The Key West Citizen Newspaper, June 16, 1953, Page 6

THE KEY WEST CITIZEN “THAT SACKER VARMINT -- WE HAD US A KNOCKDOWN, DRAG-OUT, KICKIN’ ALIN! = Fight SNUFFY Tuesday, June 16, 1953, OW ABOUT JAMES? HES IN THERE PAIN IN TH! PIT OF N STUMMICK iciow Whar Peveme iS? HE'S A KNOW _WHAT A z He" PERSON WHO CAN DO THINGS WITH HIS MIND. THAT MOST OF US CAN'T! L THINK THOSE WHY, SHUCKS, FLASH... \] GUESS I WAS WISHIN’ WE COULD GO FAR OuT ff NO TIME? We GOT To REACH OUR HIDEAWAY. LET HIM CROAK! | T_DONT RECKYMEMBER, BUT RIGHT AFTER I ET MY BREAKFUST TH PAIN DISAPPEART SORTA BEAT FEET FOR HOME/- , Your Mon PHONED — SHE'S HERE .’- SOME OKAY? UL TELL ; : ° : WOLNVHd JHL NVIDIDVW SHL JAVUAGNVA L108 Nad DIg 8 WIHLVA dN ONTONTUG GIs O3619 FHL FOR CRYIN’ OUT LOUD By CHARLES G. MENDOZA My wife has no peers when it comes to whumping up devil’s food cake. I don’t know what par- ticular ingredients she employs but the one I was eating the other day induced a fiend from Hell to approach me. Being prepared for all eventualities I wasn’t overly alarmed. I merely continued to munch on the cake as if an oc- curance of this nature was but a vicissitude within the realm of hu- man expectations. The locale, after all, might have been a bit conducive to a meeting of this sort. The idea of eating lunch in the graveyard had oc- curred to me when I had obser- ved two horses peacefully grazing there on, the rank gruss that covers most of the graves. Surely, I had thought to myself, if horses are permitted to graze here there should be no objection if a humble worker like’ myself makes use of the shade provided by some of the trees that stand in silent vigilance over some of the tombs. It was in this setting that the fiend accosted‘ me. “What a devilish odor,” he said pointed to the devil’s food cake, “I wonder if you would be so kind as to share it with me. I may be able to do you a good turn some day.” “Gladly,” I said, “‘but I sincere- ly hope that the turn to which you refer isn’t while I am on a spit over the hot coal in Hades,” The fiend smiled ingratiatingly. “You mortals nave quaint ideas about our culture. We really are not as wicked as we are pictured by some evangelists. The fact should be recalled that we are but ‘fallen’ angels.” He offered me this bit of wisdom while reaching for the piece of caké I was handing to him. . “Tell me,” I said, “are you the only ambassador from Hades in Key West?” “Definitely not,” he said while taking a great bite of the cake with his tusks, “‘I was but recent- ly assigned to the graveyard here after Satan had read in the Key West Citizen of the many strange activities that take place in this necropolis. There are many more fiends in Key West admirably sit- uated. Many of them in the guise of human beings. The fact is that I am disguised as a mortal also but you have been able to péhe- trate it because of that devilish concoction you are eating. Your wife must be hep to fiendish prac- tices.” “Naturally,” I replied, “she has learned much in her thirteen years of constant association with me. She repeatedly tells me that 1 always rush in where angels fear to tread.” i “So,” remarked the fiend sage- ly, “that explains a great deal. are is thrice-blessed, Having alre: experienced a great deal of on earth, she is well-pre- pai overcome those obstacles that seek to bar her from the blessed realm.” “Don’t talk that way,” I said crossly, “I do not believe in di- vorce.” 7 “O, mothing so dramatic as di- vorce,” replied the devil smooth- ly. “The fact is you no longer of- fer an obstacle to your wife. She figured you out and overcame you after the first year of marriage, It is easy to see that you have no understanding of women.” “I guess you have,” I replied heatedly. “If you know so dang much why do you have to hang around a graveyard?” “To the fiend said nonchalantly. - ends always intrude where there are problems of great. social signi- ficance, For example, ‘we have select fiends studying the City and County officials. We have reason to believe that these men should be investigated in order to learn what their motivations may be. That is, if they are serving the people they represent or if they are merely serving themselves or acting as stooges.” “O,” I said horrified, “you're not implying that we may have ‘reds’ or ‘pinkos’ in our local government?” The fiend laughed. “Those colors aren't prominent at all in the pic- ture of things in Key West. What we fiends are concerned with ere “The greenies,” I gasped, “What in the world are greenies?" “My but you are thick above the TO KISS, “\7OUR family name wasn’t al- ways Mandell, was it?” Curtis asked, ‘ “No. The old man changed it.” “When?” - “When he first came to this country. Long before I was born.” “What was the family name in Poland?” Mandell grinned. “You couldn’t even pronouace it: It was Mancz- tochski. But the old man simplified it. See? Like we say Poland in- stead of Rzeczpospolita Polska.” “TE see.” “But it used te be Mancztochski. I know. I’ve seen it on letters from Pa’s brother.” “A brother named Vladimir?” “That's right.” Curtis consulted a mental file. | na “Born in Gdansk in 1897 and mar- ried to Sofie Bjela, a Czech, in 1922.” He blew smoke at the ceil- ing. “One-time professor of ad- vanced physics at the University of Poland. Later taught at the Sor- bonne. Emigrated to Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1943, where he opened his own consulting laboratory. De- ceased as of Sep! a widower without issue.” Mandell was apologetic. “I didn’t even know he was dead. We kind of lost track of him during the war.” He leaned forward in his chair. “But how come you know so much about my uncle Vladi- mir? What's he got. to do with ‘inging me?” acne snuffed his cigarette. Bo come to oil . ere was something vague! familiar about the other man's voice, Mandell realized what it was. A weight. He'd felt the same weight before. Many times. Mostly, he'd felt it at night, lying sleepless long after Lo ut had sounded, or crouched alongside a half-track, listening to the heavy stuff in the distance, knowing that whatever happened to Barney Mandell was up to the eagle perched on his chest. “You're a fed,” he accused. oa geniled. “That's right.” “No. Treasury Department.” mber 14, 1947, | gu: “What's the government want of me? I paid my tax,” ‘urtis nodded. “A lot of tax, Barney. But this isn’t exactly a tax matter.” “Then what is it?” CoE lighted a cigarette from the butt of the one he was smoking. “Right now, let’s say we've been trying to contact you for some time. “T haven't been hiding.” “No,” Curtis agreed. “We've known where you were all the time. But owing to some rather clever razzle-dazzle, we didn't realize who you were.” Curtis shrugged. “There are, after all, some three milion people of Pol- ish extraction in this country, and it seems that your father didn’t bother, to legalize ais change of me. “No. I don’t think he did,” Man- dell said. It was hot in the small office. He wished Curtis would make his Point and let him go to Gale. None of this seemed to have anything to do with the dead blonde. OR KILL By Day Keene “On your separation from the a Mandell corsecied him “Td rather not,” Mandell said. His feeling of uneasiness returned. He wiped his hands on his trousers, | “Look. How come you know so much about me? you bail me out? What's this all about?” Curtis opened the drawer of his | mo desk and took 2 Rdg rae paper printed in Chicago. fever read this, Barney?” Mandell shook his head. “No, I can't. I can talk it a little, but] ¢ that’s all.” “T see,” Curtis said. He put the paper back in the drawer. “How do you feel about this country, Barney?” Mandell smelled the wilted car- nation on his lapel. It was still faintly fragrant. “How do you mean, how do I feel about this} ness open Cr meee It’s my country. I like ii e Curtis nodded. “Yes. I think that can be assumed. Up until this late unpleasantness concerning Cher! Marvin, you've been a good citi- zen. You have an excellent war record, Vou never _nade better than pfe, but you earned an infantry- man’s combat badge, a bronze and silver star, three battle stars, and a purple heart. That right?” dell took a ci tte from the package on the desk, but in- Steal of lighting it he shredded it between his fingers. “That's right.” was “Down! Hit the floor, (Te be continued) Today’s Business Mirror Expenses Of Korean War 100 Billion By ELTON C. FAY WASHINGIN (®—The United States has spent about $101,740,- 000,000 in the past three years on Tearmament and the Korean War, the Defense Department has esti- mated, During that time, Congress has granted the military about $155,- 579,000,000 in new obligational au- thority—the right to contract for material and service. With the help of the $101,740,- 000,000 expenditure, the Defense Department has formed a force of about 3% million men, started re- equipping and expanding the num- ber of weapons for the Air Force, Army and Navy and fought the Korean War. This expenditure does not include money used by Atomic Energy Commission study a social problem,” Fi fet ell Haiti | § SMRZeB S REE ft ri ag et H lunch here bring along fense program, which includes that delicious cake and/ By SAM DAWSON NEW YORK (®—The secretary of commerce says “business is excellent.” « The spokesman for the National Association of Credit,Men sees us entering “a mild deflationary pe- riod” with signs that “the going may be rough.” ’, can't last forever but “the gov- ernment will at some stage inter- vene to check” a downturn before it becomes too severe. There you have the three points of view about business most com- mon today: 1, The optimistic view that busi- ness is going great guns and that there’s nothing to prevent it's staying healthy. we, | B OBER FEReee | a if g i F ra plang ri “sellers’ markets and easy dol- things .| market, the slight slowing up the payment of accounts.” yn nt Hee gi readjustment is