The Washington times., 1933-03-07
CHAPTER I

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fore her. No plans at all.
Some Of the girls she knew
were going to business school.
training themselves to be ste
nographers and private Secre-
taries. Some had found jobs in
stores and offices and were
earning money already. A few
Of them were planning to go to
college in the fall.
Gertrude Barnunn, her chum,
who lived in the flat just across
the hall from the DunnS' flat,
was going to art school in Sep
tember. Ger trude's widowed
mother had been saving money
for that art school course for
years.
shes a fool" was what Shar-
lies mother said about Mrs.
Barnum, ito try t. make a fash
ion artist out of that lump Of
q Gertrude. Just about the
time Gertrude's through with
her art education she'll up and
get married - and all that
money will be just thrown
away!
Sharlie's mother had no use
for fat, comfortable Mrs. Bar
mum or Gertrude. They had
mo style and no pep" so she
said. She simply could not see
what Sharlie saw in them. ..
Sharlie and the BarnumS were
great friends, and had been ever
since the Barnums had moved
into the next-door flat five years
ago.
Mrs. Dunn had plenty of style
and the thing she called pep"
She was SO years old. and she
did not look more than %
especially just after she had had
q facial and a water wave.
At Beauty Shop
Every Friday she and her
friend. Mrs. Carl Hanaberry,
who lived in the big new apart
ment house on the other side Of
the street, went downtown to-
.gether and spent the whole
afternoon in their favorite
beauty shop.
It was Friday noon now, and
Mrs. Dunn was getting dressed
for the trip downtown with
Maud Hanaberry.
Sharlie stood in the doorway
watching her make up her
pretty, unwrinkled face.
"I love that sun-orange lip
stick on you, Dodie," she said.
She never called her mother
just the color for you, isn't it?"
=, Her mother frowned at her in
the mirror above the dressing
table, her blue eyes darkening
between their blackened lashes.
:. "Sharlie. run and get those
stockings that I rinsed out last
night. They're hanging in the
bathroom" she said.
She was still frowning when
.Sharlie brought her the stock
ings.
"Pray to high heaven that
when you get married your
husband will be able to buy
you all the stockings you need,
Sharlie," she said, sitting down
on the edge of the bed and be-
ginning to pull them over her
slender legs. "I've been married
to a failure for 10 years and
I know what I'm talking about
.. Don't throw yourself away
on the first good-looking, pow
erty stricken boy who comes
along"
Sharlie shook her smooth
brown.gold head, her gray eyes
on the clock that stood on her
mothers dressing table :.
Twelve minutes past IL! At
half.past IL Eddie Wallis was
coming for lunch. What on
earth would happen if "Dodie"
was still here when he came?
Dodie didn't even know that
she knew Eddie Wallis.
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There were a great many
things she didn't know about
her daughter Sharlie.
For Sharlie had been leading
Q sort of double life for the
past two years. Not a double
life in the wicked and immoral
sense, but, nevertheless, a
double life. A great many girls
do these days
There was the life that she
lived here in the flat with her
father and mother and her
mothers cousin, Edna Bal
linger.
It was a dull and lonely life
for her.
One or two nights a week
her mother and father had
their friends in to play poker
and drink home-brew. One or
two nights week they went
out to play poker and drink
home-brew with the Hanaberry's
or the Schultzes or the Doc
Titles.
These were the nights when
Sharlie lived her secret life.
These were the nights when
she sneaked out to meet Eddie
WalliS-E d die Wallis, who
smoked cigarettes and drank
and called girls "zanies." Ed
die Wallis, who was such a
tough that Sharlie never had
dared to ask. him to the flat
to meet her mother and father.
But he was coming today
coming in Is minutes by the
clock-and Sharlie was in an
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