The Washington times., 1932-10-05
Towns Only Store


you wanted a silk hat, you
went to Weinstein's. Or, as
Edward Bartlett says, if you
wanted bugles or beans, Vein
STEMS was the spot to get
them.
Naturally, Dreamy Gus knew
everyone in the small town.
Correspondingly they knew him.
And, if old man Weinstein was
not in the store, Gus could be
depended upon to forget to
collect for several of the items
purchased during his absence.
Which evened matters up in a
way, for old man WeinStein
never forgot to collect for
several items which weren't
purchased.
Gus lived by himself in a
small shack near the store, and
there he did some of his finest
dreaming. What did he dream
about? The future mostly.
Like most of us, he dreamed
about the day when he would
be hailed by his fellowmen as
q great guy. But Gus's dreams
took a peculiar twist.
His visions, somehow. were
mostly mixed up with bandits.
Big, tough gorillas who stood
before Dreamy Gus and quaked
In terror. Brawny rascals who
begged him to let them off
easy. Killers who fell to their
knees before the vengeance of
our Gus.
He could hear AL Capone
pleading with him for another
chance. He could see his own
face, dominant and righteous.
He could see the tears stream
ing down Mr.. Capone's pudgy
cheeks.
He imagined himself relent-
Ing after awhile. He could see
the great gangster's gratitude.
He could see the man, in later
years, leading a Sunday school
choir in the town church.
Hoped to Be Hero
Oh, yes. Our Gus was a
tough baby, all right. Nothing
could stop him-and that in
cludes the U. S. Cavalry. He
was a Buffalo Bill, a Kit Car
son and a Frank Merriwell all
rolled into one.
The only thing that troubled
him was a means of meeting
some bandits or killers who
needed tanning. To offset this,
he used to attend all gangster
movies and dream himself to
be in the place of the righteous
cops who break down the door
at the last moment and shoot
the villain in the fadeout.
(Which is as good spot as
any,
Now, Gus might have been
waiting yet for his big chance
had it not been for an adver-
tisement which he read in a
magazine.
Buy Zip Pen" it read, PRO
tect yourself at all times with
this harmless device. When in
danger, you merely press a lever
and gas renders your antagonist
unconscious for ten minutes"
You can imagine what effect
that had on Gus. He carefully
clipped the ad, filled in the
blank spots, enclosed two dol
lars, and mailed it with a
prayer.
Within a week, the mailman
brought him the coveted foun-
tain pen. He was itching to try
the gadget, but he didn't know
where he could get more gas
after it was used.
So, with a new arrogance, he
attended to his duties at the
store and was confident that,
sooner or later, he would be a
hero. A live one.
But someone must have tipped
off all the bad men in the vicin-
ity for our Gus waited and
waited without anything unto
ward happening. The boy be-
gan to feel that there would be
no use in keeping the darn thing
when his big chance came after
he had the pen almost a year.
Stranger Enters
A tall, broad-shouldered man
walked into the store just before
closing time. In fact, the lights
in the windows were already out
and Gus was affordng himself
the luxury of a yawn when the
stranger entered.
Gus inStinctively smelled
large rodent. The customer had
a face he didn't recall seeing
before. And a stranger in this
town was in the nature of a D'g
event.
Gus felt for his fountain pen
and smile to himself. 1t was
there! He walked over to the
man.
Anything I can do for you,
sire" asked Gussie.
II hope So" replied the man.
"What're you here for??"
Well-uh-that is. 1 didn't
know"
Forget all that" said the
customer. Il want a suit of