The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-08-13

The young man in the drivers seat did not spring lightly to the ground like knight of old, assist ing his lady to her place. He merely nodded casually to her shifting the cigaret in his mouth ever so slightly to permit the words, How are you?" to issue therefrom. As he pronounced it. the sentence sounded thus, Hi yah ?"
 Boots tossed her golden mane casually. her brown eyes sparkled She said she was all right. How was he? She climbed into the seat beside him and the motor rumbled alarmingly as the driver shifted into gear
 Even the most casual passerby might have noticed that the girl in the natty roadster was rarely love ly. The pearly quality of her skin, the depth and setting of her limpid brown eyes, velvet teXtured, t1ecked with amber lights. the way her soft fair hair grew and glinted about her brow-all these things marked Boots (christened Barbara) eXcep- tional in a world of beautiful young things. Larchneck's younger set admitted Boots was lovely.
 The roadster rattled past trades mems cars chugging peacefully or frantically by, according to the drivers humor; past children in sun suits, frolicking on lawns; past turbaned and aproned colored maids shaking out rugs or watch ing for the postman. It was all se- rene. restful, easy. Boots really saw none of it, except as a tapestry which formed the background of hee life. All her Is years she had lived right here in Larchneck. The Raeburns shabby gray shingle house with its unfashionable big veranda and high gabled look pre- dated the pseudo-Colonial farm houses and English cottages that blcomed on every corner. But Boots was used to it-she seldom thought about it, in fact, except when she paused to envy someone like Sylvia Rivers whose house on the very borders of the blue Sound was show place of pale stucco and pink tiles with logging, patios and mission bells to confound the casual visitor.
 Sylvia and Boots had been rivals at high school. Boots had walked off with the valedictory address and Sylvia hadn't yet forgiven her for that. Sylvia'S frock, of course, had been by far the loveliest of all worn by the graduating class; s h e est organdie, delicately fiounced, ruffled, artfully made. Sylvia, with her long neck, silky black hair done in Madonna knot, her almost too prominent swimming blue eyes, had looked exquisite in it and the crowd" had raved about it. Boots had tried not to be envious of Sylvia that night-she had so much to be hap py about-but somehow Sylvia al most always managed to distil the poison of envy with her patroniz- ing airs, her high, affected. artifi- cial laugh. The Rivers car. the Rivers orchids tgrown in their own hothouses) were very much in evidence.
 An, well, all that was past. They were in midsummer now and Boots. between whiles swimming, dancing in the big club rooms, dreamily helping her mother to make beds and to run the vacuum cleaner, was idly thinking about the future. What should she dc when autumn came? Sylvia was going to Bryn Mawr-that was all right. She. Boots. knew that the family finances would never stand the strain of college. But what should she do with herself? Try Gas some people had suggested after seeing her in the school playl for stage job? Go (hateful thoughtD to business school and learn the tiresome intricacies of shorthand? Idle about at home, waiting for invitations, stirring up masses of fudge and making brownies for the sorority meetings
 Meanwhile
 What's on your mind 2" asked the young man in the blue pull over. wheeling his car into a shaded drive where. under droop- Ing naples, dozen motors Of varying shapes and sizes were al ready parked.
 Boots smiled. leaping out nimbly It was not the thing in ''the crowd" ever to be serious. Just dying to get into the water" she trilled on a merry note.
 This particular club, the newest and least exclusive of all such or ganizations bordering the Sound was long. low stucco building crouching on the sand. The red roof threw back dazzling heat rays. Boots and her escort Johnny Wells. passed through the unpre- tentious foyer, Johnny throwing a casual "Hiyah?" to the girl at the desk. They crossed a bare and narrow room with a~scarred up- right piano braced against one wall, went up a brief flight of stairs and nodded to shock headed boy in bathing suit, tilted back in a Kitchen chair against call board studded with prass-checked keys.
 "See you later, Boots!"