Evening Star Newspaper, April 7, 1937, Page 26

DAILY SHORT STORY OFF THE By Bill Brennan. I‘l‘ WAS far too chilly and frosty 0 be driving an open roadster in upper Michigan the first week of Octo- ber, but Carol Duchin was like that. Tangy air bit her red cheeks and tossed her red-gold curls as she topped & rise at 70, just 3 miles out of Ish- peming on the Big Perch Lake road. Then she saw the topless model-T touring limping along in the valley far below her. The first glance was enough for Carol to know it was Sperry Card going bird hunting. The end of a shot- gun barrel sticking over the top of the front seat; Rip, Sperry’s English setter, sitting so proudly beside him, and Sperry en- cased in a khaki hunting coat. It was & natural, and a sight to set Carol thinking of the unpleasant words she and Sperry had the last time they had been together. A grin of malicious determination eurled her petulant lips as she nosed her car alongside his at his speed and began to crowd him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him turn bel- ligerently and open his mouth to shout something defiantly—she waited for it, but it didn’t come. She saw, without looking, that he was staring at her, then he smiled—grimly. “Hello, pest, trying to trade hub- eaps witn me?” he shouted, forcing a pretended politeness. * kK K AS IF she were unaware of it, she edged closer to him. “Hello, Sperry,” she shouted with unwar- ranted gaity. “Going hunting?” He glared at the 2-inch space be- tween the cars and roared, “If you crowd my car off the road into this | muck T'll paddle you.” Carol exploded in abandoned 1aughter, but composed herself quickly. Then she bowed her pretty lips in eloquent scorn, “Pooh, pooh, to you, Sperry.” Her tiny boot floorboarded | the accelerator. Sperry disappeared in a cloud of dust in her rear-view mirror, but | carol was thinking desperately. She | knew there would be only a few days at most to get in her work on Sperry before he went back to her father's ron mines at Kingsford. It was all grim and very com- plicated, she thought desperately. All the more complicated by the fact|handle guns?” He waved a warning that her father had given Sperry’s finger at her uptilted nose. “Never,” mother & job in their house when Sperry’s father was killed in the iron mines. Mrs. Card had practically raised her and her brother and Sperry #s one family. And her own father never bothered to distinguish be- tween them in the matter of distrib- uting gifts. When it came time for her brother Bob to go to college her father sent Sperry along with him. “Hello, Sperry. Going hunting?” pewa boots, her precise olive hiking RECORD huff, deeply hurt. Now she hsd to undo all that. A half mile from Big Perch Lake her car spluttered a few times, then the motor died. An idea was born in that instant. 8o she waited for Sperry to come along. He wheeled in behind her car at her frantic waving. “Well?” “Well, aren’t you going to see what's the matter with it?” He got out stiffly, walked over to the gas tank and lift- ed the cap sus- piciously. *“I thought s0,” he grunted, his eyes hungrily taking in her fancy Chip- breeches, her Mackinaw-checked shirt. Carol saw his toe begin to trace a pattern on the road dust nervously. She looked the way he had come. “Well, Sperry, I'm not going to spoil your hunting trip,” she said simply and started past him. “Wait—Miss Duchin,” Sperry said haltingly. “It's my fault., I took two gallons of gas out of your car this morning, thinking you had lots of it,” he said contritely. Carol turned blue eyes on him in amazement, but Sperry’s eyes never wavered from hers. “Why, Sperry Card,” she exclaimed, “the very idea of you standing there and calling me ‘Miss’ Duchin.” She paused to con- sider wistfully. “Just for that I'm go- ing hunting with you.” She turned to the dog, “Come on, Rip,” and reached for a shotgun. “I'm glad you brought two guns with you.” “I'll drive you back to town, or give give you the gas,” Sperry offered, per- plexed. * ok K X "YOU‘RE too willing and helpful, Sperry.” She broke open the gun determinedly. “Here, give me some shells.” She turned to reach toward him and found his arms inclosing her. She slid inside them deftly and turned her lips up resignedly to his. Rip, from his place on the seat, sniffed in their direction, then gave way to a| patient and delighted yap. Sperry held her back to beam down at her—and saw the barrel of his gun sticking into the gravel of the road. He grabbed for it concernedly. ‘“Say, young lady, who ever told you how to | he cautioned, “allow your gun barrel to get into dirt; hear me?” Carol pouted prettily. “You and your old guns, what harm does it do?” she demanded, happiness welling up in her at the return of their customary quarreling. Sperry brushed his bronzed fore- head in desperation. “What harm?” he exclaimed, “Say: % They had been roommates. All her life Bob and Sperry had been trying to | But Carol wasn't listening this time. elude her when they wanted to go | She was thinking how funny Sperry hunting or fishing. And all her life | would look if he ever found out that since Carol, as a girl of 8, had made | she had been merely trying to see how up her mind to marry Sperry Card | far her car would really go on a gallon sometime anyway, she had wanted | of gas. What if he found out she had to be with her future husband. She |drawn it all out and put only a gallon chuckled to herself at the thought.| back in, then started accidentally for But the funny part of it was the Big Perch Lake and overtook him on jden of marrying Sperry Card had |the road. sctually obsessed her more and more Of course, she would let the car rot as she grew older. And there had |right there before she'd let him find been some sort of long-forgotten un- | that out. He had been gentleman derstanding made between them when |enough to lie to her, a nice gentle- they were 12. manly lie, in order to get her back * ok Kok without explaining. And she had been | JRUT her trouble did not start until, | lady enough, for once in her life, to | in a night of June, she had play- | appreciate it. She would always love fully told Sperry she would never | him for that lie, but he must never marry him until he had an iron mine | know there was an extra can of gas of his own. It was just one of those | in the rumble seat of her car—never. things and Sperry had left her in a (Copyright, 1937.) CLUB POETRY CONTEST DEADLINE SATURDAY The deadline for entries in the fifth annual poetry contest of the District of Columbia Federation of Women’s Clubs will be next Saturday, it was| announced by the federation today. Each contestant is limited to 100 lines, although one or more poems may be included. The contest is open to all poets in the District and nearby Maryland and Virginia and prizes of $15, $10 and $5 will be awarded at & meeting of the federation in May. Manuscripts should be unsigned, with the name and address of the au- thor mailed under a separate cover with the name of the poem or poems | included. Entries should be sent to| Mrs, Inez Sheldon Tyler, 3328 Nine- | teenth street. i 'SOOTHE ECZEMA ITCHING It's wonderful the way soothing, cooling Zemo brings ralief to itch- ing, burning skin, even in) severe cases. Itching usually stops when Zemo touches tender and irritated skin, because of its rare ingredients. To comfort the irritation and itch- ing of Ringworm, Eczema, Pimples and Simple Rashes, always use clean, soothing Zemo. It should be in every home. Insist on genuine Zemo. All druggists’, 35¢, 60¢, $1. FOR SKIN IRRITATIC SQUIBB DENTAL CREAM and follow the Squibb Plan " by which i MOST TOOTH DECAY CAN BE PREVENTED ExperiencedAdvertisersPrefer TheStar \ . THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, ~ 3 3 F A - [ ‘'WOODWARD " 10"v 1™ F AND.G STREETS At iYou'r' WinéJong by Day .. i F § A. Colorful poinsettias: deftly spaced: : on a crisp white MARQUISETTE back- ground. Wide, picot-edged ruffles and Priscilla top achieve a frilly Summer A R /loveliness. Red, blue, ma- roon, brown or green figures. $Z.75 2Y4 yards long. - Pair 2 3 ; B Dramatic Sweeps of SHEER RAYON offer_lovely .accent . to ;Summer ,win- ‘dows. A trio of blended tones theighten the effect.: :Each s iside fis 22 yards by 72 75 gincheg. RPair.ce-_&l i ... 6 +C. Wild flowers grow in great profusion + on these PURE LINEN DRAPERIES. A i more; formal note for the living or ; dining room.” Sateen-lined, {42% yards long and 50 inches 59.75 i wide.g Rairess oot : DrarERIZS, SEIVENTH FLOOR. 4 % il / i i 4 ? I LS %3 Rt AR 55 90 D. C, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 1837. P ipm Dlsmicr(5300 l - Outside the sun is brighter and warmer, grass is greener, buds are bursting and nature’s gayest, loveliest colors are everywhere. Let this new season of color set the pace for your rooms— light-as-a-breeze curtains and bright draperies by day and lovely lamps by night. We have them here for you—in a vast selection, certain inspiration to aid you in lifting your rooms from the weariness of Winter surroundings. From Lovely Lamps by Night. .. A. BLONDE MAPLE AND CHROMIUM combine to make a smart indirect bridge lamp with utility table and ash receiver. Complete with three- way bulb and leather-effect $2 7'50 shade - B. BOUDOIR DUO. China vanity sticks with dainty flowered chintz base patternand flowered chintz pleated shades to match. Lamps, $2.50 Each Shades, $1.25 Each C. TUSCANY WARE LAMP. Decorative by day as well as by night. White with col- ored floral pattern insert. Com- plete with contrasting pongee 57.50 : shade and three-way bulb Laurs, ScvENTE FLOOR.