The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1936-08-24

"
been here a week, and it's my first
real trip home in six years"
She was surprised, herself, at the
way she had dashed out at him.
must be attracted in spite of myself.
she realized, or wouldn't be so pas
ty.... She smiled suddenly.
.'s fT'm just naturally vicious"
His own smile was disconcerting
because his eyes were so black and
his teeth, so. white.
i"Oh, yeah?" He drew her back to
him. "No, sweet; you're just scared.
Som I. I'm in no position to be fall
ing in love-" ''
Tom cut in then, swapping her
fury OF at its root. She turned her
back on Denis and smiled brilliant
ly at Tom.
Gust like old times, Tom" She
said it, defying herself, because
nothing could be less like old times
than this.
Tom nodded vigorously. "You said
it."
DENIS turned quickly away from
- Carol and Tom. He'd look up
Alice, and check that off tempo.
rarily.
He felt sore all over, as il he had
played an unaccustomed game Of
squash. Damn the girl anyway. for
not seeing how he felt. If she was
as intelligent as she looked she
ought to have guessed that his atti.
tude about the job was bragga-
docio: he had to get the news across
before somebody else did.
The music expired with death
rattle. He walked into a couple,
backed away and apologized, and
the girl smiled brilliant invitation.
He looked after the girl. She was
a kid who lived next door to him;
she couldn't be more than sixteen
or seventeen. An accident, Denis
thought indifferently, looking for a
place to happen. Well, let it.
Alice's smile was an older, wiser
version of the kids. She said: II
was wondering where you were.
darling. Let's have a drink"
He agreed, and thought casually
what a brainless fool Alice was.
Toms wholesale business had made
money, and she couldn't take it. All
Alice knew was what she saw in
the movies.
They went downstairs to the grill
and began making a lot of noise.
Tom and Carol Torrance came in,
and Denis looked quickly away
from them.
He'd meant 1t when he told her
he was scared. She was the sort he
could go crazy about: cool as spring
water, with a sense of humor and
a nasty gift for irony. One eyebrow
wasn't higher than the other for
nothing, and her mouth was little
crooked-probably from smiling on
the other side Of it. They could have
a swell time laughing at the show
together.
He looked back at her, and their
eyes caught. He made a wry face at
her. but the room and the noise
were outside the moment. and they
were alone in it.
Alice said finally, against his
shoulder: "Do ! hear music?"
eff you want to call it that"
Finish your drink in a hurry.
then. got rhythm"
He waited half an hour before he
broke on Carol again, but he spent
the half-hour leaning against a door
frame watching her. He liked the
way she danced, without giving her
body away, as II she were keeping
herself physically as well as spiritu-
ally inviolate. Her glance brushed
him now and then, but after the first
casual smile their eyes were sober
and speculative, and he knew his
own fear had found it's counterpart
in her.
She guessed, Of course, why he
wasn't dancing with her. When a
man stands against the wall for half
an hour and then cuts in on you, she
realized, it's because he's fighting
something he can't resist, or be-
cause the moments too big to
snatch at. He's playing with it. like
a cat with a mouse, before he eats
it. 80.
He went deliberately across the
floor and touched her partners
shoulder. With the width of the
room between them, and without a
spoken word, they had fought it out
in the last half-hour. They could
even succeed, now, in being casual.
sort Of belle Of the ball, aren't
you?"
She shrugged. Novelty. Some of
them are even pupils, and they can
brag about it Monday. I hope to
heaven my authority won't suffer-"
"I'd put my money-if I had any
on YOU" He held her a little closer.
and managed to touch her hair with
his mouth. Listen. Do we have to
stay in here? I want to talk to you"
And incidentally kiss you. he
thought.
The eyebrow lifted. "Talk? You
wouldn't. kid me. mistsr?"
fCopyrioht, 1856, By Marian SimsJ