Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1937-10-16

breaking point She was jerked out
of her circle of hopeless thought by
finding her face close up against a
striped door. Good lord, she'd walked
from Morningside to the Fortiesl For
she knew that door; she said with a
forlorn laugh, Page Freud: homing
pigeon stuff" It was the striped door
behind which she and Harp had
courted in 1928 Shed wanted to go
back to those days, she supposed, SO
much that she'd steered straight to 1t
while her conscious mind was agontz-
ing round and round.
She was too tired, now she was
standing still, to do anything but see
II she could go in and rest little
while. She pushed it open and entered
It had gone down hill since the
glittering prohibition days Of soft-eyed
young Louis and curly grinning Gus
Evelyn recalled dimly that Louis and
Gus had divided like starfish, a speak
apiece; then faded out, gone home or
failed or something. She dropped into
the nearest compartment. The table
was rine-marked: there were dusty
cut-paper festoons around the long
mantel mirror. relic Of Age OF In
nocence days.
A single soiled waiter sulked past
her. 1t was the zero hour between
luncheon and cocktail time; last
pair OF lunching lovers were going out
The sole customers were small furry
girls of a type not the least doubtful,
chain-drinking and talking in mouth
ing shrill voices. Evelyn ordered a
thrifty ginger ale and leaned back,
s0dden with WEAKNESS.
The voices of the little r-bearing
girls impinged on her ears like an I'M
curbed loudspeaker. She looked across.
The louder was a quite new Mink. The
one who did the yeSsing was sad
imitation Leopard Cat. The Mink had
newly done Ginger Rogers hair, the
Leopard Cat had platinum ringlets
which hadn't been kept up. properly
The Mink was, as she thought, laying
down the law. The Leopard Cat seemed
humble but Notwithstanding like
a new instructors wife yessing a de-
partment heads WIFE, Only the Mink
didn't remind you of any kind OF wife.
Evelyn hoped family that they would
go soon; and knew that If they did,
the waiter, condemning ginger ale
customers, would herd her out on their
heels. She tried to find them amusing.
The Mink might have been a screen
star-aImost. The bronzily, stiff-mo-
deled hair, the smooth. perfect face, the
narrow homeless figure. Not quite. She
lacked the underlie Of courage and
endurance, the screen smile with its
tension, mark Of a hundred bright
retakes. a thousand days Of being a
good trouper. Evelyn could see under
the blank baby perfection only COM
Portable conceit and a cold sentiment
tally How nice. No courage. No
endurance. Nice to think there was
somebody in this hopeless world who
didn't need any courage or endur-
ance -.
Just lii boys, tha's all they are"
said the Mink suddenly like the am
plifier In Grand Central
II there was any cliche Evelyn
disliked more she couldn't recall 1t.
Her Wisconsin mother-in-law had gig
gled and cooed that sentiment at least
twice day. Little boysl Across Evelyn's
sore mind cleaned Harperis face, kind, /
intelligent, controlled, the parentheseS
round his mouth deepening heartbreak-
ingly. OF course girls like these didn't
meet men Of his type.
The Mink, the more SNUG for an
other fashioned, made herself
new maroon mouth; and repeated her
self. The Leopard Cat said abjectly:
Gosh, you cern1y know your stuff"
The Mink thought she did. The
sotled waiter lowered by Evelyn and
said Anything more, lady2"
Ginger ale customers, his voice
showed, were less than the aust, no
matter what their purity or breeding.
Evelyn, cowed, copied the Mink un-
thinhngly, and said, Another old
fashioned
she drank it thirstily when # came.
Shed been stupid not to think Of It
before. Harp always said that once in
q while you had to take a drink when
you were low, 20 pull your ideas
ssxxsazsS changer les idecs." It didn't
% > eAsm@. Ext the next one gave her
q grip on herself.
Life was pretty hopeless but Evelyn