Arizona sun., 1948-05-14
~
| Corner

TEc naU pOCkeLIu1 OF n1CKelS,
y but he followed her to the change
booth. He stood behind her in the
line, his eyes noting every detail
from her soft, short black curls to
her don-size suede shoes. He even
approved Of her hat, warm plum
color the exact shade Of coat and
shoes.
He was so busy with his survey
that he failed to notice the nickel
she left in the worn wooden cup in
the shelf.
"Hey, Lady," the money-changer
yelled after her, "You left your
change!"
She must not have heard the man,
for she was already through the turn
stile and was disappearing down the
stairs to the platform. Jeff tried to-
make his voice sound casual as he
told the man, "Tll give it to her."
The man grinned. "Sure don't
blame you
jeff fumbled in his haste to get
through the turnstile. He followed
her downstairs and spotted her in
the middle of the crowd on the plat
form, watching the F train roll in.
your change" he painted, "You
left your change at the booth"
She stared up at him, and the i'm
pact of the incredibly dark velvety
eyes tossed his heart into some
rosy world far, far away. Desper-
fately he searched for the smooth,
brilliant, exactly right thing he
never could think to say until it
was too late. But, "You left your
change" he repeated namely, and
held out the nickel.
''Why, thank you very much," she
said, and her voice was just what 1t
should have been-low and soft and
sweet. "How nice of you to chase
after mel"
"Oh, that's all right" he said.
"T. Il. :" and there he stuck.
She smiled rather vaguely at him,
waited a minute, and started to turn
away when he failed to think of any
thing else to say.
''Wait, pleased" he shouted at her.
He didn't need to shout-he was
right beside her-so close that the
crowd rushing out of the train threw
her against him. For a breathless
moment, he saw her tiny hand clutch
at his coat, smelled the wonderful
sweetness of her perfume as she
laughed up at him. He supported
her elbows and helped her catch her
balance.
'This seems to be your day for
rescuing me-" she said, Thanks
again"
Before he could say another word,
she was inside the ear and the door
was closing. Then he realized he
hadn't found out her name or any
thing about her except that her left
hand was innocent of rings-wedding
or otherwise.
He darted down the platform and
found a last late-closing door. 1t
didn't help much to know that he
was on the same train with her
one that he had no business on. It
was iammed and he struggled hope
lessly to get back to her car. He
died thousand deaths at 34th street,
23rd and 18th, afraid she, would get
off and he would miss her in the
mob.
It happened at West 4th street, but
he saw her in time and bounded after
her, down the stairs to the Sixth ave-
nue. platform, barely keeping her in
sight.
He thought she looked right at him,
lust before she wheeled and ran back
up the stairs. Hope she isn't afraid
of Mcknight peg me for a wolf" he
told himself. 'No-that's silly!
Probably didn't even see me-" He
chased back up the stairs-to find
that she was not on the downtown
platform. He looked behind the news
stand, at both ends of the long plat
form-she was not in sight.
It dawned on him to look across