The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1926-10-08

forebodings. She would have liked to
scream. Instead she followed, stiffly
In Miss LaRue's high heeled foot.
steps, behind the typewriters up the
stairs and into a balcony filled, it
seemed to Sonia, with girls.
Maxine LaRue was 10 years-older
than Sonia, but she was for from
showing it. Sonia was tremendous
ly impressed that first day by her
authority which went so strangely
with the knot of blond hair and soft
blue eyes. She was kind, too. Her
instructions were firm, but she good
naturally explained anything the
girls did not understand. Sonia
found, in spite of her boosted skill,
that there was a vast difference be-
tween training and practical appli-
cation. She was annoyed by the
curious stares the other girls gave
her. But she held her head high and
made no bids for anyone's favor.
At o'clock, disdaining to ask for
information. she wandered up SUIT
ter St. until she found a restaurant.
But her hands trembled as she lifted
her glass of milk.
80 this was San Francisco
A hard stool in a corner OF a crowd
ed balcony with strange girls whose
eyes were unkind.
Sonia closed her mouth grimly.
"You wanted to come. This is
only the first day. What did YOU
expect? A band at the boat to well
come you?"
Leaving her sandwich untasted,
she paid her check and strolled. aloof
to the point Of insolence. down SUIT
ter St. into the Office and back to her
place.
BY 4 o'clock her head was throb-
bling. Figures tumbled like clowns
in a circus through herA bewildered
brain. Maxine LaRue, seeing her
white face, suggested that she run
to the dressing room and lie down
for a few minutes.
It's awfully confusing at first.
But you'll be surprised how quickly
it all straightens out" she added
Sonia smiled her gratitude and
took the suggestion, Only she did
not lie down. To have done that
would have been like flying the white
flag. She powdered her nose, rogued
her lips and lighted a cigarette. Stand
ing before the fy-specked mirror.
she smoked, without touching the
cigarette with her fingers, letting 1t
dang1e loosely from her lips.
Ten minutes later she was back
on the balcony.
At o'clock, when she put on her
hat to fly to the protection of her
four walls. she had not been ad-
dressed by one person except Maxine
LaRue4
In bed, without food, an atom in
a sea Of humanity traffic roaring
outside her window, Sonia closed her
eyes.
Pictures came to her, events Of
the two weeks since her graduation.
Joe's kiss in the dark at Sidney's
party. Tom Underwoods proposal,
which he had retracted the day she
came away. The delicate flavor of
her conversation with Don saltwater
in his mothers shaded library. Then
the day she had spent working for
her sister. Poor Vera, who had in
sisted that Sonia could not under
stand marriage. And may the day
Ever come" prayed Sonia, when
can understand one like hers"
She had met Don Saltwater that
same day with news Of the letter
from his uncle. Lying in the noisy
darkness, Sonia imagined she could
smell again the fragrance of the
roses she had gathered for the din.
ing table, could hear her fathers
This will kill, me, Sonia; her
mother, crying in the night.
They had labored, sacrificed, suf-
fered all the agony of separation
that she might come to San Fran
cisco, to this bare little room, that
she might lie here, longing for the
sound of a familiar voice. Suppose
she returned to Stockton? She
could imagine the light trimming
up to her fathers faded eyes, her
mothers question, and those other
critical, amused glances that would
accompany her return.
mol" said Sonia aloud, swallow
ing the lump that had risen in her
throat. IT wanted to come. Here
am and here I stay!'
Dry eyed she turned to the wall
and fell asleep.
The next day 1t became easier.
After that first day at the office
she was never again quite the same
atom Of unimportance. The girls
began to recognize her.
Hello, Sonia" fell like mama
on her homesick ears.
She found that her trick Of smok-
ing cigarettes without holding them
was appreciated fully as much in
the San Francisco dressing room as
it had been in the high school at
home. Her air Of independence and
self-sufficiency won its own reward.
Here was no clinging vine, longing
for companionship but O. regular
fellow" Thus were the Intangible
barriers between them broken down.
Sonia spent her evenings alone,
but she found many things to do
those first weeks. She started swim
ming, she spent long hours on Sun
day lying in the sand at the beach.
She went to Golden Gate Park for
Sunday afternoon concerts. She at
tended moving picture theaters,
gloating over the gorgeous costumes
on the screen.
At the end Of the first month she
had acquired enough skill at her
bookkeeping to let her mind wander
to other things; she was sorting the
people at the office, arranging girls,