The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-03-14

way OF diOJIlGIt you WOulull nave
been believed.
Ordinarily, any little old woman
you could nave found would have
been just about as hopefully en-
ployed pouring water on a duck as
saying, please take care of me,
sonny" to Ben.
In fact. you could have looked at
Ben and seen with half an eye that
he couldn't and, scarcely less plain
ly, that he wouldn't take care of
anybody-the Ben he was then.
And "sonny!" You'd as soon
have applied the word to the old
NANCY, moth-eaten bull buffalo out
at City Park whose coat was coming
off in patches. 1t is hard to be-
lieve that any little old woman in
her right senses would have spoken
like that to Ben.
WELL, the answer is that the
w little old woman Ben picked
up in his arms because there was
nobody else in sight he could pass
the buck to- was not in her right
senses.
She had just been knocked down
by a hit-and-run driver who had
stepped on the gas and disappeared.
There was blood in her eyes and
she couldn't see. She was out of
her head-such as it was. Ben
thought she was dying.
The curb in front of the shack
he lived in out there in the edge of
town by the gas tank was red with
her blood. He picked her up be-
cause he didn't know what else to do
with her.
She was so 1.-THE in his brawny,
lazy arms, she didn't seem to weigh
anything at all. She was SO pitiful
and insignificant that she penetrated
even his accumulations of indiffer-
ence and inertia.
It had been a long time since
anybody had gone down through the
layers of them to see what manner
of man lived on beneath. He car
ried her in and laid her on his bed
and stepped out at pace unknown
to him for q good many years, and
returned with visiting nurse and
a doctor.
XXTHAT," they said to him after
w she had come back to con-
seriousness and was lying there look
ING at him as helpless as a small
wounded animal, ARE we going to
do with her? Where shall we send
her? Who's going to look out for
her?" and something that was
down in Ben that he didn't know
was there-and goodness knows
nobody else would have suspected
the existence of-spoke up and
scared him by saying:
Leave her stay here. Maybe
she amt got anywhere to go. I'll
take care of her"
The doctor adjusted his spec
tacles and stared. "You?" he said.
"You don't take care of yourself.
This place isn't fit"
I'll make it fit" Ben said, apd
took off what had once been his
coat and did cleaning job that
was recogniZably related to civil
lied standards.
"Ben," the visiting nurse said
little later, did you mean it?
You we're right, she hasn't got
anywhere to go. I've been tele-
phoning United Charities. They
know all about her. They've been
trying to help her for some time,
but she won't take it. She's had
a room on Philbrick- av, but her
week was up last night and she
gave 1t up-told them she couldn't
afford to keep it, Nobody knows
how she gets along. All she's got
on earth is in that bundle there,
and you can look at her and see
she's too old and feeble to work.
If you don't keep her"
CTRANGE are the workings of the
~ instincts, and the filial is no
exception.
Listen" Ben said, from now on
she's the same as my mother, see?
An I'm seeing her through. What's
her name?"
Mrs. Euphemia Boppy.'
Hell of a name! From now on
her names Mrs. Benjamin Bruins
wick ST."
Its a nice name" the little old
woman said. lying there all tricked
out in an elaborate boudoir cap
Ben had bought for her in the ten
cent store. Il never was partial to
Boppy anyhow. Maybe, on account
of the man I got it from
No danger of any niXin' up with
my old man." Ben said. Il calculate
I must "a had one, an I S'poSe he
was white, because I am, but I don't
know anything about him, and 1
didn't even take my name off'n him.
First place I remember of was
town named Brunswick, and called
myself after that"
The little old woman nodded
pleasantly.
"a real nice name" she said, and
fell asleep.
CHE wasn't much hurt after all
~ and she got we'll in hurry. She
spruced up amazingly under the
companionShip of a son, and rather
an amusing one, for Ben had seen
a good deal of human nature in
the raw and liked to talk about it
now that he had listener.
Having a listener is a marvellous
thing. if you've been without one for
long time. Ben put out leaves and
blossoms. Also Mrs. Benjamin
Brunswick ST.. spruced up the shack,
and Ben took to bathing, to meas
ure up to it.
The social service workers of
Franklin came around just to look
at him. They didn't believe their
eyes. They said Ben must have
found out that Mrs. Euphemia
Boppy had property hidden away
somewhere and was going to muir
der her for IL Snrnn NIGHT in ha,.