Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-09-25
winch demonstrates
that romance can be
found even in a cafeteria
BIZ
MARION BELDEN COOK
Illustrated By ETHEL HAYS

"''''''% '' @''&- '"''
sat there waiting for her until he had eaten
three pieces of cuStard pie and had gIlped
down three cups of coffee. Then, because he
positively could not swallow another thing he
got up and went out to movie.
Now, II he had known Betty's routine he
would not have stayed in the cafteria eating
custard pie which he did not want-because
she never came to the cafeteria on Saturday.
That was the one night in the week when she
always ate supper in grand style around the
corner at the Mount Blanc, q luxurious hotel,
where prices were as high as the Alps, and
people with elegant sounding names were al
ways being PACED.
Men in the foyer carried high silk hats. The
women wore backless gowns. People were
ordering theater tickets. Luggage, gay with
foreign hotel labels stood in straight rows in
front of the desk. And flowers were being de-
livered to beautifully dressed ladies in the big
dining room.
Betty usually wore her black lace evening
gown and sat alone at her favorite table, which
was way over in one corner Then she settled
back with . cigarette to watch the hors doeuvre
wagon come rolling toward her.
BY sktmping On Suppers all the week, she vas
able to dine there at the Mount Blanc on Sat-
urdays She liked the well dressed, spicy,
savory rich food, and she liked hearing scraps
of conversation about pent-houses and cruises
and week end motor trips She liked to lean
back and watch . waiter pour her coffee from
slender silver pot.
She hated the food in the cafeteria She
hated the stupid talk she heard through the
rattle-bang Of the dishes. And she hated the
weak coffee and the heavy white cups.
But she put up with it all by making believe
that she was eating SQUAD or lobster or steak,
knowing that Saturday was coming when she
would have enough money left over to dine at
the Mount Blanc.
On the Saturday night that Jim waiting for
her at the white table where she usually sat,
she chose hearts Of celery stuffed with anchovy.
She ordered . broiled SQUAD and French fried
potatoes and fresh asparagus She ate leisurely
and with delight, as she alwa-Ts did on Satur-
days.
In the distance, the strnsed ensemble was
playing softly. The cafeteria had dropped out
Of her life to the rhythm Of the violins and
the cello; and the mountains of spinach and
hash and pork and beans had gone with it.
There was fountain And the water drip
ped with a musical sound which could always
be heard during short lulls in the conversation
and the laughter. It seemed to speak to her
to tell her that the good things of life were
really just around the corner if you knew how
to scoop them up and make them your own.
| TER o1nner cost 81 she uOped the W3H6
] so cents. She took taxi home through
the park afraid Is usual because she had spent
SO much money: glad usual because she
had been living for two hours in the atraos-
phere Of ease and delcacy winch meant %
much to her.
On Monday It rained The cafeteria was
crowded. It smelled of rubbers and wet
brellas- The windows were steamed. The tiled
floor was slippery. The noise was hectic
Betty was eating tuna fish salad. Jim sat ut
the table with her eating ham and eggs. He
smiled 1t her. She lowered her eyes quickly.
And he knew then that she was not near
sighted after an, which lifted great worry
his mind. Gayly, he passed her the
ketchup, pushing the bottle so that it clicked
against her salad plate.
Thank you, but don't need ketchup On
tuna FISH," she said pushing it away
She resented that bottle of ketchup. She
was trying to let her imagination carry her
around the corner to the Mount Blanc. She
sighed. There was no use trying to concen-
trate.
She could not turn her salad into tasty
stuffed crab because a very insistent young
man kept poking a bottle of ketchup under her
nose.
She got up huriedly, leaving most of hsr
CoHtinued on Eleventh Page