Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1933-03-17
0rM., NC
First Installment

f1TSC luSIdlllItSII
Even before she opened her eyes.
Joyce was aware of being in a
strange place. For the moment,
however, she was still too drowsy
to make any effort to move. A dull
ache throbbed in her head. Her
whole body felt heavy, weighed by
an insistent lassitude.
Then other sensations asserted
themselves. Her fingers, moving
languidly, sem to her drowsy brain
the message Of some sort of cool
silken material under their sensitive
tips.
She kept her eyes shut while she
tried to think things out. She re-
membered perfectly now. =. She
was in. a taxi going to the Hotel
Blackstone in Chicago. 1t was sleet-
ing, and in the traffic another ma
chine skidded suddenly and crash
ed into them.
And then they had brought her
where?
1t didn't smell in the least like a
hospital. And the bed was softer
than any cot she had ever felt.
Suddenly she was afraid to open
her eyes. Completely awake now,
she lay tingling with curiosity, fill
ed at the same time with a forebod-
ing of some strange, frightening
revelation to come.
I Where could she be?
Al last she could stand the I'M
certainty no longer. Without NOV
ing she opened her eyes and stared
straight ahead of her. Her first
look showed a cluster of large Or
anges hanging like golden balls in
the sunshine against a background
of cloudless blue sky.
Oranges! She had never seen
oranges actually growing. Still
without moving she rolled her eyes
from one side to the other. They
travelled up the bed to her hands,
lying inert On the satin cover. Sud-
denly she became aware of three
separate facts SO startling in their
significance that they set her heart
to pumping and paralyzed her mus
-cles.
She could never tell which shock
was the first to register; the Cir
Gle Of tiny diamonds on the third
finger Of her left hand; the rum
pied condition of the other side Of
the bed; or the cheerful masculine
whistle coming from somewhere
in the house close behind her!
A hot wave flooded her face and
neck. But gradually her heart
Quoted down. She relaxed a trihe,
breathed deeply, and tried to bring
her whirling brain back to normal.
cts the most incredible thing I
ever. ever heard!" she thought
desperately, fighting against a feel
ing of faintness. eft must be a
dream! l land in Chicago in
November on a dark, cold, snowy
afternoon; get in a taxi and
something bumps into the taxi and
I wake up the next morning
and find that it's summertime, and
that -. Pm -. I'm married!
How could it have happened?
How
The whistle seemed to come a
little nearer. Joyce clutched at the
bedclothes in a suddenly renewed
panic, of terror. If it were not a
dream now, this instant, then what
had happened while she was uncon-
scious?
Suddenly a telephone bell rang.
The whistling stopped abruptly.
She heard the click of the receiver
being lifted then "Yes?" in a
deep, pleasant voice. She listened
tensely.
ooh, Laurine? Hello! >. She's
still asleep, I think. No. Doc says
it's nothing serious, but it sure was
lucky it wasn't worse. Yes,
you're absolutely right-What?
Well, l ask her last month not
to ride that brute, but you know
how she is -. Pm leaving in a
few minutes Yes. Got to get
to Chicago for a conference. .
Come over sometime today and see
H. I'll ~