The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-07-27

WOulou DC EabluS Ike Ski1S. we'll
didn't she plug up your other eyer"
docs it look plugged up?" in
quired Jumbo scornfully. Listen,
boy, when saw her the next time
she practically kissed the eve she
had plugged"
very nice. I'm sue, said Van
Personally, I'd prefer the cure
without the ai1ment. Let's hear
how you went about seeing her,
Cutler"
Jumbo considered.
LuelIa,g he said at last, "is q
very thorough person. When she
plugs you in the eye, she plugs you
in the eye. Having this in mind. !
approached her guardedly. AS .
matter OF fact. approached her on
the telephone. / said: Is this Miss
West?' She said Yes. / said
"Skip aIHthat, interrupted Van.
Who's telling this, Hardness? ]
said: Well. Miss West. this Is the
gentleman whom you saw at to
sock in the eye last Saturday night
and then push down q fight Of
stairs. am calling ~ said this
bit stiff1y-with respect to my hat.
lost my hat ~ said land q great
deal of my dignity on your stairs
And then what do you think she
did, Van2 She cooed at me over
the phone"
Like A Dove
CHE what?" cried Van Mortified.
~ "Cooed. You know, like a
dove. And she said: oh, you poor
darling, ] thought I'd killed you.
Il replied, with some hauteur,
that I thought at the time she had
wanted to kill me and, even while
passing end over end down the
stairs, had been forced to admire
| the directneSS Of her ma4hOd SssArid
she said, You poor darling. All in
all. Van. she said that about six
| times"
"a girl Of limited vocabulary,
no doubt" said Van.
Don't you believe It. Luella
goes in for the cultivation of the
mind as well as the body. And
tina" Jumbo patted the electric
horse almost affectionately-"is
why I'm working out on old Dob
bin here"
'To cultivate your mind?"
mo, you ape. To ret of some
poundage. But shut up and give
me chance to tell this storyl The
upShot of this telephone CONVERSE
ton was that Luella said I'd bet
ter come right over. So. sensing
that she was not in a--er-hellig-
erent frame of mind, ! did. And
was ! received? rang the bell.
she opened the door, gave little
cry and right away she began to
hutter over me"
"Fiutter over you? The girl
must be simple"
Careful, Hardness. AS ] was
saying, she sat me down in the best
chair she's got and gave me . Gig
arctic. And when she got me all
nice and comfortable she, stood In
the middle Of the floor looking alb
solutely lovely and she said: SO
it's you. And you aren't hurt at
alp"
"Oh, she said that, Ell? She seems
to have 9 remarkable grasp Of the
obvious"
Darn you, she was being sweet.
Anyhow, ! still carried vestiges Of
| the black eye at the time and it
| made powerful impression on
Luella. She said
"You poor darling?"
As a matter Of fact, said Jum-
DO, little coldly. that's exactly
what she did say. She said: You
| poor darling, did / do that to your
You certainly did replied, and
what's more, young woman, you're
| the first person who ever gave q
i Cutler a purple eye without get
ting a flock Of rights and let's in
exchange. ] congratulate YOU. ]
said.
| "You know, Van, how some
| bright little quip like that seems
Il to break the ice. Luella sat- down
and told me how worried she'd
been. She said she'd been reading
about a hold-up Just before / rang
her bell that night and she. was in
a kind Of overwrought state And
when Itried to edge into her apart
ment, she got paniclxy and let stiy
| at me. She claims she tried to pull
| the punch, but just couldn't seem
to once it got started. She's q poppy
sort of q girl, Van. Goes in for lot
of exercise. guess" Jumbo re-
| garded fly stunting above Vans
i glass she's a girl who doesn't
realize her own strength.
| Anyhow, she said that when !
| did that backfiip down the stairs
| she was too petrified for q couple
| of minutes even to move. Then she
| few down to see If I'd been killed.
Well, when she got down and I
wasn't there, she didn't know what
to think. At first, she was relieved.
Then she decided she was foolish
| to be relieved. Because she rea-
soned that, though ] hadn't been
killed outright, must be terribly,
perhaps fatally, hurt. She says that
| she had visions Of me crawling
| away into the night to die, like q
wounded animal. LueIla has q very
good sense Of smile.
well, the first thing she thought
Iof doing was calling q policeman
and telling him that she'd Just
committed murder. She was on the
| point Of doing this when she re-
membered that there's . thing
called habeus corpus. In other
q ords. its silly to go around claim
ing that you've committed murder
unless you've got the body 20
prove it. The police just laugh q
you when you do that So that idea
was out
Continued isnsrrsu.