Evening journal., 1912-02-20
Doing Two Things
At Once
@
BY Oscar Cox


asked
Ten cents
Where's the booth7'
over there"
How the girl could carry on the con
yersadon with me and 20 on working
her typewriter l couldn't conceive. u
would not have been able TO do any
thing else when talking with her. She
never stopped her cliclxety-click once
during the brief interview. I vowed
that before l got through with her j
would make her stop rafting the keyt
II had to pull her hair. However. fol
the time being / was satisfied and, go
ing into the BOOTH delivered my mes
sage When l came out / asked how
much.
"City or long distanceg' she asked
still punching the typewriter.
city"
'Ten cents"
Isn't that pretty steep for city
messageg"
Perhaps she didn't hear Atany rate
she made no reply, keeping on ham.
mering the keys.
"can you change five dollar billi"
"No"
"a dollar?"
"No."
'Well, here's 10 cents"
She stopped just long enough to take
the 10 cents, open a drawer, then re-
commenced the clicking said good
morning but she made no response.
The next day l went into the tele-
phone Office again.
"Can l send a city message?" ask
ed
She turned her head toward booth
without speaking or ceasing to play
the typewriter. ] went into the booth.
left the door open aud called up Char
ley Jones-that is, pretended to do so.
''Hello, Charley--is that your I'm I'm
a telephone station. / want to ask
you something. Do you consider II
polite If a gentleman has business re-
lations with a young lady for her to
ignore all except what is absolutely
essential to the transaction, or should
! she be civil?"
held the receiver to my ear keep
ing my eyes on the girl. I was pre-
tending TO listen to what Charlie had
to say about it. My scheme had nc
more visible effect on the girl than il
she had been stone deaf.
You say you think she deserves 8
lifting? Well, what Is a fellow goinf
! to do IL he has no authority, no wa,
OF inhicting punishment, no hold what
everT'
! paused again for reply that neve
came. There was no apparent interes
in what / was saying on the part o
the girl; she didn't even write a NIT
r. faster or slower. I proceeded:
e mot let IT bother me7 How can
4 help It? I'm all broken up over It,"
r Another interval for Charley to sa,
something more.
! Candy She wouldn't have it-tha
is, from me. have a mind to tr.
flowers"
' Again listened for further sugges
r tions from Charley.
: ;'Oh, that's all very we'll for talk, bu
D It isn't the real thing When a fellow
can't sleep nights, can't eat and al
! that, what's be going to do2 However
I'll try the flowers; II they don't i'm
= prove matters I'll call you up agai
: Goodby."
n 1 hung up the receiver, went to tn
:. girl and asked "how much?"
Ten cents"
I took out a dime, laid It on the desl
o beside her and went out. There wa
y not a sign OF interest in her face, ant
c I was literally clicked out onto tn
!, sidewalk.
!, The next day went back with
e bouquet of flowers, and, walking de
It murely up to the girl, handed then
i to her, saying:
tive bothered you so much durin
: the last few days and you have bee
30 patient so affable, so amiable. s
kind that feel impelled to offer yol
some reparation."
Ny assurance was too much for hel
She leaned back in her chair while
peal of musical laughter rang out fror
her beautiful throat. At the same tim
she reached out for the flowers, press
ing them to her face. The victory wa
, won, the ice was broken.
Here's the 10 cents for Charlie
message" she said, handing out tn
dime I had given her the day before
There's no charge for one sided met
sages."
How do you knowf"
by the ring, or, rather. the want o
r."
) "And you'll keep the fowersT
! Certainly, and l can't sleep night
) for the obligation I'm under to you 70
: teaching me how I must have appear
! ed to persons coming in here on bus
] ness. The truth is. the interruption
are so frequent that 1 have becom
, accustomed to going right on with m
: work. merely nodding toward the boot
t. and taking the pay"
) 'T expect you'll have to keep 1t u
D while you're trying to do two thing
D at once.
] After this I did a great deal of tel,
7 phoning. had an instrument put int
: my house and went frequently TO th
5 pay station. professedly to send mes
5 sages. but really to chat with the mar
: ager. took up so much OF her tim
: that she was finally discharged. Bu