Show A 0 IL 0 0 6 aa PUGH 0 MG CLURE IN this is the story fa ot of an american fam fly cy in de pressic n years laura maguire wife of mike maguire happy go lucky editor and mayor of covington is moth er of four children tom whose real estate job in the ble big city near covington is 1 shot hot and who separates cs from his hi aue mary etta sec ec rotary to a big shot hot when she he refuses refuse to wt give up her lob job to return to coving cov ton with him alee alec who unable to ret get a lob job runs nun 0 CHAPTER alee alec maguire gravely balanced himself on one foot like a stork and squinted along the bottle of gin as if 11 lt it were a shotgun ready firel fire he said with vast is solemnity and killed the bottle dead myra laughed herself into coughs youre so comical she sai said they were seated in one of the alcoves which lined the large dining room at the porterville swimming cool pool they had been sitting there since four that afternoon according to the original plan they had intended to start back home when they had their swim only myra had dared them to go somewhere else where they could dine and dance to do alee alec justice he had m meant bant to go home for dinner but he felt tin unusually usually low that day the only relief was to get so cockeyed he could laugh and laugh natalie who so far had been more sleepy than convivial suddenly giggled the mechanical orchestra at the other end of the big pavilion was playing an old record shuffle off to buffalo why dont you two stop fooling and pull a real one she suggested the others stared at her 1 I mean elope get married I 1 mean mid dle aisle it or what have you alee alec stared marry myra boone for a moment he was jolted back to himself and saw the woman beside him with painful distinctness the coarse blowsy blossy face the weak self indulgent mouth the metallically yellow hair which was drab at the roots everything within him revolted marry a woman like that take her home to laura as his wife hed rather die 1 I said you game t murmured myra the drive back to covington did nothing to clear alecs confused brain myra put the gas throttle down to the floor board and the speedometer touched eighty more than once they had just entered the suburbs of covington still at a maniacal speed each of them at the same moment saw the big fire engine careening toward them down the middle of the street myra was a true neurotic she covered her face with her hands and shrieked it was alee alec who reached over and gave the steering wheel a tremendous jerk it threw them into the opposite curb to the detriment of fenders and running board but at least they did not meet the fire engine head on and was that a near thing laughed alee alec the others stin still weak from shock huddled in their seats and said nothing wheres the fire alee alec asked of a man running down the street over on kirby street kirby street mike had always said those ramshackle buildings down that way were nothing but fir fire e traps he had begged the city council for years to condemn them before they went up like waste paper in a bonfire taking their dreadful toll of innocent lives alecs brow was wet with sweat sit down and lets get going muttered myra irritably weve a little private matter to attend to she meshed gears and the big car shivered away from the curb and began bega n laboriously to pick up speed alee alec had however already snatched open the door and leaped out by the time she had brought the big machine to a halt which burned the tires alee alec had picked himself U up p and disappeared disappear ed toward that ominous coppery glow across the tracks he knew before he was within two blocks that his hunch had been right the conflagration undoubtedly centered in that section of kirby street where pete knight had a dingy flat alee alec began to run faster covington had a naive idea of adequate police protection usually there was little need for anything elaborate in in that line but in emergencies things were likely to get beyond the venerable chief and his two men they were doing all they could to hold the crowd back from the danger zone but that amounted to little alee alec already feeling the heat of the blaze on his face slipped under the ropes the whole row of dilapidated frame buildings was a strut of licking crackling flames alee alecs s heart turned over quite suddenly he saw lou she was standing in a little knot of weeping women and children all of them hugged small po pos S which they h had ad rescued sessions ces from the fire lou clasped the geranium gium in its forlorn tin egiy elvad red ger of to her breast breas t like the rest can the women she stared as if fascinated into inte the roaring red flam flames es tears down her cheeks lou rani ran teemed remd slowly dazed by the completeness of the disaster hus huskily aily alous loo said mid alee alec TWELVE the story so round around with a bashy flashy divorcee older than he be and who on a bet dates lou knight daughter of the town souse shirley engaged to jaird tor for three years but whose marriage Is deterred deferred because jaird too Is out of work his lather father having closed his factory to cut down losses ma wants want jaird to marry connie mays the bank ers tr daughter kathleen society editor on her fathers paper la in whom a newcomer As 0 0 0 she turned slowly and stared at him her eyes were a little blank and they returned at once to their fascinated study of the crackling leaping flames which were feeding greedily from roof to ground on flimsy buildings alee alec looked around for her father he thought it likely the old sot was dead to the world somewhere in a gutter pete had failed lou on every other occasion it was too much to expect him not to now but alee alec discovered pete knight almost at once just out of range of the flying sparks A tragic yet ludicrous figure as usual reeling a little as his bleary eyes stared into the inferno before him once he attempted in a clumsy way to aid with the fire hose but he succeeded only in drenching himself people laughed hysterically even at that grim moment shambling pete knight furnished the comic relief 1 I dont know what were going to do whispered lou suddenly Every things gone except what weve got on our backs gee lou im sorry he began but paused abruptly A tremendous shout went up from the crowd swelled by the wails of he so f I 1 lou seemed dazed by the completeness eness of the disaster women and the frightened whimpers of small children alee alec followed strained pointed fingers with his eyes A little boy stared from the window of the flat to the left of the staircase A small white faced boy with a crutch and eyes mad with terror its joey bess NN wilkins joeal shrieked a woman alee alec knew about bess wilkins she was night operator in the telephone office down town a widow with one crippled child whom she had to leave alone while on duty oh god everybody forgot joey sobbed lou spreading a net yelled someone jump sonny well catch youl you the child peering from the upper window stared down at the web spread to receive his thin frail body then the little cripple slid slowly to his knees and vanished out of sight behind the window frame hes fainted faint edl oh godl whispered lou stop ostop that damned fool shouted a policeman alee alec whirled A shambling figure w was as on the staircase weaving in his tracks but fighting his way up a against the ferocious heat and blinding burning smoke Fa father therl wailed lou knight alee alec caught her in his arms she fought him furiously but he held her against his heart pete knight had reached the top landing of the stairs flames licked 0 out lit at him from the upper corridor then suddenly he was inside the burning building A great sigh swept over the crowd lou hid her eyes against al alecs ec breast he held her tightly in an agony of pity there was 11 a 1 gasp a tremendous cheer people surged forward pete knight stood at the window of the flat he had joey in his arms A limps limp unconscious us joey I 1 awkwardly but gently pete knight ht still swaying on his feet tossed the child out the web caught the thin little body again a sigh rose from tightened throats jump danl man save yourself fl Fa father therl screamed lou far ritchie graham also a newspaper man is interested banker mays may threatens threaten to break ma guire for or criticizing him mike and ritchie laugh at hint him kathleen li is critical ol of them peeved she he goes to a swimming ang party with hot shot ahot may the bankers banker ton son ritchie saves her from drowning when the she it Is seized with cramps he tells her he loves her she sh hates him she says say but does the she 0 pete knight gathered his big uncertain body together but it tricked him as it so often had before he lurched gasped fell back and with a terrible sucking roar the floor beneath him collapsed as the root roof gave way street boys would never laugh at pete knight again he was gone forever from the sight of men CHAPTER 0 the girl in alecs arms had not fainted although her slight trem bling body felt lifeless as if a cord had snapped even the small hands no longer clutched him he stared about wildly what on earth was he going to do with her the forlorn human huddle of which she had been a part hovered near for a moment and then after a glance a at lous ghastly still face slowly drifted away words sticking in locked throats words were so inadequate before the dumb tragedy of lous eyes these people were her neighbors her closest acquaintances yet they too were bereft helpless adrift without a roof or a bed on which to stretch themselves they had nothing to share with her except their inarticulate pity the fire having glutted itself was dying of its own passion there was no longer anything to see but gaunt blackened ruins above red coals curious spectators began to drift away it became possible for the police to erect ropes and have them respected gently alee alec took lou by the arm and moved down the street her face was stark but she walked steadily along beside alee alec 1 I guess to everybody else she said in a low strained voice he was just a drunken bum but he never looked like that to me and he was all I 1 had alecs eyes stung at least he died magnificently lou her chin lifted a little he ever really bad my my mother was as killed in an automobile accident he was driving and he adored her he never got over it every time he sobered up he heard her screaming alee alec shivered hell not suffer any more lou she drew a long quivering breath where are we going she asked suddenly im taking you to mother for the night he said gruffly it had come like a flare from a shell over no mans land that inspiration maybe she wont want me p said lou she flushed im just a sug gin you know alee alec winced again laura was a grand sport but even she might wonder at her son appearing on the threshold with a girl he be was not even supposed to know this is lou knight mother she lived on kirby street and got burned out tonight and her father yes I 1 know said laura quickly mike just telephoned me she he had been sitting in the living too room m alone ever since mike had rushed off to be of s service ervice if possible or at least in the middle of things her eyes traveled slowly from the girls drooping figure the rundown run down heels and nervous twisting hands to alecs haggard face you see mother said alee alec ive been taking lou places but she anywhere to go now so I 1 brought her home lauras heart beat thickly against her side she could not move her tongue tor for a moment alee alec and this cheap little girl alee alec had been going around with drunken pete knights knight s daughter laura wondered if all mothers felt frantic at times 1 I like her a lot mother said her son in a E i queer rough voice lous band jerked violently in his and her little wistful face flooded with burning color alee alec gave her a glance that cut the heart out from under laura its all right she said but it was n it it was the bitterest dose she had ever swallowed shirley and jaird went to the fire in connie mays car accompanied of course by that piece of excess baggage lance ferguson connie was a glutton for excitement she never missed anything of that nature if she got wind of it she was a thin too vivacious girl whose nerves cra crackled ckles from the dee destroying tro ying flames aroused in her only a fierce exultation that hundreds of di stressed distressed people were being burned out of their homes did not impress her she clung to ja jairis ards arm and laughed hysterically as the block of ramshackle buildings d gutted by the blaze collapsed upon itself what a she cried shirley shivered in that moment she hated connie mays with a wild sa savage vage hatred that frightened her TO BE CONTINUED |