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Show Nose for News $ $ $ By H. L. BALDWIN McClure Newspaper Syndicate Released by WNU BEING an ex-newspaper reporter it was natural after I had been in the army a while that I'd figure out some writing racket to make me a little dough on the side. So I began the profitable business of compos-j ing letters. I had everyone from buck privates to master sergeant coming to me for help with their tough assignments. I should have known better than to work for a girl. But one evening a pretty blond WAC walked in and said, all blushing and shy, "I heai) you write ah well, ah, difficult let-ters." let-ters." "Yeah." I smiled all overj jumping to my feet. "But I never had a woman client before." "Oh!" She sighed deeply, while my heart did a loop the loop. "1 hope you won't turn me down. Be-cause Be-cause I'm in a mess and I just don'l know how to write a note that will get me out of it quickly." "Sit down and tell me about it,'! I said. "Thank you," and she gave a hasty look around the corner of th recreation hall. But there was nil one around. Corporal Lola Water told me that her steady would hav a furlough in three weeks to conn five hundred miles just to bring her a diamond ring. In the pas month she had come to realize thai she didn't really love him anj more. She wanted me to write thre "My letters didn't work." letters for her, the first to give him a vague suggestion, and the second and third to polish him off for good so he wouldn't show up at camp. I asked her to describe the guy so I'd understand the type of Joe I had on my hands. She told me he was about six feet three, red-headed, freckled, broad-shouldered and an x-football star. Well, I planned the first epistle for her right then and there and five days later she walked in all smiles. She thought maybe he had taken the hint. By that time I knew for sure I had never seen a girl quite so cute as Lola. So I arranged several more conferences before we finished off the second and third missives. When the last one was mailed, I charged only two dollars. That shows how hard I had fallen for her. Tuesday, the day after Hal had originally meant to arrive with the ring, I decided to stroll over to the WAC quarters of the post and check on the effectiveness of my art. I hadn't heard from Lola for a week and I had to have some excuse to see her. About a hundred feet from the WAC recreation building my heart jumped to my throat. Foi there was Lola, her hat off and hei cheeks flaming, talking excitedly to a guy with red hair, freckles, and the broadest shoulders I'd ever seen. What's more, the brute was getting ready to grab hold of little Lola! In a blind rage I charged at him. I remember the blank look on his face and Lola's scream. I woke up two hours later in the hospital. Lola was bending over me. "My letters didn't work," 1 gasped as tbe whole thing came back to me, "and the big brute was going to hit you. What happened? hap-pened? Is my leg broken?" "Don't be silly," Lola said. "You have only a sprained ankle and a few bruises. You would try to smack the judo expert of Camp Kraft." "Oh," I groaned. "You forgot to include that in your description ol Horrible Hal." She frowned. "I wish you'd quit calling him that. You see, he's my brother and his name isn't Hal." "Your brother?" She nodded. "There isn't any Hal. I made the whole thing up because be-cause I'm an ex-reporter myself and I thought I'd write a feature article on your graft scheme. Sc I made up my story to get the inside in-side dope. And when you asked foi a description of Hal, .all I could think of in a hurry was mj brother." "Well," I grinned, "1 guess that ruins my trade. The brass hats will clamp down on me when you make the thing public." "No, they won't," she said, suddenly sud-denly blushing and avoiding mj eyes. "Because I just couldn't go or with it- I found I liked you toe much to double-cross you." I started to lean over to kiss hei but my ankle objected. I lookeo down at it and sighed. "Only twe newspaper people could get into thi! kind of mix-up." With my lam right arm I pulled her closer foi the clinch. |
