevertheless he was aware that he would feel eel differently the next day when the hours stretched interminably before him and he had nothing to do but think the sort of thoughts that had been driving him crazy since he took his degree at midyear and found hi himself m adrift in a world that yawned dawned when he begged for his chance just a chance that was all he as asked ked A chance to do things big constructive things such as he had dreamed of bodill godl said alee alec maguire to himself I 1 older than be ritchie graham stranger tt ranger helps kathleen fix cx a flat and d a kisses her he too lm a newspaper new mn man and without a lob job so she he goes goei to a dance with gene ways mays though the she does doe not dot wee like him kathleen thinks think she he dislikes dislike ritchie 1 near the railroad shops there was a business street of sorts it consisted mainly of cheap eating places squalid secondhand second hand furniture stores pawnshops small grimy groceries and beer joints upstairs were flats dingy dilapidated places with shaky floors and flimsy fl walls and no modern coave conveniences nien ces fire traps mike was always calling them and attempting to arouse an inert public to demand their destruction mikes son tramping up the steep rickety staircase which mounted from outside cursed under his breath how had he ever landed himself in such a mess even drunk he should have had more sense to say nothing 0 decency CHAPTER X covington was small enough for everybody to know practically everyone else by sight and gossip alee alec had vaguely known old pete knights little girl all her life although he remember ever having spoken to her before today they had gone to the same public school because until recently the town had only the one but they had never been in the same class or even in the same room alee alec thought lou was about seventeen three years younger than himself pete knight was Coving tons bad example he came originally from good stock or so it was generally believed at least when he first blew into town some fourteen years before he gave evidence of having been at one time a gentleman even yet traces of a former gentility showed through his maudlin but somewhere the man had lost hold of himself mike had a theory that pete knight had taken a knockout blow in some fairer existence which left him punch drunk so that he pick himself up again but if so he never referred to it and he resented any attempt at prying into his past if he had one certainly he had bad no present or future he must have been about thirty when he dropped off a freight train in covington and he had been steadily drinking himself to death ever since several months after his arrival lou appeared she was barely toddling A queer forlorn little littie tyke even then who had made the trip in the care of successive railroad conductors he worked when he on a spree at anything he could find to do from washing dishes in a greasy spoon restaurant to hauling garbage for the city but most of his earnings went for whiskey with which further to befuddle his already foggy brain and for several years he had been a physical as well as a moral wreck but when he was in in his cups he presented a tragically ludicrous figure the sort s small ma lit boys loved to follow and torment with rocks or snowballs just to hear him roar like a baited and bewildered trapped bear come said a small husky voice when alee alec rapped at one of the battered doors which lined the long dingy upstairs corridor the girl standing a little beyond the scarred kitchen table reminded him uncomfortably of a small hunted animal the flat had only two rooms and was depressingly scant of furniture but at least an effort had been made to retrieve the ugliness of dark cracked walls and narrow broken paned windows A straggling geranium grew in a tin coffee can and the rusty cook stove had been polished hello said lou knight she was very thin and her blue eyes were enormous in her small wan face she had thick pa lebrown hair a shy nervous mouth and little roughened hands that kept twisting at her side her glance begged alee alec not to laugh at the room or at her or at her sleazy blue silk dress which pulled in places revealing raw seams and which bagged in others but alee alec had never felt less like laughing she was such a pathetic little scrap so dreadfully shy so afraid of sneers and blows because life had handed banded her little else ready he demanded awkwardly she nodded and he went on trying desperately to sound natural sorry I 1 was late but if we hurry I 1 think we can just make the last show she said nothing but he saw the cords working in her thin little neck she was scared to death alecs throat hurt at the look in her eyes she stumbled on the stair from sheer nervousness and he put out his hand to steady her but she caught her breath sharply and flinched away alee alec flushed had she thought he was going io to hit her he hated him himself S elf for being so painfully aware of her shabby little slippers which had scuffed rundown run down spike heels he supposed he was a snob but the hardest thing he had ever done in his life was to walk through the crowd of hangers on outside the covington airdrome and purchase a couple of tickets for himself and lou knight even after he was safely inside where there were no lights his handsome young face burned TO BE CONTINUED |