Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-29

time
What is it, dear?" she asked.
r. Il wa-a-ant ee-e-et," Polly intoned.
| Want what, darling?'
That lekatric thing my Uncle
Charles has. I wa-a-ant ee-e-et.
| You can't have it, Polly. said
| Charles, shortly. stop whining.
| She looked at him morosely. Ina
| tii-ahed. Let me whine "a little bit.
| 1t seemed the signal for taking her
| to bed, and the procession moved.
II will take baff In the tub, she
announced at the head Of the stairs.
| Yes, I know, Polly" Lucy an
svered. in her pleasantest manner.
praying for patience. wait until I
get your nightie and fix your crib:
| Charles stood in the middle of the
hall, muttering to himself: And then
I came out of her room and went INTO
the bathroom to get aspirin out OIL
| the medicine closet.
! He looked, without conviction. for a
thousand.dollar bond in the medicine
closet, but found only bottles and
small box or two.
ITS getting on my nerves" he con-
| fessed. IT can't think OF anything
else"
| Lucy had gotten Polly out OF her
clothes and into a small. rabblt-and'
chicken. adorned robe de boudolr
I'm going to battle her. she
limited. ~, ;s
Oh. rios "I'll get out of your way.
| Now. let me see--did I go up to the
| third floor for anything?'
! Polly's spirits rose when she was IN
- rub. and she amused herself with
| pleasant splashings.
Get me wash you. Polly Lucy
suggested, after what seemed a proper
! interval. ,.
cloth. and wrested It from ner Eous, nhs
stated. "'cause I'm A great. big. up
grown person.
Her firmness was uncompromisinG.
| Lucy let her wash herself. When
the child was very thickly lathered
she spoke again.
Vow. be a good girl. Polly. and
let me rinse that soap.
| II will do it, Polly cut in. and
with a prodigious splash was sud
denly fiat on her stomach in the
water, head erect, like an unusually
attractive turtle She did something.
expertiy with her hands, which slid
her smoothly and swiftly forward and
back the length Of the tub.
II will swim a while on my front
| tummy forst.'' she confided to Lucy
above the spray and roar of waters.
land den I will swim on my back
| tummy."
| Lucys conscience pricked her Polly
had certainly been in that bathtub
| long enough. After all. she was only
a child Upward and onward.
| She manipulated the contrivance
which lets the water out of the tub.
Perceiving this, Polly uttered one re-
sounding yell. which brought her uncle
racing down the hall.
| Put 1t back. Put it back, she
! screamed You old darning egg. Put
| 1t back. wickily. wickily! wickily.'
| Together. her elders wrapped her in
| a large bath toweE-an amphibian.
half eel. half wildcat. In the midst
| Of their private uproar the storm
| broke. with great crackings and flash
ings and a rafting downpour of rain.
| TRY to quiet her. painted Charles.
I've got to get the windows down."
! X X X
I ICY did her best. but he returned
in 3 minutes or so to find
diminutive. dripping dervish whirling.
| stark naked In the middle of the tiled
| floor, while Lucy all but covered in a
corner. The dervish. as she revolved.
continuously shook a fiaXen head and
emitted a hoarse, steady roar.
Above the roaring and the thunder
| Charles hoWled "Oh. Lucy" with
all the effect of prayer. He advanced
upon his niece. fiourishing a towel.
The inarticulate noise changed TO
words, which they at last couN under
stand.
II want she to dry me, want she
to dry me- o..
Lucy was She and she rneekly
dried her. sobbing and hiccoughing
dininuendo, in, her arms.
Now said Charles, standing by
and trying to look like an uncle who
has triumphed. Now. YOU just cut
that OUT
st DIDN'T want to c-cut myself out"
she whimpered plaintively to Lucy.
60 on an tell him to leave me alone"
She told him. and he seemed glad to
depart Through thunder crashes
Lucy heard Polly's prayer.
bod bress evvybody. an make dem
a dood girl" 1t ended, characteristical-
ly. Lucy felt. Thunder and lightning
were nothing to her: soon she slept,
with pathetic catchings of the breath,
like the angel child of fiction.
The storm went away after mid
night, leaving the pail Of sticky heat
behind. Lucy slept a fitful. dream
ridden sleep until s O'Clock. and rose
with the thought of yesterdays search
| heavy on her mind. Under cold
shower her nerves quieted a bit.
Therefore she did not scream when
she came back into her room from
the bathroom and found !. Bum just
climbing in a window. She retreated
instantly into the bathroom and from
behind a door ajar. looked and listened.
His technique as a second-Story man
was not good. When he was. at last,
well inside the room he very clumsily
kicked over the screen which he had
removed from the window and stood
up against the wall. However, what
he lacked in skill he made up in com.
posture, for he merely remarked.
| "Shucks.' rather loudly, and set the
screen on end again.
He then walked boldly across the
! room to another window, talking to
himself. Every darn cornice on this
house" she heard him say, land il
It amt on this one, I'm through
He lifted out this screen also and
stood upon Aunt Elsie's immaculate
ivory window sill. thrusting his right
arm and part of his body out of the
window and cropping upward. A very
dirty left hand gripped the window
frame.
Spontaneous deduction occurred in
Lucy's brain, like the explosion Of a
lhrecracker, and she shrieked. Charles!
Charles" and ran to open the door.
Even in emergency she was conscious
Of none too modest nngigee and