Show TOO iauch imagination 88 by R 11 II WILKINSON related newspapers S b been een married ro 1111 to martha adartha TJ for five years it appeared to rae nie that n R clash tIe between tween her y und and grill ollis was inevitable the me were vere the first people we after arriving ing in bradfield Crad nela et t were re our next nest door neighbors abey lack jack ollis learned that I 1 eben a to from frisco to down gather dad COI come no material for a historical paper I 1 had eo contracted to write lie he was more than gall call nas helpful too but unlike her husband she was inclined toward lo 10 IOuS DeSS an and d volunteered a lot of formation about the personal back gound or of her family that I 1 could have without eone one splendidly after a while another quality of gaits gails began to make itself known to 19 g checking up on some of the facts she tad bad given me ire about bradfield and brad fields history I 1 discovered that more than 50 per cent of her information erroneous this made martha mad she makes it up as she goes alon along 11 she said cald you ask her a question and it ir she know the answer shell male make one up and even though she floes does know the answer shell embellish it to such ench an extent that by the time ashes through the information la Is useless which was true youre louve probably met people like gall people who are pretty self confident and sure of themselves people who dislike admitting they dont know the answers to questions and so ao make never thinking that you might check oa them it was true and yet the had bad been nice mice to us we were strangers and they took us in as it were save for this one quality in gall we enjoyed their company the best thin thing to do I 1 told martha qs Is to let gall all talk and discount about halt balf of 0 what she says you sou see 9 I 1 I 1 watched martha closely determined to step into the breach if she re acted in the manner I 1 thought was now inevitable gall realize what ashes doing she has one of those rare imaginations she imagines things so vividly that she believes herself that they are true and when people believe something Is true it is true as aa far as they are concerned 11 the trouble is said martha that you never know which half to disc discount aunt it be so bad if gall gail con confined tined ter her to facts and about this crumby old town of brad field M but now ashes begun to get personal 11 Perso nall exactly last week I 1 happened to meet ineat a lady whom I 1 had known years EO in seattle I 1 mentioned it to gall and after a moments thou thought glit she declared she knew just who I 1 meant and nt on to tell me the ladys history and nd all about her activities the same thing happened two days later only the lady in the case had be been n intro dueled iced to me gail knew all about her and nd some of the things she said particularly flattering the trouble Is im not sure whether gall really does know ow the people or whether she ashes 0 nian null cing Icing I 1 dont like to ask the la adles 3 themselves for fear ill discover they bey never heard of gall and thereby gilld d myself in an embarrassing poston and I 1 dont like to dispute gall because e im not sure of nay my ground hy to hear her talk think she new everything and everybody id list just love to hear her say 1 I dont know olleen M or find out definitely that she was froug pong watching martha as she talked I 1 k ift ew a faint sense of misgiving cartha la Is a stickler for honesty and elii and practicability she he likes to get at the root of things and toward hypocrites she holds a par ocular aversion subconsciously I 1 knew that some day y during one ot of galls long and lengthy athy ef fusions martha would blow up D and make a few caustic remarks on ber er own hook th that at would proba probably bly ret alt in dissension between tho the two ta allies rallies 1 bladed dreaded this moment though 1 I t blamo blame Alart martha ba and I 1 sought to postpone its advent as lonas possible we were new in bradfield it would not help our standing any to have trouble with our next nest door neighbors the climax came sooner than I 1 expected though it was of a nature that was wholly surprising we ve were spending the everling evening with the Olli ses and martha was rolling or meeting a mrs harrison president or of some civic lea league ue club that wet met on the other side of the be city a prominent fig ure martha began by describing mrs lson and her activities quite minutely and then mentioned her name instantly gail interrupted with mrs harrisone Harriso nl I 1 think I 1 know her yes im sure I 1 klo do rather tall and slender she marthas Al arthas lips set grimly in lew of the fact that shed just got through describing mrs harrison as tall and slender there was no alternative ter native Dative but to nod affirmation T thou thought ht so gall went on she ashes s president of the civic league they meet once a week over on the east side last year mrs harrlson harrison and so on and on for an uninterrupted ten minutes white faced martha sat and listened she been allowed to finish her own sentence and now she was forced to hear over again the very facts about mrs harrison arrison II shed just got through telling and recited in a manner that would make you think gall was presenting them for the first time I 1 watched Al martha artlia closely determined to somehow step into the breach it if she reacted in the manner I 1 thought was now inevitable but there was no need As gall continued to buzz about mrs harrison the expression on marthas face gradually relaxed and a suggestion of amusement came into her eyes I 1 was puzzled later in our bedroom I 1 mentioned mrs harrison and martha laughed out loud gall a scream 1 1 1 she said 1 11 I dont get it so funny martha stopped laughing darling its all a matter of using the head yesterday it occurred to me that tf if our suspicions about galls imagination a agi I nation were justified others in bradfield must have noticed it too and A nd II if so how Is 19 it they let her continue I 1 hinted at the matter to mrs ruggles with whom I 1 have become quite well acquainted quain ted she smiled at me in a queer sort A t way and admitted that our reaction was not unlike that of dozens of others when they first came to town when I 1 asked her how they bore up under it all she declared that once you satisfy yourself in your own mind that sail gall does make up stories then you ran oan look upon her lengthy recitations with amusement and really get a big kick out of her so what I 1 dicht did did what satisfied myself that her knowledge 1 now ledge is really I 1 very limited that all her big talk is really nothing more than a superiority perio perlo rity complex and that its really more human to let her go believing you think ashes a regular walling walking encyclopedia but how now ilow in the world did you discover it was her imagination why you guessed gut ased I 1 thought of course you knew what I 1 was up to she laughed again darling theres no such person as mrs harrlson harrison 0 or a civic league I 1 merely made that up out 0 ut of my imagination agi nation and gall swallowed the balt bait |