The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1909-06-24

Scram plea aDoafu. ltlHS -ttiIS. uc
cattle cars of the Manhattan elevated
ratified away, and John Perkins drift
ed down the stairway of the station
with the released flock.
John walked slowly toward his fiat
slowly, because in the lexicon of his
daily life there was no such word as
perhaps" There are no surprises
awaiting man who has been married
two years and lives in a fiat AS he
walked John Perkins prophesied to
himself with gloomy and downtrodden
cynicism the foregone conclusions of
the monotonous day.
Katy would meet him at the door
with kiss favored with cold cream
and butter scotch. lie would remove
his coat, sit upon a macadamiZed
lounge and read in the evening paper
of Russians and Japs slaughtered by
the deadly linotype For amer there
would be pot roast. !. salad favored
with dressing warranted not to crack
or injure the leather. stewed rhubarb
and the bottle Of strawberry marina
lade blushing at the certificate OF
chemical purity on its label. After
dinner Katy would show him the new
patch in her crazy quilt that the ice
man had cut for her off the end of his
fourth hand. At half past they
would spread newspapers over the fur
niture to catch the pieces of plastering
that fell when the fat man in the fat
overhead began to take his physical
culture exercises. Exactly at S Hickey
and Mooney of the vaudeville team
(unbooked in the fiat across the hall
would yield to the gentle influence of
delirium tremens and begin to over
turn chairs under the delusiol that
Hammerstein was pursuing them with
a five hundred dollar week contract
Then the gent at the window across
the air shaft would get out his flute;
the nightly gas leak would steal forth
to frolic in the highways; the dumb
waiter would slip off it's trolley; the
janitor would drive Mrs. Zanowitskis
five children oncs more across the
Yalu; the lady with the rhampa gne
shoes and the skye terrier would trip
downstairs and paste her Thursday
name over her bell and letter box, and
the evening routine of the Frogmore
fats would be under way.
John Perkins knew these things
would happen. And he knew that at
i quarter past he would summon his
nerve and reach for his hat and that
his wife would deliver this speech in
a querulous tone:
"Now where are you going. I'd like
to know, John Perkins?'
Thought I'd drop up to McClos-
keys" he would answer, land play a
game or two Of pool with the fellows"
OF late such had been John Perkins
habit. At 10 or II he would return
Sometimes Katy would be asleep,
sometimes waiting up, ready TO melt
in the crucible of her ire little more
gold plating from the wrought steel
chains Of matrimony. For these things
Cupid will have to answer when he
stands at the bar of justice with his
victims from the Frogmore flats.
Tonight John Perkins encountered a
tremendous upheaval of the common
place when he reached his door. No
Katy was there with her affec.ionate,
confectionate kiss. The three rooms
seemed in portentous disorder. All
about lay her things in confusion
Shoes in the middle Of the floor, curl
ing tongs, hair bows, kimonos, powder
box, jumbled together on dresser and
chairs-this was not Katy's way With
sinking heart John saw the comb
with curling cloud of her brown hair
among its teeth. Some unusual hurry
and perturbation must have possessed
her, FOX she always carefully placed
these ctNnbings in the little blue vase
IN the mantle to be some day formed
INTO the coveted feminine ''rat"
Hanging conspicuously to the gas jet
by string was folded paper. John
seized it. 1t was a note from his wife
running thus:
. Dear John-1 just had telegram say
Ing mother Is very sick. / am going to
take the 4:30 train. Brother Sam is GO
Ing to meet me at the depot there There
Is cold mutton In the ice box / hope it
20 cents. She had it bad last spring
Don't forget to write to the company
about the gas meter, and your good socks
are IN the top drawer. ! will write to-
morrow. Hastily, KATY
Never during their two years of
matrimony had he and Katy been sep
arated for night. John read the note
over and over in dumfounded way.
Here was break in a routine that
had never varied and it left him dazed.
There on the back of a chair hung,
pathetically empty and formless, the
red wrapper with black dots that she
always wore while getting the meals.
Ter week day clothes had been tossed
here and there in her haste. A little
paper bag of her favorite butter scotch
lay with its string yet unwound. A
daily paper sprawled on the floor, gap
ing rectangularly where a railroad
time table had been clipped from it.
Everything in the room spoke of a
loss of an essence gone, of its soul
and life departed. John Perkins stood
among the dead remains with queer
feeling of desolation in his heart
lie began to set the rooms tidy as
well as he could. When he touched
her clothes thrill of something like
terror went through him. He had
never thought what existence would
be without Katy. She had become so
thoroughly. annealed into his life that
she was like the air he breathed-
necessary. but scarcely noticed. Now.
without warning, she was gone, van
ishcd. as completely absent as if she
had never existed Of course it would