SHORT STORIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3429, 2 December 1919, Page 66

SHORT STORIES.

(All Rights Reserved.)

A JOB FOR LIFE.

, By John J. Abmstbong. At the entrance of Lizzie and Ted Marfatts that night Mr Potter, who had been aading his paper, limped from the couch iyith a surly grunt, thrust a twisted spill 0l paper into tho fire to light his pipe, &nd remained on the rug scowling at the ceiling. Apart from his lamt leg Ben • Potter—familiarly known as " Big Ben"— Vould have been the first to declare himself as good a man as any. But there it "Was —tho crippling result of an accident tyhich, to his cons+ant shame and regret, Jtad rendered him dependent on a devoted wife and daughter. • Mr Potter felt his incapability keenly. pis lugubrious railing against the cruel misfortune had become chronic. In his fuackest moods he talked of making a hole |n the wa>W. He was the last man in the ■world to do anything so unpleasant, buu the threat never failed in making his •women-folk feel sympathetically miserable. Ted had felt that way at first; but Ted had seen Mr. Potter moving when he thought himself unobserved. For a long time he had regarded his future father-in-law with * little respect. Marriage for Lizzie, -who. wag. earning good money, in Ebo view of Benjamin, would be a catastrophe. 'lf ever a girl was throwin' \tseli away," was the burden of his lament 4fery time she came in from seeing him. Jsjfe attltifde to the young man was deiluedly short. ■; Usually Ted took leave of Lizzie at the door, but to-night he had come in. Ben had greeted him ag usual. Resentment at the intrusion' was plain to be read in his sullen' manner. From the little scullery at the back came J he rumble of a wringing machine. Tet crossed the room and opened the' door'to find the bread winner Hard at work. " What, mother ! Ten o'clock, and still at it?" he cried. [ The little woman turned at the cheery greeting with a smile on her face. Whatever Benjamin may have thought of Ted, $t was plain to see that Mary Potter liked &nd approved him as a proper lad. "Just puttin' the last two 'r three through,' she answered. "You look about done in," he commented. "Never want• rockin', I'll lay." : : 'Not me," she laughed, "Thankful I anito' ave my 'ealth to do it." Ted took the hande, with his assistance, the task was speedily finished. "Sincere got "urt it "don't seem as if an'ybody'li. take 'lm on, try as 'e will." On her coarse apron she wiped her hands and followed him into the' sitting' room. "We ain't grumblin', though. Liz an' me 'ave been able to carry on very nicely so far, ain't we, wench?" > ".'Umphl" commented Ted. Mr Potter glared at him truculently, and w*ved his pipe. , "Just wot in intelligible English words) d'ye mean by that ejacerlation?" he in* paired. • "There's tryin', an' tryin'," observed Ted equably. Mr Potter went red in the face. "Do you insinuate ?" ." Oh, come down," interrupted Ted impolitely. " You ain't settlin' the affairs </.the country with yer feet on the sawdust now. I'll put it plain. That bit o' compensation for the gammy leg spoiled you for hon«st work. Wanted to walk on carpet ever since. Give you a pov;ch Or' bacca an' some coppers and you're all fight till closin' time. You're a big man In the smoke room, I know, but you •iln't turnin' that mangle." . Mr Potter blew out his cheeks and sawed the air.

* "You 'ave the brazen audacity " he spluttered. • " I'm tellin' you that gammy leg's played out," said Ted. Tm fed up." The tired worker put out a hand. "You got no call to throw 'is misfortune at 'im,. son," she protested, "i'la rare no man's tried harder,. If you could 89* 'im come back 'night arxer night 'eavisick with disappointment " "You imagine I like to see my missus plavin' 'erself inio decrepitood by the water side?" questioned Ben, with emotion. "You think it don't stab me to the 'eart to be dependent 6n the earnin's of aqy Offspring o' mine? Tried until ev'ry mouthful o R»od is ashes, and 'e insinuates I'm a malingerer. Knows as well as I or* that the who's once got compensation is marked, let alone me bein' 7r»dicaT)ned in the fight. 'Unted 'igh and tjew, glad to take anything, begged a©' grayed —an' 'e says I 'aven't tried. Givt» me the charnce"—his voice rose in passionate appeal—" me the charnce, an' I'll go down on my bended knees." . As if overcome at the injustice of the charge he dropped down in the easy chair, £nd sat with his hand pressed to his brow.

"You've got no call. I'm sure." out. In the little toiler. "Me an' Liz ain't complainin'."Ted calmly lit his pipe and drew up a chair.

" "No, you wouldn't," he said. "But this little game's gone on long enough.The burden's goin* on the right shoulder. For two years Liz an' me's been rea<?y to get spliced, and we're puttin' up t'ke banns this /verv week." The tired mother looked across at the girl, who sat, still and white-faced, on the couch, and the slimmer c-f moisture showed in her eyes. Fifteen shillings every Saturday came from Lizzie to augment ?Sn ten she earned herpelf bv washing. " I don't want to stand in the v" <v my gel's 'applness," r,he faltered. on'y right——-" Her eraze Ravelled slowlv round the room to linger on the modest possessions which made up the little home.

Mr Potter roused himself and threw out a trembling hand. "Don't worry, mother," he said bitterly. " There's alwus the work'us." Ted smiled at his pipe. " The work'us wouldn't suit you,'' he remarked. "Wot you want is something a bit lighter. I've found it for yer. Mother's goin' to get a bit o' the easy chair, an' you're to earn twenty-five bob a .week."

Mr Potter slowly raised his head and stared round-eyed. Amazement robbed him of speech. "A nice easy job as nightwatchman," went on Ted. " I got the office that the billet wus open an spoke to the boss. Steady, reliable,'honest—you wus all .that. The character made 'im anxious not to lose yer. All you got ter do is,to walk round the works once an hour and press some little buttons just to show you ain't asleep. Rest o' the time you can read yer paper." Benjamin lifted himself to his feet. " No, don't thank me," added Ted. "Don't get down on your benders. I done it as much for us as for mother an' you." He jumped up with a laugh and took his hat.

" "That's a bit of orl right, mother, ain't it?" he said.

The face of the little woman was working. She was worn and very tired. The promise of relief after the years of toiling seemed to her almost too good to be true. Just for the moment utterance failed her; but, seeing the glistening'eyes, Ted understood.

"That's made it a joy day, aint' it, guv'nor?" he laughed at the door.

Mr Potter pulled himself together. " Job as nightwatchman!" he articulated. "'Me !"

" See the boss at ten o'clock sharp tomorrow mornin'," returned Ted. "Behave yerself, an' it's a place for life."

"There now!" Mary Potter placed the steaming bloater in front of her lord and master with an air of gaiety. " I don't know whether you call this brekfus' or supper. Seems a bit topsy-turvy like' you workin' nights.' Mr Potter grunted surlily. " Ain't you goin' out ter-day?" he asked. " No; ffive up' me Mond'y an'- Saterd'y, now," returned Mary with a smile. " Gives me a charnce to do my bit at 'ome: Now you're in with reg-lar money we shall manage very comfortable." • ■•• "You" ain't lorst no time," growled Benjamin. " Why ?" • The little woman gazed at him in surprise. "Ain't" you glad, Ben?"

"Might ha' waited to see .'ow things turn out," he grunted. "Turn out? Twenty-five bob a week f'r doin' nothing. A job thousands would jump at! Wot's the matter with it?"

- Mr Potter glared at his meal. " Nothin'!" he growled. After his protestations that was the only answer ne could make. The duty of a watchman, entailing the minimum of physical effort, jobbed him of excuse; yet he had passed a very bad night. The desire to cut off his future son-in-law in his youth had grown with every passing hour.

Mr Potter was happy in hearing his own voice; the corner in the smoke-room, the company of his fellows, had never drawn more strongly. The silence and loneliness of the great works had proved a penance. He felt himself a very ill-used individual indeed.

In bed that morning, as he reviewed the situation, the feeling became intensified. "A man of 'is parts condemned to a life of nocturnal prowlin', pushin' electric buttons, shut orf from, the society of 'is feller men—a bloomin' 'ermit! Why, even a convict 'ad a better time. Not for ten quid a week would 'e stick at a job like that! It was unthinkable."

The little woman told Ted that night that " 'e'd been like a be?r with a sore 'ead," and had limped off as if every step was torture. What that knowing young man confided in return gave her food for much thought. Ted had' waited long enough. He had removed the only bar that kept Lizzie from him, and the marriage was coming off in just over threo weeks' time. His #ords had their due effect.

Mr Potter returned next morning, mad with the world, to find his wife humming a snatch of song over some seAving. Not for many years nad he seen her so happy. In his black mood her gaiety jarred. He resented it as an affront. "Well, Ben, o' we gettin' on?" she asked him pleasantly. Mr Poster let out.

"Nohow!" he snapped. "A job like •that 'ere is simply a walk to the lunatic asylum. No bloke could stand it long an' retain 'is sanity. I'm chuckin' it.' " Chuckin'!" Mary Potter smiled. "Don't talk stuff! Look very pretty chuckin' a comfortable job like that. Wot d'ye think they'd sav about yer, Liz an' Ted, an' ev'rybody?" "'Im!" Mr Potter banged the table iviciously. A surge of fury rendered him for the moment incapable- of voicing his thoughts. Mary resumed her humming. " A whelp! I got 'im to thank for this sorft job, ain't I? 'All yer got to do is push some buttons once ev'ry hour. Rest o' the time yer can read y'r paper. Sounds beautiful, don't it—reg'lar picnic? The 'ound never told yer the prowl round takes a" full 'arf 'our. Pretty job for a skilled workman! Lovely scope for a man of ambition, ain't there? I'm fed up, I tell yer!" " Arsk me, an' I'll say it's a nice easy way o' pickin' up twenty-five bob a, week, 5 ' remaiked the lady calmly. "You've found out you ain't everybody's money, I should think. Arfter talkin' as you 'ave about going down on yer bended; " " That's enough said I" jerked out Swijairin. "You get orf to your bit." "I've give up goin' out," Mary informed him tpiietly. "We're goin' to manage all right on your twenty-five." " You've throwed up all them jobs?" Mr Potter lifted himself from his chair

in his agitation. The colour went out of his face as he etared. " That's right!" The meek little woman who had worn herself 'old' to keep the home was suddenly defiant "Set-faced, with arms akimbo', she confronted him "You're 'oldin' on to that cosy job with both 'ands, Potter, an' don't you foi'get it!"

Benjamin gasped and stood for a time fingering his slack mouth as if utterly unetrung. Then, without one word, he turned and limped to the staircase. During the next three days he never spoke a single word. Sullen resentment set his face in a scowl. He refused his meals; his limp became noticeably worse. On the occasions of former difference " a fit of the hump" had never failed to bring the soft-hearted little woman to speedy amenity. " Sulks made 'er feel fair miserable," she had declared. "Ought to remember 'e'd got enough to make 'im 'umpy." Always she had believed in him as a trier; both in words and deeds she had done her best to drive away his depression at repeated disappointments; she had worked like a slave, and what she could do she had done thankfully. This easy job, after the months of idleness, had given a rosy aspect to her little world. Grumbling, under the circumstances, was something calculated to sweep the scale from her eyes, and, at the clearer vision, the meekness fell away from her. Ted was right. It was too much trouble to walk on carpet. Play hadn't been good for Mr Potter. She went about singing and let him sxilk.

Ted happened to be present on the Saturday when Benjamin came downstairs.

“ Well, dad, ’ow goes it?” he greeted him cheerily. Mr Potter had received his week’s wages the night before, and he had made "up his l mind the works would. see him : no more. “ I’ve finished,” he growled. “ Th’ job ain’t congenial. Twenty-five was the agreed figure, an’ twenty-four an’ eightpence ain’t good enough.” “ You’ve got to pay y’r fourpence f’r | the froot like ev’rbody else,” said Ted. i “ It’s the law o’ the land.” | “My money’s twenty-five, an’ twentyfive 1 ’ave or nothing!” asserted Mr Potter. “ Nobody’s coercin’ me into payin’ money for something I don’t want, an’ never arsked for.” Ted turned to Mary. ‘‘You pays it?” he asked, with a smile. “ I’m doin’ it willingly,” she re- ■ turned. Mr Potter crossed to the door. “ Let’s understand each other,” observed Ted quietly. n Par as I can see you’ve got, no choice.” “ I’rir gettin’ no card f’r anybody!” declar'd Benjamin. “ This is a free country- ” ‘‘Make no mistake,” said Ted equably. ‘‘Three weeks to-morrer Liz an’ me’s for church, an’ if you throw yerself out there’ll be a ’ome for mother with us. We think she’s _ earned ’er bit o’ corn. Just turn it over, an’ see whether there’s a get out except the work’us.” Mr Potter slammed the door violently, and passed into the street. When he returned three hours later, his bag, packed -with the night’s provender, was placed readv on the iable. Mary, at Ted’s invitation, had gone to the picture palace for a special treat. Benjamin had staked his last card. For a few moments he glared murderously at vacancy. Then he took un the bag and limped off muttering to the works.