The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1946-07-15

going to write piece about Pete
with three other characters as i
the snare civilization had set fol-
most amazingly idyllic world i'm
aginable for Is years.
However, this is about the
trapped ones. sa
My cousins Larry and Chester
were the two most trapped
humans / have ever known, 1t
seems as though fate lurked
around waiting for them to get
old enough to wear pants and the
minute they did, this same fate
took them up roughly by the
seats of said pants and thrust
them into two neat, never-to-be-
escaped-from traps,
Larry and Chester weren't
brothers. My uncle Sylvester was
Larry's father, and Chester was
Aunt Lola's boy. If they could
have switched parents in their
infancy everything would have
been ideal, instead of the mess it
turned out to be.
| Uncle Sylvester and his wife,
Minerva, were gentle souls, and
lived the most ordered lives pos
sible. They set great store by
hearth, home, family and church.
And to them was born a little
roughneck who. as soon as he
was able to think at all, though
only of freedom and adventure;
whose eyes saw not the common
place neighborhood things, but
the far-off places: wide stretches
of desert with caravan moving
Slowly across the horizon, coral
strands with palm trees etched
in silhouette across the evening
sky, tall masts swaying, the Nile
flowing past the ageless smile of
the SPHINX, the rolling Argentin-
ian pampas.
Aunt Lola was a strong minded
woman with strong ideas about
the rearing of children. She gave
them food. lodging, large doses
OF medicine and correction as
needed and otherwise let them
fend for themselves. She diUit
have the time or the nature to
devote herself to any one men,
Der of her brood particularly, and
most particularly Chester. Priv
ately she considered him a tire
some child. and wondered some
times if he wasn't maybe little
touched. She didn't understand
that the only thing wrong with
Chester was affection-starvation.
He was a loyal, dependable,
Isweet-natured and well-inten-
ltioned child. Only, nobody want
led his loyalty, dependableness,
sweetness of nature or good in
Etentions. p
At the. time of the first world
Iwaf both Larry and Chester were
1.-THE right age to- participate act
lively. Larry didn't wait for in-
lduction. Loaded for bear, he
Joined up Quickly; and during the
1whole conflict never got any
farther afield than an army camp
lseven miles from his home.
chester, who couldn't look at a
frog pond without feeling queaSy,
and whom firearms made very
nervous, was WhiSked overseas
fast, made to take part in practi-
cally every engagement with the
enemy, and returned an unWill-
ing hero.
Out of the army, Larry laid
his plans, which were simple in
1.-THE, extreme: to get away and
live his free, roaming life. But
Uncle Sylvester died suddenly,
and by dint of shedding a good
many gallons of tears Minerva
extracted from her son the I'M
willing promise that he would
stay home and take care of her.
Chester, home at last, announc-
ed his intention of getting mar
ried, settling down and having a
large family. The only hitch was
that he couldn't find a girl will
ing to marry him. He went
through a staggering series of
jilts, broken engagements and
out and out repulses by girls
whose hearts and hands he
sought. Then he fell into the tolls
of commerce. His fathers ccusin
Conrad showed up with what any
/ Il 4