The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1934-07-13
ORCHIDS ADRIFT B

d. NAA
the Easy Evening club; the filling sta
ton, run by q friend OF his school
days, off Columbia circle.
She found him in the filling station,
sitting on an oil can.
At her flushed entrance he looked
up and hardened.
But Mary knew the right opener.
Johnny, did you really throw them
away again?"
II certainly did. Right where I pick
ed 'em up"
20, you mean thingl"
She began to cry and turned out Of
the filling station.
"Well you said" He accepted the
defensive position, following her. His
tone was injured.
II know what I said," sniveled Mary.
"You needn't remind me. But-to throw
them away-when I never have any"
"Come on, Mary" he coaxed, and
caught her arm as she went toward a
bus. Don't cry. I got sore. You
wouldn't believe me when I was telling
you the simple truth. and I flew off the
handle"
"You are always flying off the
handle" she accused in reproach.
IT know that" He was all remorse.
MARY, forget it. I'll break myself of
the habit"
They got off the bus at Madison ave-
nue.. And they were sitting in a drug
store with two matted milkS and con
tentment when Vito Avelli, facing three
companions, tried to explain the unease
of his manner and the lateneSS of his
arrival.
Because minutes we're vital to the
plan of this night the plan must be
postponed on miscarry. A Manhattan
lawyer finished his social evening with
friends and went safely home to bed,
yawning, all unaware Of what he had
escaped.
Whatever happened to the snatching
plan or to Vito-and something indeed
happened to the latter before morning
as the North river eventually disclosed,
Vito's friends being d~istrustful persons
was no concern of Lew Hullen.
Lew would never be snatched or
racketed. He was an unneeded cog in
the wheel of modernity. He stalked on,
muttering about the orchids.
They brought to his mind a man who
once had worked beside him but now
I was wealthy. Emil Monder had been q
riveter. Now he was a builder. Lew
thought it likely that Wonders daugh-
tiers had orchids to toss away. Monder
lived on Park avenue. Other workers
had pointed the building out to Lew.
Now Lew wondered in an ugly way
what Emil would say if he, Lew, should
ring his doorbel and ask for help.
He could be no than thrown
, out by Monder. So he turned with
vicious determination toward Park ave-
nue. and presently stalked silently into
a smart apartment building whose ele-
vators were handsome and noiseless.
On the seventeenth floor a butler was
inhospitable. Luckily Emil Monder
was at his buffers heels, expecting his
youngest daughter who was late getting
home from a tea. Monder was afraid
Of kidnapers.
He recognized Lew Hullen. He was
shocked. He was willing to be touched.
Help you out for old times sake? I
certainly will. What I like to know
when I hand over money is where it
goes. This business of organized char
ity-wen, it's all right, I s'pose. But
LII AOoCy. SA1y11OW, III luck LIN UP
and you're down, Lew"
So, sheepishly, Lew told him about
the orchids which had induced him to
come.
Emil Monder, who had risen in life
through personal astuteness, laughed
heartily. Some sweetie got mad be-
cause they weren't from the right man"
he guessed.
Lew Hullen gr1nned. Probably. Not
such wastage II the flowers were merely
a sign Of some sweetie's tantrum.
It was pleasant enough that Lew
Hu1len should have vastly profited by
orchids that had neither been lost,
strayed, or stolen. But Oscar Of the ele-
vator buttons was not cheered or profit
ed as the hours wore ON.
He could have given the box to Ethel
who had ambitions above a hairnet
factory.
Ethel had often mentioned orchids.
I'D JUS feel important with an orchid"
sighed the sixteen year old. IT Jus dom
know what it Is about that flower that
touches a woman to the bottom of her
soul like q feather ticker. It hain't no
real flower at all. Tits lust q state
Of mind" babbled Ethel.
Ethel somewhat disdained elevator
attendants. She was supercilious to
Oscar, whom she maddened. And when
this night at eleven-thirty he met her
In her mothers kitchen and lugubrious-
ly told her that she had been near to q
good gift but had slipped on the way,
her tom-tom heritage surged upward
through layers Of Virginian and Harlem
onroStrv