The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1934-06-21
FATAIISTIC
g
By r. Fl. WILKINSON
q. Bell syndicate-WNU Service.
LyIN WINTHROP is a fatal
! fSffc SORT Of DarSOn.

This Is strange, too, when
you consider his wealthy uncle
died not long ago and bequeathed to
the young man the sum OF two million
dollars which amount has kept Alvin
more or less on the jump ever since
In an endeavor to spend more than his
investments bring i'm.
On the other hand. when you con.
slider that, at the age of twenty-One.
Alvin had visited every country In the
world. attended every known function
wide interest. dahbled In every sort
Of business. met all kinds of people
and achieved more or less fame as an
expert in variety of sports-when
you bear these things in mind you do
not wonder that the youngster is some
what bored with life and is apt to de-
! vote some Of his idle moments, OF
which there are now countless num-
bers, to br0oding
For Alvin Is not the type of fatalist
who predicts disaster for the universe
at large; his prophecies concern only.
his own destiny.
He Is the sort Of person, who, upon
taking leave OF your company after a
brief visit, augments his conventional
farewell with. well. see you tomor-
row-n I'm not run over by truck
In the meantime. =
In fact. Alvin has Injected this
phrase into his farewelis so often that
friends and acquaintances have be-,
slowed upon him. In spirit of fun,
the moniker. run Over by Truck
Alvin"
Indeed, Alvin has brooded over the.
matter, considered its possibilities to-
such an extent that ne has actually
come to believe hfs death Is destined
to be brought about by careless
truck driver.
with him the thing Is no laughing
matter
He has carefully weighed and fig-
ured the chances.
He has added up the number OF
times he crosses busy streets during
the course of one day, multiplied this
figure by seven. averaged the number
Of trucks that cross his path In an
equal number OF DAYS and discovered
that during the week he has 2SA ex-I
cellent opportunities of being ami
hilated by q truck.
The thing has become an obsession;
he has remarked upon 1t so many
times that we who are closely ASSOC
cfated with the youth have come to
the conclusion that the boy will feel
disappointed unless truck does ac-
tually fatten him out on some well
paved highway.
Recently q number of us called on
Alvin and. after a period of urging
prevailed upon him to take q world
cruise
We waived his argument that he
had been on world cruises before.
What he needed, we told him. was q
change of atmosphere. climate and as
sociates, something to drive this silly
getting killed-by-a-truck notion from
his head.
The thing was warping his brain.
He'd better nip It In the bud before
q funny wagon backed up to his front
door some day and q man In uniform
crooked his finger In his direction.
Much to our relief Alvin consented
to make the attempt.
He agreed with ~ that he was
spending too much time of late think
ing about himself.
It was with the sense Of q duty
well performed that we waved Alvin's
liner away from the dock. and re-
turned to our various occupations.
He was good boy, likable and gem
erous to fault, and we hated to see
q little thing like being knocked for
row of gooseberry bushes by Z lotion
truck upset hfs mentality.
A month after Alvin set SAN. victor
Perry returned to Boston from trip
abroad
We were talking to Vic one night
ut the club, when he mentioned hav-
ing met Alvin IN France.
OF course, we were delighted to have
drst-hand news Of our patient.
slow II he :" asked Vic. HE didn't
mention anything about trucks. did
hep
trucks %
yes You see, Alvin has developed
an insane idea that sooner or later .
truck Ii going to crush him into moth
: fngness. We advised him to take q trip
around the world and drive the thing
from his mind"
Vic laughed. .,s.,s.t s.,
well. you succeeded. No, Alvin
didn't say word about trucks. But
ne did mention steamships"
"SteamshipsT'
Yes. When we parted 10 days ago
he said. Well, TIL see you In America,
vic-unless this steamship I'm on de-
cideS to investigate the bottom Of the