Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1946-02-01

N~NAS taoa oAAoShSo A1AIo q
strange and sudden maturity. She
/ went out to the garden and told
Spratt what he had said. Spratt an
swered tersely, II know just how he
feels" $50 do l." said Elizabeth,
Il couldn't have scolded him with
any conviction" They listened
awhile to the engaging radio voices,
and suddenly she exclaimed,
"Spratt! We're in the war. That
means that before long-it means
Dick" Spratt said, eyes. I wish it
meant me-" Elizabeth got chilly all
over, but she told herself that day
for the first time, II don't have to
face it yeti"
She wondered how Dick felt about
1t now. She was not sure. Dick
spoke Of the war sometimes, with
the matter-of-tact assum ption that
when he came of age he would get
into it, out right now it seemed less
important to him than campus af-
fairs, probably because by the reck-
oning of seventeen anything a year
ahead was too remote to be of press
ing concern. Good heavens above!"
she broke off her thoughts, for Dick
rose up from the board, turned over
twice in the air and cut like a knife
into the water, reappearing just in
time to hear Julia exclaim, "Dick,
that's wonderful Do you think
could learn to do it,"
Fudge saw Elizabeth first. He
called, "How do you do, Mrs. Her.
long?" and the others turned to
wave at her. Elizabeth waved back
as she drove the car into the garage.
When she had put it up she walked
across the grass toward the pool.
Hello, all Of you. Cherry, what
on earth are you going to do with
all those lemons?"
MAKE Lemonade" said Cherry,
and Fudge added, "You don't mind,
do your"
"Of course not, but you've shaken
down enough to make about four gal
Ions. Pick up the rest of them in
a towel or something, Cherry, and
bring them in; we can use them"
"I'll get the ice," Dick offered,
scrambling out of the pool. "Ju-
liza, you and Fudge wait for us here,
you don't know where things are"
He took up towel from the grass
and began scrubbing his lean brown
legs. 1.-THE trunks are drippy, but
I won't 60 anywhere but in the kitch-
en-" he promised before Elizabeth
could give him any orders.
"All right" she agreed, and start
ed for the house. Crossing a bal
cony that ran along the back she en-
tered the den which the children
were allowed to use as their own,
and paused to glance with curiosity
at some disreputably dusty old mag
azines stacked up against the wall.
They looked like the accumulation of
years from an attic; what the chill
dren meant to do with them she
could not imagine, unless one of the
schools was having drive for the
Salvation Army.
The door leading to the kitchen
burst open and Dick put his head
| in.
Mother, do you want a glass of
lemonade?"
why yes, I'd love one."
you'll have to come and get it,
unless Pm allowed on the rug"
"IIl come get it," she said hastily,
and went into the kitchen before he
could bring his dripping trunks into
the den. Dick and Cherry were
making great racket with ice
cubes and glasses, their suits leav-
| ing puddleS on the linoleum and
bringing unhappy glances from the
cook. what are all those old pa
pers doing in the DEM" Elizabeth
asked as she accepted glass from
Dick.
They're ours" Cherry answered,
"Julias and mine, l mean. We've
| got to write an essay for costume
| design about the evolution of twen-
tieth-century clothes. Julia found
those old magazines up in the attic
at her house and we're going to get
some ideas from them"
II see. Don't bring them into the
living room unless you dust them
off,"
"Okay," said Cherry. She dis
appeared with the pitcher of lem
onade, and Dick held up a box of
cookies he had found on cupboard
shelf.
Can we have these, mother?"
"Such appetites! Very well, take
them"
"Thanks." He followed Cherry out
to the pool. When she had conferred
with the cook about dinner, Eliza
beth went upstairs.
She glanced into Spratt's room.
Everything there was in order-cig-
arettes in the boxes, matches and
ashtrays beside them, Time and
Newsweek on the table, along with
a couple of novels from an agency
and notebook in which Spratt could
scribble ideas about their picture
possibilities. She made sure his
pencils were sharpened, drew a cur
tain across one window through
which the sun was pouring in to fade
the rug, and went through the COM
municating doorway into her own