The Wilmington morning star., 1943-11-26

The handsome houses and ex-
pensive apartment hotels which go
to make Washington the most
beautiful city in the country fired
her ina ination, Behind the cur
tains in lighted windows that she
passed each night, she could i1ha-
CINE all sorts of wonderfully ex-
citing gatherings in which she had
no part. she could have borne that
fer not much longer, hungering as
she did to taste the pleasures of
The unknown world of society.
| She was no Reth, she thought,
swapping a piece of string on the
package. If Beta weren't careful,
she'd be spending the rest of her
life in that boarding house which
Andrea was coming to detest.
Eighteen other girls might live
there in their feminine world in
utter content, but Andrea hated
the sight of them in their house
coats and hair curriers'.
She resolved to get Beth out of
If. Maybe Beth would find some
way to get to California Andrea's
idea of the distance between Homo
lulu and California was an over
night stop, and she, Andrea and a
girls best friend, would find an
eligible man for her. By the time
6 O'clock came, Andrea's magma
ton had Beth set up in a we'll
stated house like her own. She
feeling as if she had accomplished
something. Beth could take the
money the judge had given her
for her fare to California.
Not often given to such noble
flights of fancy, Andrea was anx-
lous to tell Beth her plans. She ran
up the steps of the boarding house,
gave cursory glance at the table
il the hall, and saw that there
was letter for her from Jim.
and one for Beth She picked them
10th up and went up the stairs,
tearing the end of the envelope
with the Honolulu postmark.
She got the letter out with vim
gers that were trembling with ex-
element. This was the letter that
would bring the last check and in
structions for her departure.
No check came with the letter.
She shook the envelope No check
fel1 out. She sat down on the top
step in the dim hallway and looked
again. Jim had not put any check
Il the letter. She'd have to cable
| him.
Beth's room was more convent
ent than her own. so she went in.
dropped her hat and coat on Beth's
bed. helped herself to cigaret
from Beth S box and then opened
the folded sheets of Jim's letter.
From across the hallcame the
voice of neWscaster on Lucy
Stacey's radio. bleating that the
Japanese government had an
nounced that the veteran diplomat,
Saburo Kurusu, was en- route to
Washington on mission to estab-
lish a basis for peace in the Pa
cific ara.
Andrea got up and closed the
door. She was not interested in
news broadcasts. since none of
them were very cheerful Then she
sat down and began to read.
Darling" Jim wrote in his big,
almost illegible scrawl. its all off
for a while, l am afraid
Andrea put her cigaret in the
tray. She had almost dropped it,
because her hand had taken to
spasmodic switching when she got
as far as that first line.
This is no place for women at
the moment. Joe Langner stopped
his girl from coming Just as she
was about to board the boat at San
Francisco. Lots of the girls have
already left and many more are
preparing to clear out this week.
can't take any chances with you. I
don't have to tell you how much I
want you to be here -
Andrea skipped a page, her eyes
Swimming over the characters
hastily, looking for Jim's reason,
convinced he had lost his mind.
She had never known Jim was a
worry Wart, and now she was
flaming with disappointment and
anger.
g. you don't get the picture
we do out here. War in the Pacific
never entered my mind year
ago, but Pm told that folks here
have been expecting it momentari-
ly. Europe seems pretty far away
when you're in the land of wav-
ing palms and coconuts, and ia
pan seems too darned close
Hot tears had begun to roll down
| Andrea's face, and she had to
brush them away before she could
read further.
| ''Old TOTO is the boy who's in the
divers seat, and how he's going
TO take the terms for peace in the
Pacific nobody can guess. I think
we underrate our little brown
brothers. I don't see them accept
ing terms that call for lifting the
military enlightenment and getting
Tout Of China, not even if the eco
lnomic blockade against them is
removed. It's my guess that
they're going to take advantage of
our necessity to watch the west,
and hell may pop. We don't ex-
'pect that ANYTHING too bad can