The Washington times., 1933-07-14
The Old Gang

The Old Gang
? The crowd would be strolling
into the village now for sodas.
There would be a gang on
Grants front porch. Someone
would be strumming a guitar.
Someone would be singing
tenor-George, perhaps.
She hadn't thought of George
in a long time, and yet she
had nearly married him once.
But there had been another
man whom she had loved and
she had come to the city to be
near him. 1t was the same old
story. A few weeks of happi-
ness, months of heartbreak. He
had been, though, the only
man she had ever loved. There
had been a dozen after him
whom she had hated.
George. She thought of him
again. He had wanted to
marry her. Life would have
been very simple if she had
said, eyes" She'd have peace
and contentment and security
now. Six years ago, those
things hadn't seemed so attrac-
tive. And now, when she
realized their value, it was too
late.
But was it? She began to
pace up and down the small
patch of carpet. She could
60 back. There was no one
down home who knew what
she'd become. She'd been
swallowed up by the city as
completely as though she'd
died.
! She stepped over to the
mirror and studied herself
critically. She was % and she
looked it, and yet, after a few
days rest, without the heavy
makeup, without the cheap
jewelry, she wouldn't look so
different from the girl they
had known.
A Dirty Trick
Thoughts of George kept
coming back. Thoughts of
things he had offered her once.
If he asked her now, she knew
that she would marry him. A
small scrap of conscience, a
remnant of other days, nagged
her. 1t would be, she knew, a
dirty trick. Then all the bit
terness that had eaten into
her heart during the past few
years came back.
She had grown hard. She
knew that a women had to
wrest from life everything she
got. If the man got hurt, it
was merely a reversal of the
usual state of affairs. Thus
reasoned the woman who had
loved one man and hated a
dozen others.
George, of course, wasn't to
know the truth about her.
For down home, where the
Double Standard was more
important than the Gold
Standard, every mans wife
must be as irreproachable as
Caesars. And honor was
something more than a word
in the marriage ceremony.
So Laura went home. She
went down South. ostensibly
for a visit with relatives. In
reality, she went to carry out
coldly, calculatingly, a plan to
trick a man into offering her
what no other man had Of
fered.
1t was shortly after her ar
rival that Laura met George.
He hadn't changed much. He
was as sober, as serious, as
unimaginative, as ever. A little
more successful, perhaps. A
little Stouter. And, without a
doubt, as much in love with
her as ever.
She asked him almost i'm
mediately, You haven't mar
ried, George?"
He shook his head. and his
eyes we're almost dog-like in
their devotion.
II reckon 1 been waiting for
you, Laura" he told her.
Modest Maiden
Laura smiled at him shyly,
and dropped her eyes in the
approved fashion of a modest
young maiden. She was sweet
to him after that, as sweet
as she knew how to be. She
pretended to find unlimited
pleasure in the simple amuSe-
ments he offered her. 1t is a
source of wonder that she man
aged to keep from laughing
aloud through it all.
But then, the part that she
had chosen for herself fitted
her so easily that at times it
hardly seemed that she was
playing part. At other times,
she had compunctions. George
said things to her that made
her heart catch in her throat.
Laura" he murmured in his
stilted, unoriginal way, you're
the kind of girl 1 always
hoped to find-a good girl.
Like my mother"
And Laura knew that it