Short Story Part 11. Christmas Pattern

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 302, 21 December 1937, Page 23

Short Story Part 11. Christmas Pattern

By MARGARET - WEYIMQIAtH JACKSON.

SYNOPSIS OF OPENING CHAPTER. 1 Mayme Lang helps her husband to / provide for herself and two young I children by dressmaking. Simple / minded but with a faery like imagina- I tion and an ir.stinet for devotion imdß service, i-'he arrives home two evenings!" before Christmas Day after having/ tlone some oanta Claus Tingling with happiness and mothejr pride she greets her children, prepaf'ts the evening meal and welcomes hoifit' her husband. Kead on: *

Abe picked up the paper and stood under the kitchen light reading fit, a, great burly mail with a small daiagliter trying to climb his leg. He gawe hisj knee a little bend now and then,/whic'i eet her down on to the floor. Maffv wrts willing to do all the laughing, jail the scuffling, make the whole gam/a if ihe would do just thi« small part. Then supper was ready, itmd Abe picked Mary up, swung, her, 'Ijireathiess and thrilled, around his head and popped her into her high chair. down behind the kitchen table and/Abe (filled the plates. Mayme 'ooked a£ him,, He had something in his a lot>k of delight and mischief, and wondered what he might be up to. The dishes were done in /no titne, and Mayme went into what s/he ca'/led the downstairs bedroom, although fit contained only her sewing m;*chine/and the old long deal table on which she cut and basted. Some day she£woul/l furnish this room as a bedroomjiand she would move her sewing machine into the now empty back parlour, and gi?i<e the two children the two small? roorpis upstairs. It was one of Maymepk drrjams. Abe and the children folloAped h<#r. Maymes children always followed hr«- from room to room, but they fcbeen taught never to touch her seovingJ I '

They brought their toys, the old doll and the baitered little steam engine, and settled idown in a corner to play, arguing now| and then. Abe sat by theJ sewing tablej, while he finished reading] the paper, and gossiped with Mayme. '

Mayme putt the lavender buttons onJ the blue lacei dress. They were not so| pretty as thei glass, buttons would been, but tlieffi, Mavme thought, maybet Mrs. Demarest knew her own patteenn, better than she did. Mayme had secwedj for other w>mcn who liked fnssyj beruffled, wiil-looking clothes wiifch everyone saitß looked terrible, but* sh*> had learned tlhat if these overdfecssod women wore .plain neat there was nothing left of them. So yecha.ps Mrs. Demarcsfc would look tetter' and feel better witih bright buttonsAon ("her dress. r The blue lace was almost Mary was standing beside Mavmieilboking at it. She said softly:—/ "How many days. mo<7ner—how many days now until Santjty Claus comes?" "Only one more day. darT7ng. Tomorrow is the day before 'Christmas. To-morrow night will be Christmas Eve and you'll sing your little eono-> in the church entertainment. Thenj/yoirll come home and go to bed, and vrfiiletyou are sleeping, Santy Claus will cfimei" Eight-year-old Bob put fcfis hand over his mouth and rolled at Abe with masculine amuse nafint at such simplicity. Abe scowled ta lifitle. Bob knew if he told Mary there was no Santy Claus he would "have-'his father to deal with. Bob wouldnft tell, his look promised, but wasn't she funny? Mary danced about the- roc/m. "Santy Claus is corrfing—Santy Claus is coming—" "Let's ein<T "vour song rfgain, Marv." Ma yme said, and thetcliikY stood at her [knee, and piped, whijfe Mayme hummed the tune: Christmas comes fbut once a year, Happy, happy Hime !$ "Time for bed, young/lady. I'll tuck her in, Mayme. YAm gjt» on with what you are doing." "Thanks, Abe." It never occurred to Mayme that since she* helped earn the living, Abe ought to help her. Mayme didn't think that way. Abe put Mary to bed, she knew, he was daft about her and loved "to tuck her in. If he hadn't wanted he wouldn't have done it, no matter ,>what Mayme said. Abe was like that, f The little girl was carried up the str/irs on her father's shoulder. "Believe me," Marine said to Bob. "no one will ever cafl] Mary Mayme—not while I'm around.?* "Shucks, mothejr—what do. you care? Mayme's a prettjy word."

Mayme ,shook . her head. Bob just thought that, because- children always admired their'mothers.

Mayme gave the lad ta kiss and a small spank and sent.him offf'to bed. She -went cm with her sewing. Abe would look in on young Bob and 6ee that he had washed. The. doorbe IT rang and Mayme answered it. It Mrs. Demarest,

warmJin her fur coat and bright scarf, her hfeavily rouged face and mascaraed under the garish hat. ''Well, Mayme, how's the dress?" '"STm almost through. You can try it on f now, then I can put on the last tonches, press it, and have it finished in an hour. You can have it to-morrow." j "Swell," said Mrs. Demarest, throwing ner coat down on Mayme's brown chair fand following Mayme into the down/stairs bedroom. Mayme closed the door, 'and Mrs. Demarest took off her red crepe dress. They fitted the new garment. '"You've got a nice figure," Mayme told her, and it was true. The woman was as slender and supple as a girl. From the back she looked so young one could hardly believe it "when she turned about and showed her cheerful common middleaged face. Mayme liked Mrs. Demarest. Lots of people said she was fast, but Mayme didn't believe it. Mayme didn't blame the woman for wearing such young-looking clothes, when she had such a figure. Other women Mrs. Deniarest's age were fat as butter, or terribly thin. Mrs. Demarest had more life and youth in her than most women, and, with all that energy, she hadn't enough to do. It made her loud and boisterous. Mrs. Demarest looked with pride in the long mirror. "You're an artist, Mayme. The dreee is beautiful." Abe shouted from beyond the closed door, "I'm going uptown for a minute or two. I won't be late," and the door banged after him. Mrs. Demarest said, *You never worry about where Abe goes, do you?" "Why should I?" asked Mayme, and Mrs. Demarest said, "It's a gift."

r "What do you mean ?" asked Mayme, fncreefully pinning the narrow beft in 1 place. "The way you feel about people. Lots of/girls would think, heck, why did I fever marry a big roughneck like Abe tang, and have to work my fingers tiff to get anything nice? But not you. .You think Abe is just wonderful, and /lie knows you think it. It's a gift, I tell you like singing—feeling the way you do about everyone. Why, you even think I'm 0.K." "Of course Ido," said Mayme warmly, and she laughed. Her round face creased, her eyes were bright and warm. No one could know how she respected Abe, how good Abe was. For a moment ?«Irs. Demarest's dark restless gaze dwelt on the young wife's face with poignant longing. "I've had my white sandals dyed to match this dress,"' she said abruptiv. "Are you; going to the Christmas dance, Mayme ?"- "Not me," said Mayme, her mouth full of pins, as she knelt beside the other. "We can't afford to go, and Abe needs a new suit. But we don't care. I must finish Emmy Johnson's dress for the dance, and put the new sleeves in Mrs. Thomas' suit to-morrow. Then I'll get Christmas ready here." "What are you going to give Abe for Christmas ?" Mayme's eyes sparkled. "I've got two presents for him," she said. "I'm giving him a year's subset lption to his favourite magazine. And then I've made liim two fine white shirts. Got the best broadcloth I could buy and made them big. Abe's always cramped in a store shirt, he's got such a chest on him."

And what are you giving your youn" ones?" Mayme told Mrs. Demarest about the doll, and the sled for Bob, and the little cars and other trinkets.

Mrs. Demarest, do you know that jou can go to the dime store with a dollar bill and buy the most wonderful Christmas for a young one? Little fellers like little things. We figure, Abe and I, to get one pood present for each of them, and then this inexpensive stuff. They just love it. And we've got our tree. Abe has it at the quarry. He'll bring it home to-morrow night. And we've a goose, all cleaned and plucked and huncr a t the icehouse. I'm having Abe's folks and mine too. I made pyjamas for both the grandfathers. They count on me for their pyjamas. I made my mother some coloured linen handkerchiefs with rolled hems, and I made Abe's mother a bridge set. I did all that last summer, when work was slack. What are you giving your husband for Christmas?"

"That doesn't matter—it's just stuff I bought. I don't know how to do as you do, Mayme. Listen, kid, am I really all right? Sometimes I feel as though Chet Demarest looks at me and wonders."

'Be yourself," said Mayme strongly. "You've got more than most women. Hp liked yon once the way you are. He still does. If you start worrying now about the aeighbours youH be" & differ-

ent person. Don't do it. Just go along as you always have, doing what you like, and not caring."

"Mrs. Demarest looked at her reflection in the mirror. She made a sudden sound like laughter. She said, "It's the truth—Chet does care what people think, but although he scolds, it's always been the fact that I didn't give a darn that kept him wondering." She sobered suddenly. "All the same, although I don't care about most of them, I do want you to know, Mayme, that when you think I'm 0.K., it's so. It is too."

Mayme said nothing. But as she helped Mrs. Demarest out of the dress she leaned forward, moved bv a strange impulse, and kissed Mrs'. Deniarest's cheek. Mrs. Demarest pulled her red dress over her head, fitted it snugly about her smooth waist.

"How do you do it, Mayme ?"' she asked, "How do you get the time to do so much?"

"Oh. I don't know." said Mayme vaguely. "Somehow there's always time for t'ings—"

"Well, Merry Christmas, Mayme."

"And Merry Christmas to you," said Mayme, going to the door with Mrs. Demarest. She looked out; the snow had stopped after silvering everything, and great stars welled in the black sky! What a night! Mavme thought of what Bob had said. He could pull the stars down all around him. He would have a good life, bright thoughts to walk with, pictures to live in. (To be concluded.)