Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-11-13
Daily Short Story
Public CampsroundF

On the second morning, after
the smell of her breakfast bacon
had nearly set him wild Che had
been too busy drinking beer in
town to repleniSh his supplies),
Sylvester observed the girl emerg-
ing from her tent with a small
hand az She came over TO his
tent, where he was lounging in
the camp chair smoking his pipe.
Where's this wood supply
YOU denied 80 well ." she said,
indicating his neat pile of fuel.
"You'll find some over that
hill. Miss Brown" He had
learned her name was Elizabeth
Brown. but that was about all
he did know about her, except
that she was pretty. with big
baby blue eyes and blond, hair
that appeared to be natural.
sylvester grinned at the
Ratchet
You'd better borrow my
saw he added. He reflected a
moment. then he said, I'D bet
ter lend you a hand. There's
dead fir tree up there that's
going 10 be pretty hard to snake
down."
Betty Brown had been warned
by the ranger at the forest station
of the awesome penalty imposed
for cutting live timber, and she
hadn't seen any dead trees about.
Sylvester told her that dead trees
could be found here and there if
you knew where 10 look for them.
BECOME FRIENDS
lie led her to hilltop, expertly
tiled rope 10 fair-SiZed tree
that had been blasted by a bolt of
lightning years before, and the
two of them managed to get il
down 10 AZ spot nearer the camp
ground.
They spent a pleasant morning
saving and splitting wood and
got to be pretty good friends.
She had him over 10 her picnic
table for supper last night and in
the cool evening. with blankets
wrapped about them and pipe and
lcigaret lit. her curiosity got the
better of her. She asked him what
he was doing in a lonely camp,
why he had chosen such an abode.
John Sylvester did not tell her
that he had been almost literally
left at the altar by the most won-
lderful girl in the world and that
he had quit his job. sold the house
he had Just completed. and with
drawn forever into the gloomy re-
cesses of his own mind.
He did say that for two months
he had been living in a tent. and
had found it cost him only five. or
six dollars a week, including the
gasoline and oil his car used up in
la weekly trip for supplies to San
Bernardino.
AT that rate" he said. 81
won't have to do any work for
% years"
WHAT ABOUT WINTER
| "What about Winter time? ?"
she asked "YOu can't live I'm a
tent in the Winter. Don't they
close up these places ?"
1--WE arranged that" he said.
"ITl just move into one of the
Summer shacks near the lake.
know a guy who's got four of
'em. and he'll let me live I'm one
rent free for looking after the
others"
THAT" she said. doesn't
strike me as very useful way
to get along. Unless you write
or paint or compose music"
IL don't write" he said, land
I don't paint or compose music"
Don't you get tired Of just
reading and Ioafing?"
Not yet. I'm Just fed up
with people"
Thanks" she said.
BY a tacit understanding. he
,rustled firewood and fetched water,
they pooled their supplies, and she
prepared the meals and wasted
the few dishes and pans. His APP
petite Improved immensely.
He never had been much of a.
hand at patching" it, his idea OF
A meal was 10 open can OF
beans. Her coffee was infinitely
superior 10 his. although they
fused the same brand.
With seemingly no effort at all.
she could make the simplest
dishes taste better He had been
eating in restaurants for years.
land Los Angeles restaurants arel
not the best in the world--until
I he went into seif-imposed exile
and Jared even worse because OF
his lack of culinary skill.
They took long trampS together
lin the hills. explored remote crags. |
He learned that Betty Brown was
ia Stenographer in a Spring street
law office and lived with two other
bachelor girls IN an apartment in
Wiltshire.
She discovered that he was a
civil engineer Georgia Tech 30. |
that he had tried 10 get into the
army but had been rejected be-
muse of Hat feet and that some
thing had Soured hlm suddenly |
She suspected 1T was a girl, but
ne never told her
HE'S CURIOUS