Smyrna times., 1932-11-02
WEEKLY STORY
AROUND TABLE
Reading to While Away Time
Under the Evening Lamp
When Days Work is Done
INTERESTING READING
IT'S LONELY IN BoRNEo"
By Alice Duane

CIGNS of spring may lightly turn
= young mans fancy to thoughts
of love, but not so surely as do
thoughts of good job. At least so
it was with Brander Yates. He had
been out of work for six months.
he had spent what savings he had
not previously lost and was down
to his last ten dollars when out of
the blue, as it were, appeared a per-
fectly good job. Not only job but
years contract. Perhaps the con-
tract wasn't so much of a miracle
as it sounded, because the job was
off in BOrneo. Now for six weeks
he would work in the home office,
then set sail to the field of his new
work.
Having no money to spend on the
ater tickets, flowers and taxis, he
had Of necessity assumed the sem
blance of a woman hater.
He might have continued to do
SO had not the personnel man of
the new concern asked him whether
ne was married. In case he was
the company would pay transporta-
ton for the wife as well as for him
self. Brander kept thinking of
that. After all, Borneo was a ter
rible distance away and a fellow
might get little lonely.
At six O'clock Saturday afternoon
the Saturday before the Mon
day his job began-Brander Yates
pressed the button on the front
apartment Of nice but unpreten-
tious apartment house where in for
mer days he had been wont to spend
an occasional Saturday afternoon
or week day evening. Under one
arm he carried long and bulky pa
per roll from the ends of which pro-
truded the heads of some rather
faded gladioli. The door of the
apartment was opened for him, but
instead of Daphne in the dark frame
Of the doorway stood a girl whom
he not at first recognize.
He looked again and thought rap
idly.
"Oh, it's you, JOAN" he said.
Take these weeds before | drop
them-and the magazines if they
are any good 90 you" Then he
looked at the little brown-eyed girl
whose name he had nearly forgot
ten. "Gee, but it's good to see you"
Its surely good to see you, Mr.
Yates" she said. "And isn't it
great how you found out where |
was? I've only been here a week
and I've often thought of you since
you left Bradley's."
Brander told Joan that a small
young bird had told him how to find
her and she helped out the bird by
explaining that Daphne had gone
away and that as the lease did not
run out until October she had let
Joan have the apartment at a re
ductiOn. Joan had no lease, SO it
was a simple transaction And
then after the first of October |
don't know where | shall CO." Joan
explained to Brander, and Brander
beamed at Joan, rejecting that the
first Of October was when he sailed
for Borneo. Rare coincidence He
didn't even finch when Joan men
toned that Daphne was to be mar
ried.
Joan gave Brander cool drinks
and then insistently set a little ia
BILE to share a bit of supper with
him. Brander went into the kitch-
enette later to scan the only clock
It was necessary for him to catch
the nine o'clock train for the beach
nine o'clock being the last train
that way. He couldn't spend the
night in town because he had al
ready spent nearly his last dollar
for flowers and magazines.
At twenty minutes to nine he
started to leave and then Joan ex-
planned that she was very sorry but
the clock was twenty minutes slow.
So Joan and Brander went out on
Joan's small balcony and Tom told
her of his plans-told her also that
he would now have to sleep in the
park. He had planned to commute
from his sisters cottage at the
beach the next week and right now
he hadn't enough for a hotel.
Pretty nice girl Joan turned out
to be-and all those months he had
known her at Bradley's he had
never realized it. Joan put a five
dollar bill into ore of Brander's
hands and the handle of a small but
empty overnight bag into the
other and told MIN to go to near
by hotel.
Brander appeared promptly at
nine the next morning at Joan's.
After breakfast they washed the
dishes, took a leisurely walk, sat on
a park bench, ate luncheon at Joan's
together, and talked, until somehow
Brander asked Joan whether she
could endure the idea of going to
Borneo, and JOan-another rare CO.
incidence-said that all her life she
had just yearned and lOnged and
pined to go to Borneo. Brander was