The Washington times., 1924-05-01
l'ONFESSES
SHE WAS
SCARED
Continued from First Page.)

. sort of song that had no sense
20 it, about pink leather shoes for
the baby and to hell with the laun-
dry now. Wasn't it silly?
And then I cried. 1 was all 80
happy and strange inside me, and
warm that 1 couldn't help crying.
And picked up one of the big
pistols and kissed its handle, where
Eds hand had been.
Got plain Scared"
Then, all Of sudden, I sort Of
slumped, and cold shivers went all
over me, and I got plain scared,
sitting there by myself. 1t seemed
like it wasn't all so. That 1t
couldn't be. 1t seemed like / didn't
know myself, like some other girl
had promised to do this, and then
gone off and hid, and left me to
pretend / was her, and do it in her
place.
l got up and screamed. l said:
ED, l can't do this. l can't do
this, I'm scared" OF course Ed
wasn't there.
When he did come and we got
started, felt better. And as we
rode along l began to feel fine. l
was p4Odo u dlAu NY
self and ready for anything.
1t must have been already about
nine thirty or quarter to ten We
had picked Saturday night because
that was the time when there ought
to be the most money, and we had
waited until late because we. didn't
want to run into lot of customers.
We had spotted several grocery
GfnrnC onH f~Nkn
Seventh avenue and drove around
slowly, close to the curb, looking
through windows, and at 289 was
the Ralston Grocery Store, nobody
In 1t but the clerks, and almost no.
body walking along the block.
All Figured Out.
Ed eased the Car close up to the
curb, and stopped it, with the en-.
CINE running. We had it all fig
ured out like clock-work. I was
to go IN first, to pretend to buy
something, and Ed was to watch
outside to see if anybody came. II
corner Of my eye, and unless he1
came in. / wasn't to start any.
thing.
- VS~AAN~N anu IlS SIOLO, COIu rs d
cucumber, with both my hands in
my fur coat pockets, and one hand
holding the butt of the little auto
matte, hidden in my pocket. The
store was lighted up as bright ais
day, and there were six men, six
clerks, in white coats standing
around or fiddling. with the stuff on
the counters That gave me al
shock. l thought, Gee! there's too
many OF them Most OF them
looked as big as Ed. Their white
coats and the lights made them look
bigger, ond l felt about two feet
high. thought, Gosh! what al
simp l am. They'll laugh at US
and throw us out on our necks in
the street."
All this was going on inside me.
but outside, l tell you, / was cold
as Ice, not scared cold, but cold
Ike person walking smooth and
steady in a dream. And / was
never scared any more until after
1t was all over and I got back
home in bed.
Was IAN DOIled Up"
l picked the man who looked like
ne was the manager, Hogan, Il
think they said his name was
later, standing by the cash register, !
and walked over to him. ! must
have looked pretty nice-seal coat. |
beaded gray dress, black shoes and
stockings. and a cunning tam. II
had dolled up like l was going to |
a party in everything / had.
He said, Yes, MISS" as nice as !
pie, and I said, "A dozen eggs,
please" and he walked about four
feet behind the counter to get them,
and cams Lack with them in a !
pasteboard tox, and was wrapping |
them up and tying them with a !!
string.
All of e sudden I had the run
niest thought. 4 thought, What am |
doing, haven't got nickel to !!
pay for those eggsr' Then I re.
membered.
None of the other clerks were
paying any attention to me at all. |
Just then Ed came in, quiet, |
through the door, and closed it be. |
hind him, and l knew it was time
for me to do my little act.
The man took both hands to lay |
the package in front of me on the |
counter. AS his arms were moving |
forward | took two steps backward, |
pulled the gun out of my pocket, |
pointed it at his middle, just little |
higher than the top of the counter,
and said:
stick EN- up! Quick"' Just like |
that. For a second l thought he
wasn't going to do IL. But it was /
only because he wa $50 surprised
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