The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-05-22
EVENING STORY
Eleventh Hour Pete.
BY lola FORESTER.

They had called him Eleventh
Hour Pete" at home long before he
had ever gone into training camps, all
thru his leisurcly boyhood days and
later thru his teens when he helped
his father at the old sawmill en- the
size of Rocky Knob.
"Randy's purity slow going" old
Halsey would say, watching his over
grown, lanky son toss slabs out the
ing hillside. "But he's as steady as
the river. It goes down and it amt
good for nothin' half the year, but
when it does start off, it makes up for
lost time"
The other boys at school had nick
named him Eleventh Hour Pete" as
soon as they discovered his propensity
for landing right at the last minute.
Just before the bell rang at 8. Randy's
bare feet would get over the doorsill
of the entry. Just a minute before the
teacher was ready to mark him down
a failure, he would spell the word
right. and as Elva laughingly said,
Just when a girl thought he didn't
have nerve enough to kiss rag baby.
he'd grab you around the neck and
kiss you rougher than any of the
ether boys" And Elva was some
what of a judge when it came to meth
DDS. even at II.
Reckon you'll marry Elviry Will
son some day, won't you, Randy" his
mother would ask tentatively, and
Randy'd look self-conscious and dodge
the direct issue with a smile. But all
the years at home Elva had led his
! fancy by golden~cord. Just the sight
of her dancing ahead along the coun-
| try road was enough. Her hair was
red. not bright carroty red, but a SHINY
sort of chestnut. and it hung in long,
thin. home-tended curls below her
waist. Then her eyes were hazel, cats
eyes, the other girls called Them and
there was a provocative lift to her up
| per lip that started even Randy's slow
blood to moving faster.
Yet he enlisted without asking her
| to marry him, and went overseas with
everybody at the Knob prophesying
Elva would marry somebody else
while he was gone. and asking why
on earth he hadn't taken her, when
she was willing.
"Of course I'd marry Randy" she
said fatty and proudly, when they
teased her about him. why not?
He's the only fellow on the mountain
with any good looks or nerve"
| Didn't have nerve enough to ask
YOU, Just the same" Tuck Phillips
chuckled.
HE had nerve enough not to.
| didn't he? Randy isn't the sort to
marry a girl SO as to give her an al
leaving her a widow" Elva's big
| eyes were bright with anger. And,
say, Tuck, just because you're over
age is no reason why you can't enlist.
They're taking them in the marines.
you know, bigger and older than you
are"
Two years later Tuck drove down to
the country seat after a marriage Ii
| cense. No news had come from
Randy after the first year. and he had
been reported missing after the big
spring drive.I When the troops began
| coming home, Elva watched every day
| for news of him, but the days passed
and months until Tuck found her in
a tired, helpless mood one day. Her
father had had a stroke after one of
! his usual election fights. Election on
Rocky Knob was something more
than a mere form of government, it
was the one day in the year when Gus
tom almost commanded all loyal citi-
I zens to uphold their personal prin-
ciples and prejudices against all COM
ers, and the judge was famous for his
election tits.
But this day they had carried him
back up the mountain a quiet, limp
old figure. and Elva had cared for
him. Tuck came daily. In his way he
was gentle and tactful, and the judge
liked him. There were three hundred
and some odd acres of land to look
after, and all the timber besides.
I'm gone by, Elva," he sad Bet
ter get a man you can trust to look
after things. Tuck's right next to us,
and he's been a good neighbor. 1
give my consent right now"
But Randy may come back"
HE amt never had the gumption
pride at all for girl that don't have
to pick up with the first one that
comes along?"
Elva had WINGED, and when Tuck
asked her again that night, she had
nodded YEARLY.
"OnIv inst ono thing Tucl, - she
added with a flash of her old spirit
Il think I ought to tell you this
There amt any man on earth ever
can be to me what Randy was"
''Well, I guess I don't have TO wor-
ry over that. He amt on earth" he
told her slowly.
Hes never been listed dead
Tuck toed the ground industriouslS
and looked at the pattern he traced
II didn't want to tell you, but Har-
ley Evans came back last night, and
he was Randy's bunkfe for months
after they went over. He says he saw
Randy die just before they picked
him up to take to the hospital. They
left Randy behind
He stopped short. She had dropped
her face in her two hands and heI
stiffness startled him. He laid his
hand on her shoulder appealingly
TN be good to you. Elva.''
The day before the wedding she sal
with her father in the sunny little
side room whose windows overlook ed
the valley. One by one the womeT
neighbors dropped in and her CIR
friends. but Elva was like lone
called" as old Miss Carter put it
| Got look in her eyes never wa:
on land or sea. Bet two cents to q
collar button she's sorrowing after
> Randy yet"
1t was nearly ten that night wher
she slipped out of the house. It wa.
good mile down the valley road t.
the sawmill but she followed it asily
in the moonlight. 1t was just to take
last look at his home. at the river
winding thru the valley meadow:
where they had played as children
and the falls whose music she had al