HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1940-12-19, Page 13WINGHAM ADVANCE-TIMES PAGE FIVE
light chatter he was seeking her out,
it frightened hen But it made her
pulse beat high and her head feel
light. *
She surveyed the.odd effect of a
cluster of eurls tied at her neck With
a black velvet bow and observed that
it was just exactly right for the black
velvet dress with the white Broderie
Anglaise. Mr. 0William (whose name
was not William at all, but Dominick
Lucia) brushed the soft puffs around
her face. He was as much excited ov
er the new hair-do as she was pleased
with it.
In a soft speech which caressed her
name he said, ‘‘Miss Gar-land, he weel
like it, eh? Or maybe an appear
ance?”
Sue’s neat ears Were as pink as sea
shells from the drier as she put down
the mirror and smiled. “It’s not ex
actly an appearance,” she said truth
fully, “but it may be a rather import
ant occasion.”
“Miss Gar-land,” William said sud
denly. as if rushing into something
he had had on his mind for a long
time, “I have a favor to ask of you.
My daughter, Gloria, hears you on
the radio. She also sings—like a bird.
I tell her you come to me and she
says, ‘Papa, some-a time you aska her
if I can sing for her—you aska her?’
I tell her you are too beezy, but you
are very kind. I—”
“Of course,” Sue said, “I’d love to
hear her, and perhaps I could help her
a little — that is, if she really has a
voice. Could she be at the studio to
night?”
“You are too good.” William's joy
was dramatic and genuine as he effus
ively kissed her hand, at the same
time pocketing Sue’s extravagant tip.
“Studio B — the tenth floor, eight
thirty.” She slipped into Her coat and
promptly forgot about it as she hur
ried to keep her date with Joel. Now
aS she waited for Joel in the foyer
of a streamlined cocktail lounge, she
knew that she was right. This after
noon was going to be important, and
undoubtedly before they parted, Joel
would take her in his arms and kiss
her. She knew that although she
might protest, in the end she would
let him. She didn’t think so conscious
ly. Only an inner wordless convic
tion, as se sat there waiting, consum
ed her with burning anticipation.
Then she saw him as he stepped
out of the elevator in his loose tweed
coat, a felt hat carelessly jammed on
his head. When he saw her and came
directly to her she had the feeling
that she had been waiting for this a
long time. Af this moment, she could
think of nothing more perfect than
just being here. As if everything in
the world were glowing with a fresh
new light, and was wonderfully right.
“I like your hat,” he said, “only it
cuts off part of the view.” He noticed
that she was more beautiful than he
remembered her from the morning.
Now as she loosened her coat, the line
of her throat was white and slim with
a sort of a dimple at the base of it.
If he could ever manage to get close
enough to her, he’d have a try at kiss
ing it. He had a funny hunch that she
was going to let him, too.
“I’m tweuty-six,” Joel grinned at
her, “and I’m crazy about steak and
French fried potatoes and cinnamon
gum. And some people think I have
a nasty disposition."
Sue’s hand trembled as she took a
helping of cheese popcorn out of the
little dish between them. Joel’s eyes
were as sharply blue as lake water,
.and sparkled with light points. The
smooth skin underneath them shirred
up amazingly when he laughed. “I
flunked algebra,” she offered, “and I
can’t add — except on my fingers.”
“Martini?” Joel-asked and wonder
ed at the same time why it was so
important for him to know everything
about her. . .The waiter brought 'the Martinis
and at the end of half an hour they
were still untasted in front of them.
The place was crowded, noisy, and
blue, with cigarette smoke.
“Say, do you really like this? Joe!
asked, scowling, “or shall we find a
place where we can hear each other?
“Let’s,” Sue said, rising, ‘find a
'place where it isn’t so stuffy.”
It wasn’t at all stuffy on the top of
a Fifth Avenue bus, they found, and
there they were really alone with
White feathery snowflakes falling all
about them. Joel put his arm around
her and observed that a snowflake had
caught oh her eyelashes and that hed
like awfully to kiss her. .
, Their lips clung together m the
darkness,, polka-dotted by the falling
show. Below them people were scur
rying on sidewalks; the shop windows
were bright and festooned with
Christmas wreaths, tinsel, bells and
ftiagnifidehtly ligfitpd Cpn^tnia^ tf^s.
In that brief moment Joel knew that
something in his world had snapped
and changed direction. He thought it
was a very good thing he hadn’t yet
asked Jinny Ransom to marry him.
Because Joel knew without any ques
tion this girl belonged to him.
She said without, any shyness or
coyness, “I was sure- you were going
to do that, from the mihtite I saw you
this morning.”.
Joel hunted in his picket for a pack
age of cigarettes. This strangely ex
citing world into which he had so sdu-
dently precipitated himself was a bit
unsteadying. “Sue Garland,” he said
over and over,” Sue Garland.| I knew
the name was significant the first time
I heard it. I’ve been in love with you,
I think, ever since I first heard you
sing."
She laughed happily because it was
a mad thing to'do, to fall in love like
this, without any preliminaries. “Don’t
think I ride around like this on the
top of Fifth Avenue buses — I mean
—- the only — ”
There was Dusty at her own mini-piano, while one of the most striking
girls she had ever seen stood close to him, pouring out clear, liquid notes.
Joel lighted his cigarette. “You
mean you didn’t know people actually
fell in love at once — immedjutly.
That’s it, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Sue said a little breathlessly.
“Yes.”
Joel kissed her again. “Well, it
does happen.” At the sight of an il
luminated clock face he asked sudden
ly, “What about dinner — when do
you eat?”
“After the broadcast, and I must be
at the stduio by eight-fifteen.”
“Fine,” Joel said. “We don’t have
to hurry. Now we’ll’have a chance to
talk. There’s something I particularly
want to ask you. Is there — is there
-any other man in your life?”
“Only Dusty,” Sue said, laughing.
“He’s the only other person who ever
kissed me on top of a bus.”
“You mean — my brother — is in
love with you?”
“Yes,” said Sue lightly, “he makes
love to me all the time. I don’t sup
pose he really means it, and after all
he is a lot older than I am — and
now’ — of course—”
Joel was looking at her from under
his felt hat with incredulous eyes.
“Dusty!” he exclaimed, feeling like a
falling man reaching for projecting
objects. “I think I’d better get this
straight.”
CHAPTER VIII
Joel knew. Dusty. If Dusty made
love to Sue he meant it. It was a good
thing he had found this out in time.
He must clear out quickly before he
got in any deeper. His first impulse
was hever to see Sue again, Then
suddenly Joel found himself wanting
to hurt Sue — to make her suffer for
the swift sharp pain she had inflicted
on him. But he could think of nothing
to say.
“I thought we were going to talk,"
Sue reminded him after a long silence.
“What? Oh! Yes — yes—" now he
was speaking sharply. “I wanted to
talk about Jinny, She’s a girl back
home — a very particular girl — I
w’ant to take her a present, something
really nice, and I thought perhaps you
would help me select it.”
She was staring at him in the semi
darkness.
“I suppose I should have told you
before,” Joel said. “There’s always
been Jinny. She’s the prettiest girl
in White Creek. Her father runs the
Star.”
“Oh, yes,” said Sue. “The White
Creek Star.”
Joel looked down at the lighted
shops. “That one looks open. Do you
think a girl would like perfume? It
ought to be—” he hesitated, “a reas
onably expensive present.”
“Any girl would like perfume. I
should think,” Sue said quietly. “Joel,
you’re a funny, boy. I thought you
meant all that — a few blocks past —
I Was sure you did—”
Joel gritted his teeth. This was go
ing to be bad. “Maybe I overplayed
the part. But, Sue, you are in love
with Dusty, aren’t you?”
Sue didn’t hear the urgency in his
tone because of her deep, sudden hurt.
So she answered carelessly, “Who
wouldn’t be in love with Dusty? Half
a dozen girls are waiting around the
edges hoping I’ll say No.”
By this time the bus had stopped.
They had descended and were part of
the hurrying crowd. The snow which
had fallen like drifting lace against
high dark buildings was . melting
brown sugar on darkly wet sidewalks.
Presently Sue was saying that a girl
with dark hair called Jinny Ransom
would surely like this scent. Joel paid
for it and chattered brightly while it
was being wrapped.
“I guess I’ll have to rush.” Sue’s
voice was a little shaken.
Carefully, Joel said, “I hope you
don’t mind being just chucked into a
cab. I have a couple of errands to
do and I’m leaving in the morning.”
Alone in the taxi, what Sue most
wanted to do was to cry, but she
couldn’t because she was due at the
studio and there would be an audience
and Dusty would hate it if she didn’t
look her best, For just a little while
she had thought she had found it”—
that something so amazingly, utterly
wonderful — that something she had
dreamed about.
A phrase Of Gran’s flashed into her
mind. She rubbed the puff of her
compact, “It was one of those times,”
she told her wistful face in the tiny
spot of mirror, “when the currants
didn’t jell.
At. the entrance to the big studio
building Sue noticed with 'surprise
that with^all the hurry and confusion
she had. nearly an hour to herself,
Her head was aching madly and she
decided upon a turn around the block.
The snow was still falling in fan
tastically perfect crystal flakes resting
briefly on her fur coat before they
melted. The slush was miles deep.
The snow was twisting about her; the
flakes lighted from above were shad
owed underneath and she had the feel
ing that the whirling gray specks
came from a cloud blown to bits.
“Dusty, honestly, I can’t sing to
night,” she rehearsed it in her mind.
“Oh, I can’t. You’ll have to get some
one else.”
Why had everything suddenly
cracked up? W-hat had she said that
had been so awfully wrong? Maybe
Joel really hadn't meant it, Maybe he
thought she hadn’t. Maybe he thought
she was the kind of girl who rode ar
ound' in taxis and kissed everyone
with whom she happened to be, like
that. Like that — willingly and with
her whole soul, and at the moment
meaning it.
As she heard her name in the gray
ness of the. falling snow, she realized
that the voice had been following her
for some time.
“Miss Garland — it is you, isn’t it?”
The girl beside her was young and
eager-eyed. “I’m Gloria Lucia and my
father said you’d see me tonight. I
was sure it was you — I’ve watched
you broadcast many times.”
“All right,” Sue said to herself. “If
he cares to believe that, all right. If
he wants to jump to conclusions like
th’at, I won’t think of him any more.
Didn’t Dusty tell you you’d be far bet
ter off if you weren’t tangled up in a
love affair? To the girl she said, “Of
course. Only it’s still early, isn’t. it?”
At the broadcasting >station Sue
swallowed two aspirins and a glass of
water. Then she took Gloria into a
vacant studio. “Now don’t be scared,”
she said. “I’m the only person who >■
can hear you and if it doesn’t go just
right, stop and begin over again.” >
Gloria flashed her a bright smile
that showed white even teeth. "Thank
you, you are kind. Kinder than I
thought. I was awfully scared, but
I’m no.t now.”
“If she’s any good at all,” Sue
thought, a flash of pity stirring in her
as she looked at the cheap, badly fit
ting dress, “I’ll make Dusty hear her,
It isn’t easy to get a toe hold. Hea
vens! I know that. I’m fearfully lucky
to have had Dusty.”
Gloria’s Voice was not particularly
well trained, but it was appealing, and
some of her notes had real quality.
She looked up at Sue with anxious
eyes when, she had finished, tofind „
Sue smiling at her.
“I think you’ll get along. Yes, I
do, 'really. I’m going to have a talk
about you and something might hap4
pen very soon. Only, of course you
mustn’t be disappointed if it doesn’t
work out. Give me your address.and
a number where you can be reached
quickly. You could come any time,
couldn’t you?”
Gloria’s eyes shadowed. “If you
could make it the noon, hour—”
“We’ll try. Now I’ll have to run.
It’s my turn.”
Sue had never sung better. Dusty
noticed that her eyes were unusually
bright and her cheeks were scarlet
with excitement. It was, he supposed,
because of the flattering offer from a
night club in the center of town, for
a ten-week engagement. He sighed
and thought he didn’t exactly relish
the prospect of Sue Garland as a night
club singer with all the blatant bally
hoo, though this did seem like a fool
ish attitude when he 'had turned him
self inside out to get her publicity —
and to promote a career for her.
When Sue mentioned Gloria to him
he said, a little more brusquely than
he meant to, “But, Sue, you can’t be
letting yourself in for this sort of
thing. Everybody in town will be on
your neck in no time,”
“I don’t know, Dusty, but it seemed
to me that if she had a little chance—
I wish you would listen to her.”
“I will, my sweet — if you’ll prom
ise to restrain your own impulsive
generosity next time,”
“Yes.” Sue felt curiously let down.
“Maybe you’d be generous at this
point and lend me a nickel. I — I —
want to put in a telephone call,”
There, she had said it, It had been
on her( mind all evening, Joel was
stay with Dusty. If she could hear
his Voice again she might be able to
smooth out her own mixed feelings. If
she could hear Joel’s voice saying no-