She was glad they had gone by. It hurt so to be near the
soldiers.
The man behind her kept saying, "Pop-_corn_! _Pop_-corn right _here_."
It seemed she must buy pop-corn if she stood there. She bought some. She
tried to do the thing she was expected to do--so she wouldn't be
noticed.
Then the people came pushing out from the theater. They did it just as
they did it in the other towns. A new town was only the same town in a
different place; and all of it was a world she was as out of as if it
were passing before her in a picture. All of it except that one thing
that was all she had left! She had come so far to have it tonight. She
_wouldn't_ be cheated. She crossed the street, and as the last people
were coming out of the theater she went in.
A man, yawning, was doing something to a light. He must belong to the
place. His back was to her, and she stood there trying to get brave
enough to speak. It had never been easy for her to open conversations
with strangers. For so many years it was Howie who had seemed to connect
her with the world. And suddenly she thought of how sorry Howie would be
to see her waiting around in this dismal place after every one else had
gone, trying to speak to a strange man about a thing that man wouldn't
at all understand. How well Howie would understand it! He would say, "Go
on home, Laura.
Pages:
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313