Evening Star Newspaper, August 14, 1935, Page 33

DAILY SHORT STORY THE BIG DEAL By Josephine Bentham. "SAY, momma!” shouted Jacob Mosher suddenly. *“I put over that deal today. You remember, mom- ma, the one I was telling you about last night?” “H'mm,” said Hannah Mosher, placidly. “Poppa, you're late. And you know Becky Lasky don’t like people late for supper.” “But I was try- ing to tell you momma. This big deal—oftice build- ing property. Two million dollars. You remember, momma, I had the that Jacob was a great financier. She'd read that in the newspapers. | But she knew more definitely that he was her Jacob, a good, faithful man with corns on both his little toes— furthermore that he was the father of Jakie, Rachel, Rosa and Samuel Mosher. Neither of them knew how impor- tant the big deal was. But at that precise moment the life of Jacob Mosher was worth exactly 50 cents. That 50 cents was Jacob's big deal. * % ¥ % h/IR. AND MRS. MOSHER had not | considered it necessary to cel- ebrate the big deal—yet the trans- action did not lack its celebrants, Sidney Kent, salesman, took his $40,000 check from his lizard-skin billfold and handed it to his wife. His thin fingers trembled a little. “It went through,” said Carolyn softly. “It went through,’ asserted Sid- ey just as softly. The $40,000 check meant a great deal to Sidney Kent and his wife. For months they'd been living on credit. The letters from creditors | and the insistent telephone calls had been phantoms in a nightmare—a pretty bad nightmare. “Mosher’s a good man to do busi- ness with,” Kent said. “But a deal like this means nothing to him—his fortune’s simply fabulous.” “We've got to celebrate,” Carolyn said eagerly. “Sure we do,” he agreed. Sidney Kent had forgotten to ex- plain to his wife that he had given the young chap in his office a raise. A $10 a week raise was a small mat- ter now that things were on the up- grade. And young Potter deserved it.; John Potter wasn't the sort to put emotion into words. He had said, “Thanks, sir—thanks very much,” when Kent had paused at the door to announce the $10 raise. But after his employer had left John sat in a stunned silence for a long time. Then he reached for the telephone. “Dorothy,” he said. “Dorothy! Listen, sweetheart, you put your best dress on. You and I are going to a Chinese restaurant and then we're going to a movie, and if we feel like going anywhere else we'll go—that's all” He was masterful; he was one of the lords of this earth. Wait two years before they could be married? ‘Why, tonight in the Chinese restau- rant he was going to tell her they could be married tomorrow. One Luke Smith was lounging be- fore the door of a bar on Mac- dougall street when John Potter came swinging along in a hurry to reach Dorothy. The old bum aroused his ready sympathy. Pocr old bum. He scarcely waited for the us- ual whine. He flipped Luke Smith a large, round bright half-dollar. The first drink almost made a man of Luke Smith. By the third ~drink he'd be a wreck again, but, warmed with the first drink, his thoughts be- came slightly more lucid than they were ordinarily and his grievances, which atsorbed his attention whether he was sober or drunk, became more intelligently defined, He sst over this first drink, and thought about it—comfortably, al- most philosophically. At one time Luke had been a humble member of Nick Donatelli’s gang. He was, strictly speaking, a member now. But they'd done him dirt. Did they protect him? Not if the price of a drink was protection! He'd gotten drunk at a couple of the wrong times, maybe, but so had a lot of other people. They'd been pretty smart about it. They said he didn't even have the liver to squeal what he knew. * x * X LUKE SMITH knew what he knew. By one of those curious twists of metropolitan life, he knew a great deal more than John Potter knew, & great deal more tnan the smart Sid- ney Kent knew. Luke Smith knew, to be exact about it, just in what way and to what ex- tent Jacob Mosher had got the rather belligerent goat of Nick Donatelli’s gang. He knew how Mosher had been warned to lay off pushing that polit- ical pet of his. If Mosher wanted his friends in the district attorney’s office he'd have to talk to Nick about it first. Yes, Luke knew about that. But he also knew that Nick wasn't just passively peeved. He knew that two of Nick's men had been primed to bump off Jacob Mosher at 10 mine utes past 5 on the afternoon of the day following. Jacob was a man of regular habits. At approximately 5:10 pm. he would be stepping into his car. If he, Luke Smith, wanted to squeal, he could tip off old Jacob. After that old Jacob could take care of himself. Pensively Luke toyed with his glass. He couldn’t sell what he knew. The gang would find out about it and then he'd be in a spot all right. But money wasn't everything in this cock-eyed world, was it? Luke tossed | the quarter that remained of his 50 | cent down on the table and barked | for another drink. Whereupon he crooked his elbdw about a sheet of grease-spotted paper and, laboriously, with a chewed-off | pencil, he began torwrite. He signed himself “A Friend.” About that time Jaccb Mosher and his wife were on their way to Abe Lasky's party. “You're tired, poppa,” said Mrs. Mosher, patting his hand. “No, momma. I was just think- ing. I don’t know about that deal. I don't know if I did a good thing by myself or not. But I have a g&nfh. momma—I have a hunch I (Copyright. 1935.) WILLIS’ SMART TENNIS UPSETS DR. 0’LOUGHLIN, Edgemore Man Bests Former Champion at Annual Mary- land Tourney. By the Associated Press. OAKLAND, Md., August 13.—Rich- ard T. Willis of Edgemore, Md., play- ing a brilliant game, today upset Dr. | John O'Loughlin of Pittsburgh, cham- pion in 1930 and 1932, in the sixteenth annual Western Maryland tennis tour- nament, at Mountain Lake Park. O'Loughlin quickly got four games on Willis, but the latter then settled down to action. Aided by a few mis- cues by O'Loughlin, he trimmed the former champion, 6—4, 6—I1. Other favorites drove steadily through their opposition. Frank Broida of Pittsburgh, the defending champion, defeated Ernest Bennett, Cumberland, 6—0, 6—0; Billy Jacobs, | Baltimore, defeated James G. Allen, Pittsburgh, 6—1, 6—0, and James E. | Allen, jr., downed Don Snyder, Greens- burg, Pa., 6—0, 6—3. Elmer Rudy, Baltimore, bested Russell Ponton, Cumberland, 6—1, 6—1, and W. J. Clardy, Pittsburgh, put out Curtis Stone, a fellow Pittspurgher, 6—1, 6—2. SIXTEEN-DAY VACATION EXCURSIONS $16.% ROUND-TRIP August 23, Sept. 6. Leave 500 p.m. August 24, Sept. 7. Leave 800 a.m. eturn enytime within 16 4 days. Stepevers permitted. Phone, Dist. 3300 Nat. 7370 GOING TO Ashevitle? AMERICAN AMOCO GAS STOP AT THIS SIGN OF GREATER VALUES! THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1935. A FIEARLY SALE FURNITURE § HOMEWARES Home Improvement Plan—No Money Down—I1, 2, or 3 Years to Pay! . Cogswell Chair An old favorite at a new low price. Upholstered arms. Padded back. Tapestry cover. (Fourth Floor.) English Club Chair, 9'95 Copied from an old English lounge chair. Spring back, seat and edge. Loose cushion. Green, brown, rust. (Pourth Floor.) T, Occasional Chair, 7'95 Stunning! Mighty comfortable, too! Moss-filled spring seat. overed in green or rust tapestry. (Fourth Floor.) 5 Scoop-Seat Chair, 4‘95 For hall or living room. - Nail studded. Button . tufted scoop seat, Rust or green tapestry, (Pourth Ploor.) » - "Dad wants a big chair 4-95 that he can flop into” = on the Home Improvement Plan Bring }um_ in to see this one. Bet you dollars to doughnuts, he'll make for it right away and you’ll have a harc time making him get out of it. A deep-seated London club chair with broad arms and just the right tilt to th: back. Pull up the ottoman as a parking place for your feet and you're sitting pretty. Covered in new tapestry weaves in brown, blue, rust or green. One of our best sellers, so better get in to see it soon. (Fourth Floor. The Hecht Co.) '20c A DAY in the electric clock buys this MODERN 20c a Day in the Elec- tric Clock, furnished with every W estinghouse, is a convenient means of accumulating your monthly payments. It isn’t obligatory. however. The clock works on a separate current. Here’s the gleaming white guardian of your health, its sleek, stream- lined contours a credit to the most modern kitchen. Seven degrees of freezing . . . an oversized, fast- freezing cooling unit . . . scads of ice cubes at any hour of the day or night. All this for only 20c a day. (Main Floor, The Hecht Co.) 5 Year's Protection The sealed-in mechanism of every West- inghouse is protected for five years from date of gurchm, for the nominal sum of $5, which is included in the price. Plus small carrying charge, if purchased o the Budget Plan A smaller size Westinghouse, quite large enough for the average fam- ily. Bearing the same 5-years protection as the larger model Shop Thursday and Friday! We're Closed Saturday! 'THE HECHT CO0. F STREET AT SEVENTH ® e o NATIONAL 5100 - ® 4 b