Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-07-03
A ROMANTIC MIRAGE.

Z
tion. In tie morning he padded about
! IN a Canadian canoe and mentally
thraShed recaleitrant brain for its
/ pauclty of ideas. In the afternoon he
| wailowed out to the reef. took French
| leaNe OF plunge from the first boat he
encountered, and wallowed back again
~ S't, III a palr OF ducks and pajama
JoVAet, ana aiViue has attention between
| u cigar, book and three delicate shades
| of green out at sea that resnactivel,
marked the shadows near shore the
coral reef half a mile out and the daer,
water beyond
In the evening he wandered into rbe
garden With writing-pad an indelibla
pencil chewed to stump and n deter
anlIeu expression, 10 sit beneath a huge
hiahso uee and-as he thought-write.
p puS ~ Ieahty TO wait for Oyosi. He
had done this daily now for two mnntb,.
ana he told himself it was good hut
/ even TO himself lie had never ndnittoi
that the best part of il an was tbe an
! pearance of 0yoSi. '4e az
Ihls evening. however. he felt STRANGE
/ ~ restless. More than once he fn,n}
| himself looking up at the calendar bane-
sas on the wall, until he struggled
abruptly from the wicker chair stS,,,II,
up to it and stared fxedly AT tbe sn ,r0ne
containing the Dist of the month orJ
ABOVE the figures the words printed in
Dlue: Mona, San Francisco"
Poor little Oyosi" he mprrrr,,
quietly to himself poor littla da,,iI -
lhen he 1t fresh cigar and sTroIJod
out into the garden. eu
o me FAINT rhythmical click,clock click-
AZ " approaching cogs sounded on
Tue hard road. Over low hedge .an,,,3
/ with haming hibiscus there anneorapd
Galhty little head. surmounted w,tb
sih9otn Jet-black hair glisteninr win oji
anu pinned into precise conformity will
coulos OF strange shapes and bright col.
Ut, [s-oot eaton failed to see II. II was
mot until oyoSl stood hesitating i'm the
sa1eWay that his eve caught the brighr
REG OF her obi. and he seized the stnmn
Vi lhdehble pencil and bent industrionsIy
! over the writing pad
:, Tome in, he called, without raising
t t,s neaa, ana waving an arm hlindly in
me alf "a good dew fell last night"
| a. Ogosl hesltated no longer but unrolled
the nouf sack she carried In the folds of
| her kimono and threw il in the grass
| beneath the big kiawi tree.
III must be explained that Oyosi's broth
er owned the dusty little store on the
corner OF Waikiki road, and incidentally
q mule, and there is nothing quite like
klawi beans as a cheap though satisfying
| substitute for oats.
Oyosl knelt in the grass and diligently
scooped the beans into little brown heaps.
| Her back was towards Cation. so hnw
was he able to know that she saw and
noted the frown on his forehead as he
sat watching her every movement What
| was he to say TO the girl. and how was
ne to say it2 These were the problems
that RULED his usually placid brown brow.
| FOR two solid months she had done pre-
clsely what she was doing now. Present
| ~ she would stand the -four sack full of
beans against the trunk of the tree,
smile ana fetch the guitar from the
laaal and squat at his feet humming the
weird airs of her native land confident
that he appreciated even if he did not
understand. Then to her great delight
he would play some coon dances. watch
ing her eyes dance and her body sway
In time with the music. Then he would
order tea, strong and black I'M large
| cups--not sake in a thimble--and they
| would talk of everything under the sun.
| or rather he would talk and she listen
sometimes understanding few words
and fitting them into her own mosaic of
meaning, sometimes comprehending not
word, but always silent, attentive
| listener.
At last he would look into her eyes
she into hs-they would both smile and
she would 20. That was all; but even
that would have to end-tonight.
There We're once said Cation. "a
little girl, Q little garden and great
big man. The man liked the girl, the
girl liked the man, and they both liked
the garden, so they were very happy all
round. But, outside this garden, long
way off but creeping nearer every day
there was q dragon Il ahe dragon, whose
teeth were so poor that she could only
eat tender things like little girls or
course. the little girl knew nothing of
this dragon. but the man knew her very
Wen indeed--so well that when the
dragon was only days journey from
the garden he thought It best 10 tell the
little Girl so that she could run away
ant Tot he eaten up. At the same time
he hated TO tell her, because he liked
the little girl very much. and didn't want
TO make her think he was sending har
away because he was tired Of her; SO one
evening he made il all into a story. and
told it her while they we're sitting in the
garden"
Oyosi sat perfectly still and silent for
"a few seconds. then
II tell story" she said hreathlessiy;
''all same stery--little girl, little garden
big, big man--dragon~him. He dragon
mine" Then she turned and fled the
staccato click-clock click-clock Of her
clogs growing fainter and fainter down
the road.
what the devil murmured Ca
ton perplcxedly then he smiled remi-
niseenty. and lit fresh cigar.
The huge hull Of the Mona slid nearer
and nearer her buIwarks lined with wav-
ing handkerchiefs and smiling faces
Cation saw his wife almost immediate
~ and waved a greeting with his hat
over the head of the little Japanese
woman In front who had a baby 1uug
IN shawl at her back Cations glance
happened to fall on the womans neck
and was held there--he had seen that
neck before. He glanced down at the
face II was OyOsfs expectancy personi-
fed. A few seconds passed. then q lit
tie brown hand was raised and waved
fraDt,cally. The gangplank was thrust
aboard and the passengers filed off to be
swallowed up in the crowd. Cation
stood and gazed dnmbly, first ut the
brown speck Of humanity tied to Oyosi's
back, then at a stumpy little Jap with
short bow legs. a nose like a piece Of
putty, and grin that threatened to In
terfere with his ears. who bounded
through the crowd and almost lifted
OyOsi from her feet.
He examined her and she smiled RAJ
dautly: he examined the baby, and she
igugi.ad pcRtatically. then unite Suddenly