Date With a Dame

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 235, 4 October 1937, Page 17

Date With a Dame

SHORT STORY

I NEVER wa« much for dames. Ugh! they gave me a pain. And when Bill asked me to keep a date for him with his dame, T said, "No!" flat. "I've gotta make a call," he said. "Nope!"

"YouTe a pal!" he said. I didn't like that. I was his pal; | we'd been pals since we were at school ! together. I'd do anything for him; I even let him boss me at work; but I wouldn't keep a date for him. . . . "What do I tell her?" I said. "How will I know her?" I raised my shoulders, trying to 6how him how impossible it was. "Tell her I gotta go somewhere . . . important. Take her to a show. You can be a sport, can't you?" "0.K.," 1 said; I wanted him to know I was willing, "but how'm I gonna know her?"

"Aw," he said, "she's small, good looking. You'll know her. If you see a dame hanging around the corner, just go up and say, 'Waiting for Bill?' see?" "What happens then?" I eaid, sarcastic. "Suppose she lands me one?" "Take her to a show," he said. "Here," and he dived his hand in his pocket, "I don't ask you to pay." He gave n;e half a crown. I pushed the money back at him; I hadn't said I was going. "Go on," he said, and thrust the money at me again. "You're a mug." I eaid to myself; "waiting for a dame you don't know!" » • • •

Now, it was raining, too, and there was a gate across the doorway of the shop on the C3rner, so I had to stand in the rain. It was on eight, and I'd seen nobody {hat could have been her. Then a bus came up and a dame hopped off and came up to the vhop, standing against the window near me.

She had an umbrella and I couldn't see much of her face, but she looked all right, the sort of etuff I thought Bill would go for—lie liked a bit of class. I guessed this must be her. There were people about, and I was scared. I began to talk half a dozen times, but at last I said aloud, "Beg pardon, are you waiting for Bill ♦" She turned quickly and I saw her face full. I liked her. She was looking straight at me, suspiciously. "Yes," she said. "He sent me," I said, feeling nervous, "to say he had to go somewhere." • • • •

She looked annoyed. "Oh, well, then," she said, flouncing a little, in a bit of a temper, "if he can't keep his appointments —" "He said he was sorry, but it wae important. He asked me if I was willing to take you to a show." She looked at mc again, thinking maybe I was up to something. "But you go home," I said offhand, "if you like. Only Bill said, if you was. willing, to take you to a'show." "What's your name?" She spoke in a sort of blunt way, but she didn't seem nervous; she was cross with Bill, that was all.

"My name's Jim," I said; "me and Bill work together; we've known each other since we were at school," "Didn't he toll you where he had to go?" "Nope," I s«nj. I thought sho was softening a bit now. I oould see her sizing me up. I had a hope myself that she would go with me, I guess she suited me all right—not that Im hard to please; I'm just funny about dames. But this one was clasav, not too classy though. She looked a b'i* saucy, too. Her clothes looked good. . , But I jerked myself hard then. I had to remember she was Bill's girl. I couldn't let a pal down. "Well?" I said, and I felt my life depended on what she said. She gave a little ehrug in a resigned way. Maybe she was coming with me. "Oh. well," she oaid We went to the Dominion. I guessed I couldn't bo cheap with her, so I took her in the two-and-fours and bought her a box of chocolates. I didn't pay much attention to the picture; I was conscious of her all the time, telling myself not to do the dirty on Bill. Every time her arm touched mine I had the shivers. After the show I took her back to tha corner. I felt I didn't want to leave her, but I wa* nervous and didn't know what to sav.

"How'd you ]ike the picture?" I eaid. "I liked it," she said. "Shall I see you home?" I blurted, and I was blushing like a kid. It was stopped ralninsr now, but the , pavements were wet and the lights from the advertisement* and the moving traffic reflected in the road. "If Bill won't mind," she said, and laughed. I thought maybe ehe didn't care <o much for Bill after all. We went on l top of the bus, and I nat close to her. JWe had a penny ride. I saw she bad a tiny mole on her left cheek. I'ke a j beauty spot. She had fair ha : r fl-<flFe;l iout at the sides and her eyebrows an! 1 eyelashes were fair. • • • •. We didn't go straight home, but roun I a. corner and stood in an alley that joined two roads. "You'd better leave me here," she «aid. I I didn't want to leave her. I was a I bit crazy then, but I was etill worried about playing the ?aine~witb»BiU.

By EDWARD HIBBITT.

"I hope I haven't spoiled your night," I said.

She laughed. I had heard her laugh when we had been watching a "Mickey Mouse" in the pictures, but now I saw her face in the half-dark. She looked beautiful. "I'll tell Bill in the morning," I said. "Don't tell him everything," she said, and laughed again, but sort of knowing this time. Maybe she wanted me to do something. I thought. She was looking at me that way, with her hack against the wall, looking up into my face. I wished then I knew more about damee. "You needn't tell him you kissed me," she said. I was staggered. When I got my breath I jabbed at her with my face. I missed her mouth, but then I put my arms round her and took my time. "You're swell!" I said. I guess I must have been clumsy. "You're hurting!" she said. We stayed there a bit and I loved her plenty. I watched her go. She looked back at me with a smile and a light in her eye.

Xext morning I could see Bill was mad about something, and he didn't leave me long wondering what it was. "You're a pal!" he said, and he waved a letter at me. "It's all up! Why didn't you meet her like you said you would ?" "I did," I said. "Then what about that?" he demanded, waving the letter at me again, and this time he pushed his face close to mine in a nasty way. "I took a girl to the Dominion," I said, "anyway." I wasn't gentle myself, because I was feeling pretty mad about things. "You took a girl!" he said, sneering.

"I did," I said. "I took yom* girl." "Silly ass!" he said. He didn't speak to me the rest of the day, and I didn't feel like speaking to him either. I guessed what had happened. When she had got home she had written him a note. Why? Because she'd decided she liked me better. I couldn't tell Bill that. But he'd, soon get over it. No dame could upset him for long. I was impatient for the night. I guessed she'd, be on the corner again at eight. Bill would never learn the truth. He used to call me "monkey-face," and I say no girl would ever go with me. I had the laugh this time, though. At ten minutes to eight I was on the corner. I watched the buses. I waited till a quarter past, and I began to feel then that she must have been having me on, like she'd had Bill. I saw the next bus coming down the hill, and I told myself if she wasn't on this I wouldn't wait longer. The bus pulled up, and I saw her jump from the step. I was blind to everyone else, and I ran across. Then a shadow came between us quickly and something hit my right eye a smack. I staggered, gasping and clutching my eye. Then I heard someone shout: I "Take that to your friend Bill!" I stood painfully clutching my eye, unable to make up my mind about anything, and I saw the girl walking off arm in arm with a big fellow. I fert my temper getting up. J The next morning Bill was grinning and waving another letter at me. "0.K.!" he eaid. "I knew she'd come round." Then he looked closely at me. "Where'd you get the black eye?" he said. |

"From Bill!" I yelled, and I landed him a wallop as hard ae I could. I