Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-12
The Starter.
= OY SNYDER was a bus driver,
in love with Ella Charters,
the pretty little information


ton. Roy was a dear with merry
blue ewes and a mouth that seldom
drooped at the corners--that is, 1t had
seldom dropped until along about
June, 1924. Then it threatened to de-
velop a perpetual slant when Ella re-
fused to go to the altar on Roy s
salary of 500 per.
THAT monstrous fabrication that
two can live as cheaply as one is
nothing but honey boy" Ella
avowed when Roy tried to persuade
her TO chuck her Job and start house
keeping for two in a three-room fiat.
with SIS a month all my own, I
have to do my laundry at night and
eat in cafeterias to make 1t do
"You wouldn't il you didn't want
so many dresses, silk stockings and
fancy slippers" stubbornly protested
Roy.
But I want 'em-such as they are.
II you knew anything, you'd under
stand I'm pretty clever to make any
sort of showing on what's left after
paying for eats and the room rent"
"Oh, l know you're clever. That's
the whole darn rub! You manage
to look so durn nifty you attract the
JohnnieS even over the telephone.
You'd think people in this town who
want to use the bus line couldn't read
by the way they flock around your
window and call up for information
What's the company run a daily ad
in the newspapers for, I'd like TO
know? But you got to marry me-
Ella, you just got to-"
"AIl right, I'm willing enough, once
you get the little starter. That three
room fiat, in my case, must be an
apartment, and they are SUN $40
month for rear ones.
81 know they are-on the boule-
ward or any of the swell avenues.
But if you loved me, you'd be content
to make a home for me some place
where rent wasn't so high. A hall
bedroom is the largest size castle I've
known so far. and I'll tell the world
any place that spells home with you
in it will look like palace to me-.
Then Roy began to study ways and
means of putting my more of his sal
airy to fatten the starter Ella de-
manded He discovered that the dairy
lunchrooms and hotdog counters were
cheaper than cafeterias, and the saw
ings went to swell the bank account.
whats the big idea working eve
nings2" Ella complained when Roy
began taking the pm. hours for men
who wanted those hours off.
You, my dear I've only $500 of
that 81 900 you insist on having to be-
gin the housekeeping game on, and
I'm trying to get the other 5000
pronto.''
Don't you think l ever want to
go places"
Sure"
'You don't act like it."
And Ella argued, scolded and pouted
about being lonesome, though she was
t11no cad a her lnVpr'S DETER
mination.
Ella decided to work evenings, too,
and she asked the manager to let her
write up the reports after regular
working hours. Roy didn't like that.
The service station, with a parking
garage attached, was no place for
girl after dark.
mo one will bother me- Ella de-
clared when Roy objected. 1T adds
SO to my pay. and with you working
so frequently I'd rather be at the sta
ton than sitting out evenings alone.
Roy couldn't persuade her to
abandon the overtime work. SO he had
to content himself by asking Donegan,
the policeman on the beat, to keep an
eye on the station the nights Ella was
on duty He made up his mind to
punch anybody's face who tried to
start anything with Ella.
A week later the first cyclonic
storm that had visited the city in 10
years began tQsga Their during the rush |
hour for theatergoers. 1t was terrific
while it lasted, but. like all cyclonic
storms, was quickly over. leaving wet,
debris-strewn streets. Roy took a
chance on leaving his route for a
block, to run by the service station to
see if Ella was safe. Her smiling
countenance in the glass box office re-
assured him, and he. speeded up as
Donegan appeared and shook his club
at him. A block farther up the street
he was hailed by two men, one carry
ing a black bag.
Passengers for the depot, thought
Roy, and paid no more attention to
them. He had enough to do to watch
for the wreckage in the street, and
soon he came to a block where
house had been unroofed. None of
the family had been at home.
Roy's passengers left the bus with
a murmured, Its an i'll wind that
doesn't blow somebody good. This is
going to be an easy one"
On. his next trip up town, great ex-
element prevailed in that block and
the crowd was fast becoming a
throng in and around the damaged
house. Roy's passengers all wanted
10 learn what the excitement was, and
Roy, himself, left the bus and Joined
the crowd.
There had been a robbery, $4,000
hidden in the attic had been stolen.
Roy heard the owner tell a policeman
he would give $1,000 to recover the
bonds.
He rushed back to his bus cursing
himself for a fool. Why hadn't he
stuck around on his first trip up town
and watched those men with the black
bag? They had learned, as robbers
have a way of learning such things,
that the man had taken those bonds
home that afternoon, and one of them
had probably been watching the house
TO see if the family left it.
At that moment Roy's attention
was attracted, and he nearly reeled
from his seat. Right in front of the
depot, he was again hailed by two
men, one carrying a black bag.
Roy's heart began to pound with