The Wilmington morning star., 1947-11-08

II OlQ ana WHERE
there was only Sam to admire
her. Was love delicate and preci-
Gus to Teresa? Or was it some
thing to be seized with her COM
pelling hands, seized, then used
and discarded? Was it filled
with wonder or only with desire?
Had it reverence and beauty
and mystery for her? Or was
it to be gobbled up like a sand
wich at a drug store counter?
Philip appeared out of no.
where.
"You look a million miles
away" he said. "Don't look like
that, darling. Come with me
There's someone I want you to
meet"
There was always someone
Philip wanted you to meet. She
Wondered how he kept all the
names in his head. When Philip
couldn't sleep, he would count
names, not sheep. Had he ever
run out gladly in the morning?
Had he ever forgotten that he
was Philip Spencer who must
try to please everybody and re-
member the things they liked?
Philip had never had any fun.
That was his trouble. He had
never had any fun because he
was always trying so hard to be
democratic. Life had said to
him, "You may live in a beauti-
full house, have abundant
friends, a devoted family and
even a fair share of success as
an attorney. But you can't have
everything. You can't have Te-
reSa. ="
He smiled at her. "There's a
fey quality to you, Alison, as if
you could vanish at will. You're
here and you're not here. Give
me your hand so I'll know you're
here. See. that's better. I want
you to meet the general. A regu-
lar guy. He's got himself a new
wife"
To Philip she had a fey quail
ty while Sam had said, you're
real, Alison. Almost the realest
person I know"
Suddenly she felt a little sick.
There was too much smoke, too
many people, too much to eat
and drink. Too much of every
thing. But she had to meet the
general and his new wife before
she managed to slip away into
the library.
Tim rose and stood before the
fire as she walked toward him.
Without preface he put his arms
around her and kissed her.
"You have a mouth that was
made to be kissed and you make
me know that's all I need "a
special girl. If I had her, then
all the rest could be as spoiled
and as standardized as they like.
Don't be angry. You didn't give
anything. I took, but you didn't
give"
She drew away from him and
went over and sat on the arm
of the sofa.
81 can't give anything to you."
I'm scarcely here tonight. I'm
where the wind is rafting the
windows and where there isn't
too much of everything. Slowly
she said, Zone of the hardest
things to realize is that you car
feel so much while the other
person feels nothing. You think
it can't be that way, that il
simply can't be, that somehow
it must be returned. I've always
thought that love was like a cal
from one person to another.
Sometimes it's answered and
sometimes it isn't"
"Your hair is like con-
c%entrated sunlight. See how all
the pretty words come back to
me because you're not just q
girl but you. For months I've
been building up a case against
the American girl and you come
along, new and exciting and
beautiful, and I kiss you d
the case explodes in my face
and I want to kiss you again.
Joke. You're supposed to
laugh"
"I don't want to laugh. But
I'm glad."'
"But Philip won't like it if he
looks in and finds you and me
separated by not more than two
feet and me with a look in my
eyes. I can't move in on Philip,
Alison. So the most we can do
is 60 out and find the punch
bowl and drink to the beginning
of a beautiful friendship"