Prev | Current Page 316 | Next

Various

"The Best Short Stories of 1921 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story"

For the last time she
would see his face light to a smile. If she did not reach him tonight,
she would never reach him. She had a feeling that she could reach him,
if only something in her--if only something in her--
She could not finish that; it brought her to a place into which she
could not reach, but as never before she had a feeling that he could be
reached. And so when the little girl beside her twisted in her seat and
she knew that the child was looking up at her she tried not to know this
little girl was there--tried not to know that any of those people were
there. If only she could get them all out of the _way_--she could reach
into the shadow and feel Howie near!
But there was one thing she kept knowing--try her best not to know it!
The little girl beside her, too young to be there, was going to sleep.
When it came right up to the moment for her to see Howie, she was
knowing that that little girl had fallen asleep in an uncomfortable
position. Her head had been resting on the side of the seat--the side
next Laura--and as she fell asleep it slipped from its support in a way
that--Could _she_ help it if this child was not comfortable? Angry, she
tried to brush this from her consciousness as we brush dust from our
eyes. This was her moment with _Howie_--her _chance_.


Pages:
304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328