Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1922-07-06

In necktie. "Ah-h4h!" The smile grew
on his face as the indoor warmth and
dryness crept on his face, and he
closed his eyes and lay back.
Supper, GIRL" he said finally.
She leaned to him, her ear tuned to
his breathing, a second of doubt flash.
Ing over her as he lay quiescent.
"Steve-Stevey, are-are you tired1
Is that all's the-the matterY"
Tired"
"Or-or have you been taking a
drop?"
Quit your gassin'."
Her incertitude went out like n
candle-light.
"Ugh!" she said.
Supper first, girl, and then all the
gassin' you want"
She ran her tongue around the rim
of her dry lips.
There amt going to be no supper"
supper, there's a good girl. "Tup
pee he used to call it. 'Tuppee- da-
dee"
"There-there amt going to be no
supper"
He opened his eyes, regarding hel
through the blur of their wateriness.
"Eh?"
You heard what l said"
'Eh2"
Il told yeu last night what would
happen Tiff you came home this way.
II told you. And God knows l mean
It'll"
Jaw, now, Annie, girl, supper first
and then"
Il amt here to be your dog! Maybe
you think l am, but amt"
Il don't think-girl, don't"
There amt money enough on this
earth to make me live through them
first two years with you again, with
your supper, girl talk. I'm woman. if
you want to know 1t, same as you're
a man, only being woman the brunt
is on me. I've lost my baby lust the
same as you've lost yours, and If the
truth Is known, little bit more. see
ings | bore him."
AT that he fell to whimpering
against the back Of his hand,
i've got the same kind of heart
beating in me that you make so much
fuss about beating in you, only, being
woman, l don't soak it In alcohol
when trouble comes I'd sooner stick
knife in me right here before you,
Steve Kineady, than live through
them first two years with you again. I
told you last night, Steve Kineady,
what would happen If you came home
without having the pledge signed in
your hands and your eyes clear, and
before God I mean it. 1 mean It'll"
He held up hand so lax Mt the
wrist that it Topped.
Annie" he said, leaning beyond the
chair arm and with the wateriness
overlooking his eyes, "Ill be all right
In a minute, Annie girl. Little sick,
that's all. Weather. Get supper, girl.
I'm all right. Dadee's all right, girl.
'Giddyapp,' he said that night to me
out Of clear sky when he lay fever
ing, 'Giddy-app.' Beat that 'Giddee-
app"
Withholding herself there against
the wall she yearned toward him.
pressing back with tight lips the sobs
against them.
Steve, amt l your wife? Don't /
count for nothing? Is all the man in
you layin' out there in-in the little
grave? Amt you got nothing for me
that's left? Amt we got each other.
Steve; amt"
Its germ, the doctor said, a germ,
that's what meningitis is, a foreign
germ that got him."
but, Steve"
THAT night in Liddy's b~d the little
fellow So Used to las o. Al little bed,
took
For Gods sake, Steve, don't begin
that. l can't stand 1t. It'll kill me
DrHe me out tell YOU that was
"sy back eighteen months ago, and
Vol yourself wanted me to 90 when
3easley died"
ut was the foreign geri:l, that's all |
kG0W. How'd he get them foreign
germs, I'm asllin if he didn't get it
outside home? What's foreign but
outside hGm>. How'd he get EN-? Not
H. hif ""n little bed, by God, because
-iat's where l tucked him In myself
every night. 1t was that d--n trip to
st. Louis killed my"
"Steven-the stOve!"
He had risen now, steadying the
great bulk of him against the table
and moving toward her between it and
the range.
''9teven!"
e veered sharply away from the
stove and toward her.
sect my boy, dye hear? BY God,
you get him! 1t was your foreign
germs. Get him, by God, Or"
"Steve!"
He did not even complete the ges-
ture, but instead fell sObbng, with his
face buried in the back of the rocker
she had vacated; and even as she re-
coiled, with her great bronze head
flung back from him and quivering
with outrage, as If the very withes of
her were unwrung, in spite Of her she
yearned toward him, her compassion
flowing over her like warm waters.
"Steven :" she cried, reaching ont.
Get my boy, by God you get him"
"Steven, you're crazy with"