The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-11-23
E0ening Story
No Turkey, But Thanksgiving.
BY H. LOUIS RAYBoLD.

| By ii. LOUIS RAYBOLD.
| Janet Thorn sat in the couch ham
mock on the shaded lanai and looked
J out across a purple blue sea to some
far invisible shore. Somewhere be-
yond that misty horizon lay home.
! Net that home meant very much to
Janet since the death of her only
| relative, an aunt. But, somehow,
around Thanksgiving time a stranger
in strange land is likely to be home
sick.
| And this beautiful Hawaii, with all
/ its glories, still had no adequate
] substitute 10 offer for the cod wintry
skies and bleak harvested landscape,
for the cranberry sauce and aroma
, OF roasting turkey with which the ma
tional holiday is associated.
Therefor Janet sighed and found
/ herself wishing that Jim Deming, the
good-looking young principal of the
| school where she taught, were not
engaged to the daughter of the
| islands wealthiest sugar planter.
If he hadn't been-oh, if only he
| hadn't been! Then the friendlinesA he
/ had shown her since her arrival could
| have meant so much more to her
! the forerunner, perhaps, of Something
! SO much more satisfying even than
F., friendship!
| Janet rose and with an ilmost I'M
conscious gesture, stretched out her
arms toward the purple sea. what
! does life hold for one?" she muir
INJURED wistfulIy.
"A trip to Hilo and the craterr"
Janet thought for an instant that
some one had spoken, then realized
that it was merely her own thought.
| That little imp within which repre-
scented a great longing as yet unful-
| filled had taken this moment when
| lonesomeness surged within her and
prompt her. Why not use the emer-
| gency fund and take the trip to Hilo?
| Not that it would take the whole of
/ 1t, at that, only, once the meager
hoard Were broken into, it would not
| again easily withstand temptation.
For Janet had decided to lay by
/ each week out of her small salary a
| little contribution toward an amount
| to take her home should the occasion
ever arise. To draw on what little she
| had already accumulated would be to
put the goal still farther away.
! Yet the psychological combination
| of the moment proved Janet's undoing.
! I'm going to HiIo! I'm going to
| Hilo!" She sang the words, pirouetted
madly on one foot, and turned indoors
to get ready.
If that same little wicked demon
within her whispered that. she knew
she was going to Hilo because Jim
| Deming had told her she ought to,
she pretended not to hear. What in
| fluence ought he, engaged as he was
! to the naughty Gloria Tremans, to
have on her life? Janet felt sorry for
| Jim In fact, she had felt sorry ever
since the day when Gloria had called
| on him at the school, had found him
| telling her about the wonders of Kill
| auea, and had peremptorily SUNNI oned
/ him to her side with the most frigid
| of glances at Janet. Jim engaged to
| that iceberg!
Two days later, seated luxuriou-,~
! in the party automobile which runs to
6o tow ,F Z So ca q
tourists, Janet wondered why she was
| not happier. Here she was, Tempo
rarily seated in the lap of luxury,
| hired tho 1t was, about to gaze on onk
of the worlds greatest sights, the bub-
| bling, restless lake of molten lava
which is the crater of Kilauea. 1t
must be because she was, in spite of
! the score or SO of effervescent, gush-.
ing tourists in reality alone. She had
no one with whom to share the
| wonder.
! Then, as she stood on the very
| brink of the vast lava sea, she saw
| him-the man who had been so per-
sistently in her thoughts. He was
alone, and had Withdrawn apparently
| from second group of tourists whose
| auotomible had, no doubt. preceded
| hers. He stood with arms folded, gaz-
| ing down to the colorful depths below.
! Where was Gloria? Janet's puzzled
| eyes searched the crowd in vain. Then,
| resolutely, she crossed over to him.
| TITS my first visit. Mr. Deming,"
/ she said abruptly, land I'm even more
impressed than 1 had expected"
At the sound of her voice he turned.
| and Janet found time to wonder at the
lack of surprise in his expression.
| Janet! But what-why--'
| yes" laughed Janet. That's what
I want to know! What are you doing
here and why are you not spending the
| holidays with-with--"
| ''My-er former fiancee? ?" Jim gave
a strange little laugh. Miss Tremans
the affair was broken off because Oh
-you!"
| Janet drew back TT do<t un-
derstand," she murmured.
| 1--WE had. a-er-1ittle disagreement
She accused me of being interested in
! that way, Janet. I'm telling you this
| because-oll, Janet, my darling, it's
| true!"
The gathering darkness was cloak
| ing the two of them as Jim drew
nearer.
"I-T-oh, can't you see that even
if cared, we couldn't accept this at
the expense of another's happiness?"
Jim smiled grirnly. Don't worry
have suspected for some time that
Gloria was tired of me: You merely
| served an excuse. And she saved
me from doing what I should have had
to have done in justice to her-and
you
| Some time later, Jim explained how
he had reached the bungalow where
Janet boarded just after she had left;
| how he had missed the steamer, but
! joined a party going over in their own
yacht; how he had planned to tell her
everything at the very summit.
| 'And now-no more inconsistencies,
Janetl'' he admonished her tenderly
after hearing her part of the story.
"Our honeymoon shall be a trip to the
/ Statesl'
Janet smiled. 1T doesn't need tur-
! key and cranberry sauce after all TO
make a Thanksgiving. This is the
realest Thanksgiving I ever mad"
| Copyright, 1921, by the Mcclure