The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-10-28


in the story does the telling"
Hang the rulesl I'm not a char
acter in this story. And it is not
fiction; it is the plain, unvarnished
truth. Oh, yes, Mr.. Correspondence
School Instructor, it is in fiction
form, but that is only for practice
in story writing This story never
will be published, SO that doesn't
matter.
I'm going to tell this story in my
own way, and it certainly sounds
cold -blooded and unnatural TO write
about Maize Brown in the third
person when I'm doing the writing.
How am I going to jump from
third person to first person and back
again without confusing the reader?
(See more of Second Lesson, Page
81 That's easy, Mr.. Instructor:
There "ain't going to be no reader,
except you, and you can pass up all
the first person stuff and grade me
only on the third person sections.
And when you've read the story,
burn it. I do not want Mr.. Sheri-
dan to be embarrassed by any abuse
Of his confidence.
ATOW, Mr.. Instructor, just so you
~ can get the connection, I'm 60
ing to tell you how I gathered the
material for this story through my
employment by Mr.. Sheridan.
All of it comes from him, though
he doesn't know it is being put to
this use. He talks over with me all
of his "cases." as he calls them; he
says it clarifies his mind and en-
ables him to align his deductions in
logical sequence.
He likes to poke fun at me, and
sometimes it is hard to tell whether
he is in earnest or just joshing. For
instance, one day he said:
Maize, speaking in the language
of the new psychology, you have
'inhibitionS;' you have repressed de-
Sires and ambitions. If you ever
permit yourself to give them free
expression, the Lord help us ALL"
Humph! wonder if he has an
inkling that I want to be story
writer, novelist?
Despite your cultivation of an
acidulous temperature" he went on,
you are as romantic as giggling
schoolgirl. You scott at man and
all his works, but in the back of
your mind you dream of Cinderellas.
Prince Charmings and heroes and
heroines who live happily ever
afterward.
And in all these dreams you see
Yourself as Cinderella awaiting COM
ing of the prince. DR.. Freud would
delight to put you under his psyche
logical microscope; he would pro-
nounce you a perfect specimen OF
a female suffering of sex repres-
sion"
The nerve of him! To talk like
that to me, a woman ten years older
than he is, even if I am his conf
Dental secretary! But he does it
in such a joking, light-hearted,
kindly way that person just can't
hold resentment.
He likes to ruffle my temper and
then dash out of the office before
the storm breaks. Later in the day
I'm sure to find a peace offering on
my desk, a box of chocolates or
tickets to the best show in town.
But don't get the impression that
he spends all of his time manufac-
turing secretarial brain-storms. He
has plenty of other things to do and
so have I.
Managing his property is no snap.
I take all detail off his hands, Civ
ing him time to devote to his crime
study hobby. Isn't it nice to have
money enough to do the work that
interests you most? If I only could
devote all of my time to story
You ought to see that man at
work on one of his "mysterieS!"
His face fairly CLOVIS as his mind
Jumps from fact to conclusion. He
has one peculiarity-he thinks au-
dibly.
mean, he seems to think more
clearly if he discusses a problem
with another person. That's how 1
get on the inside of all the exciting
Investigations he is making con-
tinually.
He does it all for fun, too, and he
never lets on to the outside world
that he is interested in such mat
tiers. I'll bet there are not dozen
persons in Indianapolis who know
anything of his -. well, I'd call
it mania.
Sometimes, at his direction, I take
notes as he goes along. but not