Henderson daily dispatch., 1938-10-29
CHAPTER 6

EAGLE-EYED Calculus Jones
had seen the car of the queer visi-
tor, of course, and he identified it
instantly. He came from the warm
kitchen, where Cleopatra was bak-
ing cookies, and opened the front
door to re-admit Sara Sue. Calculus
liked to double as butler when the
mood hit him. yrs
"That Miss Peaches Pomeroy's
car, wasn't it, ma'am 2" Calculus
probed gently.
Sara Sue turned to him, eyes
narrowing. ,or,
"Yesi Yes, Calculus. couldn't
imagine! Butt must be. Is she
kind of tall? Dark eyes? Lips a
triffie pouty? Very-pretty?"
"Yes'm. That Miss Peaches. She's
c-epo'ted like that"
"Uhm. Thanks, Calculus"
The colored man retired again
to his kitchen nook; and Sara Sue
went to her room. Indignation had
fiared heavily in her for a few Sec
onds. Indignation and curiosity. No
body had insulted Sara Sue Davis
like that since-well, never, in her
memory. Who in the world was it,
and why? But Calculus had known.
The incident upset her momen-
tarily, more than she realized. She
knew she had done nothing to oc-
casion such an attack, in so often
sive a manner. But she had had
inklings of Miss Pomeroy's charac-
ter from here and there, yen
though this was her first meeting
with the campus beauty. Come to
think of it, she identified Peaches
now by remembering her portrait
in last years Campanile, the Rice
yearbook. Peaches had made the
beauty pages.
Well, Geraldine Pomeroy wasn't
the first shrew who had been beau
tiful; and clear conscience is an
excellent panacea. Sara Sue quite
sensibly went to bed. She was tired.
She expected to "think about
things" for at least an hour. In
five minutes she was breathing
deeply and in five minutes more
Cleopatra awakened her. s.
"Lawdy goodness. Miss Sue,
amt you got no duties, ma'am ?''
The fat Negress giggled. Hits
goin' on 10 o'clock ma'am. Git up
I'm there and eat you some break
fus'." .'t'
Twelve hours around the clock!
It was indeed sham eless, Sara
Sue admitted. But then-the rain
had maintained constant lullaby.
Indeed, it was still dashing against
her windows, although the sky was
lighter than it had been yesterday
afternoon.
Only a few students called that
day. Bob Towne- telephoned, four
times. Worthington Gurley tele-
phoned, then, sent a telegram plead
ing for a date to take her to the
first freshman dance Most of the
time, though, Sara Sue spent in
making over an old dress, and in
bossing Calculus at painting some
yard chairs stored in her attic. "It
won't rain forever, contrary to ap-
pearances," she had assured him.
Nevertheless, her assurances
seemed invalid. Harris county.
Texas, of which Houston is county
seat, happens to have more range
cattle in it than any other county
In America, and the fasteners ira
ditional misconception of the re-
glon Is a high, arid, semi-desert,
with many cactus plants, sand
dunes and steer skulls bleaching in
the Texas sunshine.
Actually Harris county is semi
tropical in yerdure. The coastal
plain there has the magnificent al
titude of SO feet, not 5000. The
football season sometimes is all
drenched with rain, The grass and
the vines and the shrubberv and
the flowers all grow in such pro-
FUSION as to make Houston one. of
the prettiest cities in the south
west, and the Spanish moss. rnois-
ture loving, Grapes in great PEN
nAnt-like festoons from the trees
on the Rice Institute campus. Buff