The Washington times., 1932-02-08
EkABERS OF. LOVE
Drama Of a Girls Undyins
Love and Devotion
CHAPTER I


alarm went Off.
Dang, dang, dang. wrr, dang,
} daang!
Like a fire alarm. Like a
hook-and-ladder company about
to make a left-hand turn on
Market Street. Nothing refined
about 1t. Not even a decent
bedroom size. One of those big,
old fashioned alarm clocks,
made to sit on a shelf over a
kitchen sink.
Lily Lou hated it.
Hated getting up.
"Oooh!" she yawned. "Ooh!"
One last smuggling under the
blankets, one last sinking into
sleepiness.
Dang, dang, dang.
The second alarm wasn't so
loud as the first. But it served.
With a groan, half sigh, half
yawn, Lily Lou reached a slim
ann out Of bed, and stopped the
din.
Mourning Routine
Once out of bed it wasn't so
bad. A hasty wash in the small,
? Steamy bathroom at the end Of
the hall. A tumbling into
clothes laid out on chair the
night before. Deft smoothing
of powder over fresh, tingllng
skin. Touch of lipstick, drop of
perfume behind the ears and on
her hanky.
Up went the wallbed. Into the
closet went kimona and gown.
The bedroom was a living room
for another 16 hours.
In the empty kitchen she
B found a dish of prunes, and a
slice Of buttered toast. which
she ate standing up, holding a
cup of cooling coffee in the
other hand. Not much of a
breakfast, but all she ever had
time for.
Dreams of Marriage
This morning, as usual, she
had to run for the train.
Promptly at 1902 it slid into
the station. Eighttwo and a
half, and Lily Lou was tearing
/ the days ticket out of the COM
mute book in her purse. The
train was on its way to San
Francisco. One more day be-
gun. One more chance for life
to set the wheels of adventure
in motion.
Lily Lou was 20.
Twenty. She could remem-
ber the time when that seemed
old. When she was IS, 16, II
...well, right up to a few
months ago, 20 had sounded
old. She had thought that
something would happen, long
before that.
Being married for one thing.
When you're fifteen or sixteen
you think that SURELY you'll
be married when you're twenty
at least! Love it must
come soon. 1t must, 1t must!
But the days slip by and you
get older and older, and there's
nothing -.
oh, boys, of course. Back
home when she was going to
high school Lily Lou had had
the usual boy friends. There
was a tall boy with sandy hair
who had liked her, even when
she was in grammar school.
Invited her to his house for a
party, once, but she had been
too shy to go, and she had hid
the valentine he sent her.
Later on there was Bert Bar
tells, and George Reed and
dances, and rowing and swim
ming in the lake. Sometimes,
looking back at it, Lily Lou
felt a little pang of regret for
Bert It was true he admit
amounted to much never
would but maybe it was
, better, settling down and being
happily married to someone
like that, than trying to amount
to something yourself.
Scramble for Seats
Amounting to something is
diScouraging sometimes. 1t
seems thrilling at first. Then
it gets hard, and then 1t gets
tiresome, and then you begin
to wonder If after all =.
Lily Lou sighed, and got off
the electric train, Joined with
, the hurrying horde to board
the ferry, and try for a seat up
front on the upper deck.
She liked to sit in front, to
feel the wind whipping her
cheek. Liked to watch the
green-blue water part in SWells
on each side of the bow, and
fan away in bubbling, creamy
topped troth.
But it wasn't the thrill that it
was at first, when she came
from Woodlake, and started to
. live with May and Raymond in
Oakland, and work in San
Francisco. One gets used to
anything, even lovely San Fran
cisco bay and seagulls, and
ocean liners, and battered tank
ers steaming in from the Col
den Gate.
Take the matter of money.
A hundred a month sounds like
a fortune in the country. But
it doesn't go far in the city.