Evening star., 1925-11-08

| He subsidized, and then, to my trrita-
! ton, couldn't get the engine started
right. 1t would grind strangely as
| long as I had 1t in low. and when /
| roar a minute and then die. I couldn't
| think what was the matter, but 1 felt
that l was appearing in a very un-
| dignfled light, and the more the engine
roared and died the madder I kept
feeling at WILL He was silently criti-
| cizing me.
you know there are different right
ways of driving an automobile" I said,
along the line / had been thinking that
afternoon. You aren't the only per.
son who knows how. I might drive
differently from you and yet drive
very WELL
VIII didn't say anything to that.
| which made me madder STILL The
engine roared, gasped, and died again
unpleasantly. Il want to learn to
drive my own way" 1 said deter
minedly stepping on the self-start-
er for the tenth time and pushing on
| the gas till had to shout to be heard
above the roar Of the engine.
"All right" said Will In the sudden
silence when it ha6 died again, but
it's going to be darn hard on the
engine If it's your way to drive with
the emergency brake on" | looked
down, and to my horror that was just
what l was doing. I bent over and
removed it. OF course. 1t was my
fault, but 1 felt suddenly simply en-.
| ragged at VIII.
You ought never" said coldly. ito
| lead low from an ace"
! WHAT" said viii, as though he
| couldn't think what l was talking
about.
You did it twice tonight It throws
your partner all Off. 1t made me think
you had the king
VIII said nothing at all to that and
We drove home in cold silence. But
when we were getting ready for bed
/ went up behind him and kissed the
back of his neck. / couldn'd stand it
to go to sleep mad. Then we laughed.
and l said 1 wouldn't forget the emer-
| gency brake again. and he said he'd
try to remember about the ace.
| xx x \
(THEN the very next day, being Sun
day, we were going on a picnic
with the Edwardses. Will had to go
down to the office for an hour, Father
! Horton being away, so he told me to
! look the car over and see that every
thing was all right. l worked over
two hours on 1t in the heat. washed
all the windows. brushed out the cush-
|
glass vase. / was SO proud of it when
| VIII got back.
| It's all ready" l said proudly.
Everything done that could be done" "
shes a slick-looking little car,
isn't she?" said VIII appreciarively
We stood looking at 1t proudly like
parents of the valedictorian when
she's making her speech. The glass
shone like diamonds in the sun. and
{ he L. a. 10 a..
| limousine. Will was going to drive
so 1 just settled down to enjoy myself
We hadn't gone father than the top
of the hill on the Verblen road when
VIII slowed down.
| Gosh, the engines hot" he eXclaim.
ed. Wonder if the fan belts slipped. -
He stopped and got out and looked
| in the hood. The fan was working all
right. He drove little farther. then
he stopped again, and looked at me
accusingly.
Did you put lots of water in the
radiator" he demanded.
| "Oh, my soul,' / gasped. / had for
gotten all about the water. / hadn't
! put in a dropi
We just crept along to the nearest
farmhouse. where viii got some
water. and all the way he acted SO
aggrieved at me. You said you'd
|
| Il did everything but that" / said
And that's the only thing that
amounts to anything at all. You can't
run an engine on pretty vase OF
flowers"
I thought of how hot I had got
polishing the windows and brushing
out the cushions. and there VIII sat
saying that didn't amount to anything
1t occurred to me for the first time
| / ma arr-ia6 {
not very understanding and appreci
| ative.
But that was as nothing to the next
day. / was going to take the car out
alone for the first time. viii got IL
out of the garage for me before he
left in the morning and he looked II
over, putting water in the radiator In
very conspicuous way, then came
back into the house.
Now she's all ready to start" he
said, as though he were speaking tc
a child. And don't forget to take
off your brake when you start. There S
plenty of gas and water"
Don't talk as though I didn't know
enough not to carry packages by the
string" said. Just because 1 made
a trif1ing mistake once"
It's enough of those 'trifiing mis-
takes that will ruin an engine" said
my engine ruined"
Your engine! repeated. "I should
think it was part mine. 1t was g
wedding present to us BOTH
well, I'm not going to have my
half of it ruined by stupid driving,
said VIII. Either you've got to learn
to drive the car right of you've got tc
let it alone
"Well, of all the nerver 1 gasped.
But VIII gave me a strange look
and walked off without saying another
word. I couldn't get that look out
of my head, and the more thought OF
it and his saying what I had to dc
the more furious 1t made me
All the time / was making the
beds and doing the breakfast dishes
/ was thinking of what 1 would say
to him when he came home. thought
of different retorts, some cutting and
some just coldly bitter. Finally,
| thought of a dandy. 1t combined
them all. It was cutting and indie
pendent and cold and bitter all in one
| remark.
I kept saying it over to myself as
I got dressed to go, and the more
said 1t the better liked it. I could
hardly wait till Will got home! I KEEP,
thinking Of it with angry satisfaction
as 1 climbed into the car and started
the engine, said it over in a whisper
to myself as took off the brake.
| remembered that strange look OF
Wills as 1 threw in a lot of gas and