Just Around the Corner: Romance en casserole
"Well, if this ain't a darn sight better'n pushing gloves at six per
I'll--I'll--"
"I'll give you to understand, Charley Harkins, that I was making eight
dollars when I married you, and everybody said that I'd 'a' been
promoted to the jewelry in another year."
She rose, gathered a pyramid of dishes, and clattered them into the
dish-pan as he talked. He followed after her.
"Aw, quit your foolin', Lil, can't you? Don't treat a feller like this
when he comes home at night. I'll get Shorty to take the piano next
Saturday, and we'll do Coney from one end to the other. We only live
once, anyway. Come on, Lil; be nice and see what I got fer you, too."
"Don't treat me like I was a kid! When I was in the gloves I didn't
think nothin' of goin' to Coney every other night, and you know it, all
right."
The red surged back into his face.
"Yes, you had a swell time shooting gloves! You used to tell me yourself
you was ready to drop at night."
"Ain't I ready to drop here?" she flashed back at him. "Am I any better
off here doin' my work in the hottest flat on Third Avenue?"
"Things'll come out all right, honey. Come on and kiss me before I go."
She submitted to his embrace passively enough, and at his request retied
his necktie round a fresh collar for him.
"Good night, pussy! I'll come in soft so as not to wake you--there ain't
goin' to be no more of this two-o'clock business. I'm goin' to cut out
the cafe. Put a glass of milk out fer me, honey. I'm near dead when I
get in."
He struggled into his coat before the little dressing-table mirror of
their bedroom and with a sly smile slipped the blue-corded box into a
top drawer.
"I got a surprise fer you, Lil--only you ain't in no mood fer it right
now."
"I ain't in no humor for nothin'," she said.
"It's going to be a scorcher. You take it easy and get rid of these
blues you been gettin' here lately. You ain't got no better friend than
your old man or any one who wants to do more of the right thing by you."
"I'll take a car-ride over to Loo's to cool off," she said,
apathetically.
He opened his lips to speak; instead he nodded and kissed her twice.
Then he hurried out.
After he left her she sank down on the little divan of highly magnetized
red plush and stared into space. Face to face with her weeks-old
resolve, her courage fainted, and a shudder like ague passed over her.
She could hear herself wheeze in her throat; and her petal-like skin,
unrelieved by moisture, was alternately hot and cold.
The low-ceiled room, dark except for a reflected slant of yellow
gas-light coming in from the kitchen, closed down like an inverted bowl.
She went to the window.
On the fire-escape opposite, the child still slept, one little ghost of
a bare foot extending over the rail. As she watched, a woman's voice
from within the apartment cried out sharply--a panicky cry filled with
terror; then a silence--more pregnant than the call itself. Lily knew,
with a dull tugging at her heartstrings, that the babe had died. Only a
week before she and Charley had seen a little life snuffed out in the
apartment above, and she knew the mother-cry. Charley had dressed the
child and cried hot, unashamed tears; then, as now, her own eyes were
dry, but her throat ached.
East Side tradition has it that every tenth year exacts the largest
share of human toil--this might have been Death's Oberammergau!
Trembling, Lilly turned and groped her way into the little bedroom;
drawers slid open and slammed shut, tissue-paper rattled, the hasps of a
trunk snapped; then came the harsh sing of water pouring from a faucet.
Presently she reappeared in the doorway in a fresh white blouse and a
dark-blue skirt; there were pink cotton rosebuds on her hat and a long
pair of white silk gloves dangling from one hand. In the other she
carried a light wicker hand-satchel.
By the shaft of light she reread the small square of yellow paper and
impaled it carefully, face up, on the pincushion of their little
dressing-table. It poised like a conspicuous butterfly. Then she went
out into the kitchen, poured a glass of milk, placed it beside a small
cake of ice in a correspondingly small refrigerator, turned off the
gas-light, and went out of the apartment without once glancing behind
her.
* * * * *
Miss Lulu Tracy lived in a lower West Side rooming-house. Lily had once
dwelt in that same dingy-fronted building, in a room which, like her
friend's, was reduced to its lowest terms. The familiar cryptic
atmosphere met her as she crossed the threshold. Loo greeted her
effusively.
"Lordy, Lil, I was afraid you was gettin' cold feet! Sit right down
there on the trunk till I get some of this cold-cream off. I'm ready to
drop in my tracks, I am. Three of the lace-girls fainted to-day and had
to be took home. Ain't this room awful?"
Lilly sank in a little heap on the trunk.
"It _is_ hot," she admitted.
"Hot? You look like a cucumber. Wait'll I get this cold-cream off, and
tell me all about it. I'm here to tell you that you're all right, you
are. Give me a game one every time! But wait till I tell you what's up."
Miss Tracy laved her face with layers of cold-cream, which she presently
removed with a towel.
"Don't I wish I had your skin, Lil!"
Lilly brightened.
"Quit your kiddin', Loo," she said. "I ain't used to jollying no more."
"You know yourself you was the best looker we ever had at the counter.
Skinny calls you The Lily to this day."
"I ain't got the looks I once had, Loo." But her fair face flushed.
"Wait till you get round a little--you'll look five years younger."
Lilly giggled. "On the real, Lil, there wasn't a girl in the department
didn't expect you to marry some swell instead of Charley Harkins. If I'd
'a' had your looks I wouldn't been satisfied with nothin' but the real
thing. Look at Tootsie grabbin' old man Rickman! She can't hold a candle
to you."
"Just the samey, she'd 'a' rather had Charley if she could 'a' got him.
I know a thing or two about that."
Cold-cream removed, Miss Tracy enveloped her friend in an embrace.
"So you're goin' to bunk with me to-night! Seems like old times, don't
it?"
"Just like old times," said Lilly.
"Now tell me how you got away. He didn't get wise, did he?"
"No; I just left the note, Loo."
"That'll hold him for a while. You're the real thing, you are! Not that
I want to make any trouble, but a blind man could see that you're a fool
to spend your time that way. Huh! Sellin' gloves ain't no cinch, but if
it ain't got being buried alive beat by a long shot I'll eat my hat!"
Impressed by her friend's gastronomic heroism, Lilly acquiesced. "You're
right. I'll try to get my job back to-morrow. Maybe it won't be so
easy."
"Easy?" cried Loo. "Why, the easiest thing you ever tried! The gloves
haven't forgot you."
"I hope not," sighed Lilly.
"You're game, all right! I like to see a girl stand up for her
rights--there ain't no man livin' could boss me! I'd like to see the
King of Germany hisself coop me up seven nights in the week an' me stand
for it. Not muchy! I got as much fight in me as any man. That's the kind
of a hair-pin I am!"
"I'm like you, Loo. I got to thinking over what you told me the other
day, and you're right: there ain't no girl would stand for it. Girls
gotta have life."
"Of course they do! And you're going to have some to-night--that's what
I got up my sleeve. Mr. Polly, in the laces, is comin' to take me to the
Shippin' Clerks' dance up at the One Hundred and Fifteenth Street
Hall--and you're coming right along with us."
Lilly lowered her eyes like a debutante.
"Oh, Loo, I--I can't go to no dances. I--Charley--I didn't mean--"
"I'd like to know what harm there is goin' to a dance with me and my
gentleman friend? Didn't Aggie go with us all the time Bill was doin'
night-work? Before she got her divorce there wasn't a week she wasn't
somewhere with us. Besides, Polly is a perfect gentleman."
"But I ain't got nothin' to wear, Loo."
"Didn't you bring what I told you?"
"Yes; but--"
"Well, then, you're goin'. If Charley Harkins don't like it he should
have taken you to dances hisself."
"I ain't been to a dance since the Ladies' Mask me and Charley went to
when he was still playing matinees. I've almost forgot how."
Her eyes were like stars.
"Swell dancers like you used to be don't forget so easy."
"My dress is old, but it is low-neck."
"It's all right; and you can wear my forget-me-not wreath in your
hair--it'll just match your dress."
They took the frock from the wicker bag and held it up.
"That's just fine, Lil; and you can carry my old fan--I got a new one
from a gentleman friend for Christmas."
"Loo!"
Lulu piled her hair into an impressive coiffure.
"Oh, Loo, you look just like that picture that's on cigar-boxes!"
"You got the littlest waist I ever seen," reciprocated Lulu, regarding
Lilly's sylphid figure with admiring eyes.
"You ought to have seen me the first year I was working, Loo. I ain't
got such a little waist any more, but I did have some figure then."
They dressed in relays, taking turns about before the splotched mirror.
"Here, Lil, let me pin up them sleeves a little. Mame says all the swell
waists up in the ready-to-wears have short sleeves."
"I've had my eye on a swell silver bracelet in Shank's window, Loo, for
a long time; they are so pretty with elbow-sleeves."
They pecked at each other like preening birds. At seven Lulu's suitor
arrived. They took final dabs at themselves.
"He ain't such a nifty looker, Lil, but he sure knows how to treat a
girl swell. He ain't none of your piker kind that runs past a drug store
like the soda-fountain was after him. Why, I've known him to treat to as
many as three sodas in an evenin'! And say, kid, he is some classy
dresser--latest jewelry and black-and-white initials worked on his
shirt-sleeves. I met him at a mask, and he give me his card."
"Does he know you work?"
"Yes; but he said he'd rather have a girl tell him she's workin' like I
did than to have her stuff him."
"That's what I used to say; they find out, anyway."
"Sure they do; the only time I told a guy I didn't work was that time
with you."
"That time you told Mr. Evans you was goin' to school?"
"Yes; and he up and said: 'Yes; you go to school! You wrestle with pots,
you do, sis.'"
They laughed reminiscently.
"We sure used to have swell times together, Lulu."
"Swell times--well, I guess yes! I never did have the same good times
with no chum of the department since you left."
They descended to meet Mr. Polly in the lower hall. That gentleman rose
from the hat-tree. Four fingers of a tan glove protruded with studied
intent from the breast-pocket of his coat; his trousers and sleeves were
creased as definitely as paper. Mr. Polly's features were strictly
utilitarian--it was his boast that by a peculiar muscular contraction he
could waggle his ears with fidelity to asinine effect.
His mouth was of such proportions that the slightest smile revealed his
teeth back to the molars. He smiled as he rose from the hat-tree.
"Howdy-do, Mr. Polly? Is it warm enough for you? I want to make you
acquainted with my friend, Lilly Harkins."
"Pleased to meet you," said Mr. Polly.
"I didn't think you'd mind my bringin' a lady friend along to-night. I
thought maybe you could find her a friend up at the hall, Mr. Polly."
He bowed with alacrity.
"Always ready to do the ladies a favor," he said, extending both arms
akimbo and stepping between them.
Lilly hung back with becoming reticence.
"I'm afraid I'm butting in--two's company an' three's a crowd."
They hastened to reassure her.
"You just make yourself right at home. I'm always ready to do the ladies