Nogales international., 1932-08-24
Forgiven-With the cool moist
lips of Becka pressing eagerly
against his own.

| of swift unusual motion and of rare
sights, with Becka, soft and confding,
clinging closely on his arm, with the
dread of Grogans forgotten in the dis
tant alleys of the slums, the boy ex-
banded to an influence beyond the
measure of his understanding. He felt
the secretive whispering Of the dark.
Far to the North, from the direction
| of the Mall, band music filtered
| through the leaves, for the air was
still, and presently captured moonlight,
prisoned in lake, was discovered
through parting of the trees. John
and Becka turned toward this, to the
lower walks, the perfect ones planned
long ago by a master gardener. Find
ing a secluded spot they sat down, the
still surface of the rejecting pond
almost at their feet. They were close
together, lilace bush screened them
from the walk they talked idly. Sud
denly the light of the lake went out
as a cloud drifted across the moon.
"You do, John, l know you do. Lilly
Firkin saw you" Becka, in tones OF
pouting banter, was accusing John.
Suddenly he found himself forgiven,
forgiven for things he had never done,
for lapses he had not committed, for
things he had never even thought
about, forgiven with the cool moist
lips Of Becka pressing eagerly against
his own, sitting all protest of inno-
cence, or of revolt.
His voice rasped. He choked and
struggled, vibrant with the contact,
holding Becka with convulsive
strength, The first drops of rain found
them oblivious to the coming storm.
The 10y, ill clad, hard in body, with
few ideas bit those of strife, released
the girl; her sudden "Oh!" coming
with the return of breath almost
crushed out of her. John jumped up,
picked up her straw hat, and pulling
her by the arm led her to the bole Of
a huge sycamore whose broad leaves
promised some shelter from the rain.
Quick flashes of lightning, followed
by harsh, rumbling peals of thunder,
were punctuated by the puny cries and
screams of women running from the
park as sudden swirls of cool air and
rain whipped about the trees. Then
John and Becka, like Paul and Vir-
ginia of the story, naked, not of body
but of mind raced beneath the trees
and the lashing of the storm for the
park gate at Fifth Avenue and Fifty
ninth Street They took the East Side
l., down again into the familiar close
ness of the sluns.
The end of September, in the city
tof> perpetual change, brings with it
the first refreshing whisper of cooler
FAIRS; new vitality springs to life
lameng the heat-weary dwellers in: the
| city. Sol Bernfeld had come back from
the road after questionable success in
providing b crayon ,enlargenerlts: of
family album portraits, with the Paris
Spicy Package as a side line. The
spicy package being a bulky snrrepti-
itious envelope, sold sealed teAgainst
the law, you know, TO show it," to be
opened by the purchaser Strictly III
private. ."=It was suggestive package;
retailing at twenty-five cents, or two
bits, and sold wholesale to candy chop
pers on trains at seven, fiat, a gross.
Sol sold few of: crayon enlarge
ments but did get rid of his entire
stock Of spicy packages to the farmers
land their hands, even disposing of
them to women BY the simple process
| Of refusing to even; tell them what he
1 was selling. :.:.: ..=.;.@
On his return to the city, Sol found
Recka in a receptive frame of mind
and Join#B #Breen pursuing his way in