The Washington times., 1931-06-11

of act of lips. could speak. :.
The inevitable,is frightening,
Jenny. but chiefly because we
usually have to sit on the rear
seat and watch some one else at
the wheel"
She thought he was going to
moralize, and Stiffened.
Ill at Ease
lets be honest, Rarick.
Ulcers may be another name
for-for anything. o God!
Rarick, don't want to have
anything terrible happen to
me. I've so much to do,
Rarick. So much that must be
Strengthened :"
The mother of Avery was ly-
ing beside him. frightened.
The feeling of chronic open
wound somewhere around his
heart began to move.
I'VE are going to come
through this, Jenny"
I'VE are. aren't we, Rarick?
1t isn't that I'm afraid to
die"
1t was!
&c. it is just that I'm not
ready, Rarick. So much to
be straightened."
Was the matter of this
tawdry affair with the Span
isl dancer with whom she was
fiddling away time lying heav-
lily upon her, he wondered,
some of his dull and passive
anger against her riding him
for the moment.
''I don't want to die, Rarick.
I need you to bolster me over
that silly fear. 1 mustn't leave
Jennifer. 1 mustn't leave
life. Funny; all of a sudden,
it's so sweet. We haven't
made much of a go of our lives
together, have we, Rarick?
Why?"
"Yes, yes, why?" How was
it that the business of living
had so cruelty deferred them
from life itself? Jenny, here
in her blazing tent that was
hung in bracelets and shields
and all the barbaric splendor
of old, of which he had read
in the histories, trembling
empty-handed before a God
she had never before found
time to contemplate.
She had paid God. Pew-rent.
An occasional Sunday-morning
obsequy. Ready-made rever-
ences. He had approached
with a new closeness when He
had taken Avery.
Must Share Sorrows
"Rarick, strange that We who
have had so few joys together
must always share the sorrows
first Avery-now this"
Avery. Avery. Avery. His
lips, from hurting. could not
bear to say the word.
II gave myself the poliy-wog-
giles, Rarick, talking about
DEATH"
Then don't, Jenny.
you must help me through,
Rarick."
II will, Jenny"
II mean the courage part.
Spiritually is the way the pious
pulpiteers would say it. 1 do
dread death, Rarick. Tomor-
row I'll laugh at tonight's polly
woggles. It's the nights-they
get bad-you can help"
, "Yes, Jenny" How? He
wanted to. The mother of
Avery must have it in her to rise
on spiritual wings out of that
fear.
"If I die"
You are talking morbid fan
cies
IF should die, Rarick."
But why"
II want a beautiful casket.
You can give it to me. 1 want
the most beautiful. One that
will hold them for many a long
while"
why dwell on such nom"
"You can do that for me-"
That was what he could do
for her.
Somewhere back, Rarick
when I was a girl in Central
High School in St. Louis, 1 re.
member we used to read in
class, wasn't it Heloise or Anna
bel Lee or somebody slim and
white in a poem, who dreamed
of a casket lined in ailanthus
leaves out of beaten silver
He supposed so, but why plan
for death when there was life
to be thought Of?
Life, of course. Perhaps a
better life than we have been
pulling off together, Rarick.
Death does terrify. >
(COpyriGht. 1929. by Fannie Hurst)
distributed by King Features
Syndicate. lnc.)
Continued Tomorrow