Henderson daily dispatch., 1946-07-25
THE JOURNEY HOME,
BY ZELDA POPKIN

o. II. File Always is. it's his M
ture. He'd have been killed. Pat.
your dear daddy would have pe,n
Killed crippled for life will
be TOO. My arm. III never be ablc
10 use II again. The table foil ON
II. The whole table fell on it."
Corbett asked: "Whcrc'. DR.
Peek! Have you seen DIR. Peck 90
Pat Hastings gave him the
blank stare of numbncss. "Dr.
fcck?" Then. she forced herself
to start thinking. why, he's in
there" Her head inclined towa,d
the green curtaincd berth. MIR.
voorhees, is dead. Don't you
know 2"
His forehead wrinklcd. OF
course he knew. He had known
all the time. 1t had even been
mentioned ut breakfast lon.
long ago Mrs Forsythe had
heard the death rattle. WHY. he
had seen the dead man. the yellow
toenails. the rigid limbs in tho
night shirt. just n short while he
fore. Then nothing had registered.
nothing had come through the
stone wall of shock. Now every
thing did. every word. every scene.
every motion. You tried TO see
everything at once. Each person S
experience was something; in which
you had a share.
Pat. that old mans been muir
dered. Pat, that sweet old man
hG: been murdered"
He stared. opcn-mouthcd. ut the
senator's wife.
You can't tell me. know. And
I'll tell you who killed him. Those
dreadful New Dealers. They killed
that old man. When they took
his gasoline. When they made him
ride on this train, they killed him
as surely as If they'd driven Il
knife :"
1t was 4 talking jag. that's all
it was. Why. the same thing hit
some Of the men after tough mis-
sions. They couldn't stop talking,
said all sort of fantastic things.
Accusations. abuse. determinations
But you got over that
You got over everything
Pat Hastings pluckcd Mt his
coat. For heavens sake. give me
cigaret. At least you can do
that much for me-" Automatical-
ly, he reached for his packet and
lighter. While he held the flame,
he heard female scream: "Oh,
it's gone. I've lost my bracelet.
I've lost my new diamond brace
let" He heard running footsteps.
The fur-jacketcd blonde bumped
against him as she ran through
the aisle. Pat Hastings said wear
lily: That dumb cluck! She ought
to be glad she's alive"
He snapped down the lighter
and went toward the grccn-cur-
tanned lower. The closed curtains
bulged. Beneath them he saw
three sets of heels. two mems and
a woman's. The side-lights were
on in the dim vault of the lower.
49, >NN "''t q pot olOOll
side the berth and IN the far cor
ner. down at the foot. Mrs. For
sythc crouchcd. the palm of her
hand pressed on her mouth to mold
back a scream.
Without looking up tc see who
was there, DR.. Peck began irri-
tably: Il thought 1 had ordered
everyone to stay out" He pccrcd.
myopic without his eyeglasses and
when he saw it was Corbctt, al
tered his tone: "Oh. so it's you.
Well, do me n favor. Take care
of the lady. Just take her out"
Corbctt stood rooted. staring at
the face on the tumblcd bee
The Puritan face was serene.
almost gentle. White eyebrows
smooth yellow taIlow.
The thin lips, relaxed in death.
seemed almost to smile, as if at
the end when the Pullman mat
tress at last was a bier. Voorhees,
had lost all his terror. was finally
1T case on train. The decencics
Of death had been done. The eye
ids were down. A sheet had been
Ia.