Evening star., 1941-12-28


cracked through the thin ice of amusement
and fell into tears.
Lynn hastily drew the loose dressing gown
sleeve across her eyes. She pulled the robe
tighter around her shaking shoulders.
Rod still thought she was laughing at him.
Try to recall the day we met he plunged
ahead, IF it's not too prehistoric Somebody
gave cocktail jamboree for you on the stage
of theater. You we're the latest sensational
discovery, designer of costumes for musical
comedy playing there.
81 don't recall the name of the show l only
remember YOU l couldn't get near you for
the men. So l stood in the wings and summed
YOU up You wore white - slinky, like drapery
on a statue. Your eyes were crystal-clear and
your smile slightly on the contemptuous side.
You were the girl who comes out OF this cock
eyed world of today, sure of herself, able to
take care of herself. Beauty and brains, the
success Of knowing how to use BOTH You need
ed men about the way queen bee needs the
swarm around her just to prove she's a
queen.
81 thought. That frozen beauty is scared TO
death Of being dependent on a man. Well, here's
where / make her dependent ON me! didn't
know that was my thought. | only knew your
neck was too lovely to go unkissed, and picked
the spot above your low-cut dress where l
meant to kiss it. The spot where No Tres
passing sign hung as plain as a placard. You
remember, kissed it that night"
Es, how we'll she remembered! His impu-
dent stare as he stood apart; the way he calmly
appropriated her for dinner date when he got
ready to leave; her wonder at the excitement
that charged through her as they sat opposite
each other in a tiny restaurant where there
was no music except the sudden song in her
heart. Remember? Even now when it was all
over and done with, she couldn't forget.
Il was a conceited ass, Lynn. l thought
because the pair of us stood before justice
of the peace a week after we met that had
you. I've never had you. You We been like ="
He halted, frowning. well, I've got to put
it in terms understand. You re like the beau
tiful facade of building with the doors locked.
I've never been able to unlock door except
when l could make you furiously jealous.
Then you did the unlocking yourself. Then
you gave HlS SollC pdIl vi yOui IL Wdo IilC
hellion part, but it satisfied me. | meant some
thing more than lover you condescended
to when it suited YOU
Lynn spoke at last. She said in smothered
voice, You're horrible You're only making
things worse
He shot back hotly, you want the flat
truth and you re going to get it. In all our five
years together you never actually needed me,
never cried on my shoulder not once.
"If anything went wrong, you locked your
self in that barn of a room you were pleased to
call your studio and the No Trespassing sign
went up again. You worked the thing out alone.
l didn't even know what was bothering you.
Your lawyer took care of your legal problems;
your banker, of your investments; your doc
tor, of your health. l was as much outside
your life as if | had no place in it. That's S the
reason for the other women, Lynn They were
the only way could convince myself you still
gave tinker's dam about me-"
Lynn gazed at her glistening mother-of-
pearl nails, artificial polish she couldn't get off
except with an acid remover. Was it true, the
thing Rod said, that she'd needed him only
as lover? Did they understand each other so
little that he must convince himself of her love
by going in for cheap affairs? What was wrong
with love that only Cheapness could salvage?
Something fundamental somewhere, from the
start.