Indianapolis Times, Volume 48, Number 58, Indianapolis, Marion County, 18 May 1936 — Page 15

MAY 18, Im.

Today’s Short Story Husband Comes Home By Charles McGuirk

SOME experts say the first year of married life Is the hardest. Others name the first, third, fifth and ninth as the years of toughest stress and strain. There are cynics, of course, who declare every year between the first and fifteenth is the worst year. After the fifteenth, they explain, a rouple is pretty well adjusted to married life. Ann Sward, now in the fifth year of wifehood, gives the palm for stress and strain to the third year of her married life because it was in that year that the actions of Bill, her husband, forced a crisis and a showdown. Ann rarely talks about it, but she always gives the credit for what success she had to “Aunt Mary” Rollins. If it weren’t for “Aunt Mary” Ann lways says, she doesn’t know what would have become of her or Bill or Little Bill, this last character now being 2. Probably, Ann says, she w’ould be divorced and Little Bill would be one of those problem children Who grow unpredictable dispositions through being left day by day in nurseries while their parent hustles out to scratch for a living. a a a “ A UNT MARY” Rollins is really TVnot Ann's aunt. She is no relation to her. She is the aunt of Mrs. Margaret Frayne. Margaret is Ann's best friend. It was she who persuaded Ann to move from the city to Denville. And it was this move that precipitated most of the unpleasant happenings of Ann's third year of married life. Certainly, Ann will tell you when she talks about it, there never wera a happier bride and bridegroom than she and Bill during their first year. Bill had just been givc-n a junior partnership in the firm of O'Doul, Gordon, Raefel, O'Doul and Pratt, theatrical lawyers, He got a pretty substantial drawing account apd a cut of the firm’s yearly income. He was—and is—a good looking young fellow, tall and dark, and a good mixer. Ann, who had been secretary to Henry O’Doul. senior partner of the firm, also was easy to look at. The first two years of theflr married life was a golden dream o? happiness. Toward the last of the second year, Little Bill signalized the fact that he was about to be born and it was along here somewhere the’ Big Bill began to drift. a Business got so that Bill had to spend a lot of his time preparing eases in the office after hours. More work for Bill meant more income for them, and with an addition to the family about to happen, increased income was going to be very welcome. She hardly gave Bill’s absences a thought. Little Bill and their third year of marriage started together. Little Bill was a wonderful baby, probably the most wonderful baby ever born. Anyhow. Ann thought so and Big Bill seemed to agree with her, although he didn’t t~ag much about it. Os course, Little Bill was pretty trying. Most new babies are, and Little Bill had more than his share of trouble. He had the three-months colic and he was very susceptible to colds and his disposition, naturally, wasn’t of the best. Then Little Bill underwent a long siege of general stomach trouble, and it was just when he was at his worst that Margaret Frayne, Ann's best friend, brought Ann news that there was a perfectly ducky house for sale out in the suburb of Denville, where the Fraynes lived. Ann immediately figured that nice clean suburban air would be the very thing to clear up Little Bill's health. a a a 810 BILL wasn’t enthusiastic about moving to the suburbs. He had his club in town and a lot of friends. If they went out to the suburbs, they would have to meet a lot of new people, and the trip to and from New York would eat up from two to three hours of his day. Ann was firm and understanding, but insistent. Didn’t Bill think that Little Bill's health was important enough to sacrifice a little convenience? Privately, Bill didn’t, but he didn’t say so. They bought the perfectly ducky house out In Denville. Little Bill improved right away, and though Big Bill didn't, the fact wasn’t apparent, at least to Ann, for several months. Then, when the press of business one time demanded that Big Bill spend nine nights running at the club and away from home, Ann lying awake and lonesome for her husband, realized that Big Bill was staying away from home more and more all the time. She began to give the matter a great deal of thought. There was something about Big Bill’s attitude, too, which alarmed her. He wasn’t half so thoughtful as he had been in those first two years of his marriage. He was absent-minded a lot of the time and several times, when he got home very late, there was more than h suspicion of alcohol on his breath. Ann taxed him with this and Bill exploded. a a a “A~' , OOD Maria!” he said. “You’ve VJ made a father and a suburbanite out of me and now you’re censoring what I eat. The first thing I know you’ll be demanding an account of every minute I spend away from you. You’ll want to kaow where I was and whom I was

was with and what I was ‘doing and why.” “I hadn’t thought of that,” Ann admitted. “But it’s a good idea. Where were you during the last nine days—or nights rether?” “I was working on a divorce case.” “Whose?” “Natalie Brainard’s. You know her. The actress? She’s divorcing her ham of a husband. She says her grounds are cruelty but they really are too much support. She’s tired of keeping him and I don’t blame her. He hasn’t worked for a year and a half.” “You seem to be giving her a lot of sympathy beside your legal knowledge,” Ann told him sweetly. “Does that go with your services?” “That,” he told her, “was not a nice crack. But I left myself open for it and I don’t blame you. But I’ll never leave myself open again. From now on, I tell you nothing about my activities or absences. All I will tell you is that I’m engaged in my business.” a a a A ND he kept his word. He was T*- away from heme a lot more than ever, but he never offered an explanation. Even when Ann demanded to know what kept him away and where he was, he reminded her of the vow he had made. And he never did tell her. Ann didn’t make an issue of it but it worried her a lot. She had a pretty vivid imagination and it wasn’t difficult for her to think of a lot of things that might keep him away from the suburbs at night. The reasons she imagined were mostly blonds. Several times, she sank so low as to spy on him. She always found him there but that didn’t prevent her from suspecting that her finding him there might be a stroke of luck, bad for her and good for Bill. One day, over at Margaret Frayne’s house, she confessed the fact that she and Bill weren’t getting along as well together as they had when they were married. But two weeks after that conversation, Margaret’s Aunt Mary happened to be visiting her from New York when Ann called and Aunt Mary walked right into the picture. a a a “TkJ-ARGARET’S been telling me,” IVJ. she told Ann, “that your husband has taken to staying out nights and coming home with liquor on his breath and no explanation of either the liquor or staying away. “Now’, I’ve been married 23 years and you know that a whole married life is determined in the first three years. If it goes off well for these years, then it will always go well. But if the husband is able to get away with anything in that period, he’ll go on doing it until he dies. “My advice to you is to put your foot down on BiT’s stpving away from home.” “But how can I do tha'?” Ann asked. “What good will protests do?” “No good.” Aunt Mary licked her lips. “What you must do is the same thing Bill does. Stay away for a night or two and when you come home, refuses any explanation.” “He’d kill me or divorce me!” Ann said, after thinking it over. “Oh, no he won’t,” Aunt Mary assured her. “He’ll come home or he’ll give you a darn good reason why he didn’t. You try it.” a a a “fXH, I’d be afraid.” VA “Don’t you be afraid. You take my advice and you’ll have a model husband. If you don’t take it, you’ll have nothing but trouble.” It wasn't nearly ns hard as she thought it would be. Bill stayed away one Thursday night and didn’t get home until after the last train deposited him at the station. And that Friday, Ann took Little Bill to the city to visit her mother and stayed over the week-end. Big Bill was very angry about it, but what could he do? It took six such trips before Bill began to see the light. Then, one day, he said: “Ann, I get your angle on this staying away at night business. I've been unreasonable. I found that out when you did exactly as I did. Now, here’s a proposition. I have to stay away from home quite a lot because business really is booming. “But tell you what I’ll do. Every time I’m away, I’ll tell you exactly what case I’m on and what I did while I was away. And there are nights when I could just as well work at home. I’ll do that from now on.” a a a ANN, being a tactful woman, never crowed over her victory and she found that her husband, the kind, considerate helpmate had been restored to her. Naturally, he gratitude and admiration all went to Aunt Mary. One day she was at Aunt Mary’s till 5:30 in the afternoon and while she was there. Aunt Mary’s husband came in. It was the first time she had met him. He was quite an ordinary looking man, not as ta|l or as strong or as firm as Aunt Mary. Aunt Mary was angry with him. “You got away before I waked up this morning,” she told him in a harsh voice. “You didn’t tell me where you were until 3 o’clcock Where were you? “That, my dear,” said Aunt M&ry’s husband, “is none of your damn business. You should know better than ask me. We had that out 10 years ago.” THE END.

OUR BOARDING HOUSE

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FRECKLES AND HIS FRIENDS-

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WASHINGTON TUBBS II

/A BLUFF IS AAV ON LV Y

ALLEY OOP

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BOOTS AND HER BUDDIES

Six, no ! l ti= T 111 I Ort .CORF-WERE WE., \ EXCUS'D , Jfl k r- 1 HE'G I SOYEmUG WHS

TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD MEN

With knife raised to strike, Tarzan charged into the hut's eerie darkness w'oich concealed the secret of the Taloned Death. But no sound greeted his ear; no claw was raised against him. Within wfts only murky blackness. Tarzan was a fighter without a foe.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

The strong scent of a leopard continued to assail his nostrils. Mystified, he waited, but nothing happened. Then he dashed suddenly from the hijt, seized a blazing torch from one of the villagers and re-entered the abode of the Secret Thing.

With Major Hoople

OUT OUR WAYi

r vp= 1 VTTy HO YOUA rrSv l7 wrrw wys neckties IMF/ woNt, YTT r I#'l AND THE OARAGE FULL YOU'LL \ : I | H OF RAKES AND FISH POLEsS STAY IN/ fTSk zZ&ty 1 = “^s l SEND HIM OUT TO PICK YOUR. f} ill i—X PIECE OF PAPER OFF HOLLERIN', £ -f ' 1 1 i l y/vjj \JHE LAWNJ, AND I'LL WAVE BEFORE “Till -1 mul :%} S/AVjV-nTO PICK HIM OFF THE J ANYTHING f—--I i- Ummc /\LAWN-SEE IF I DONT/f HAPPENS, I I j, W\WT TTTFTT THAT / .- 2 V’ lllu vS I ,1 vs I„P\ MAKES'EM /* = S V*5 1 S HAPPEN/; V !pfc me. WUV MOTHERS GET GRAV t. m bm. u . $. pat, pry. s-iS j

f'M PUT UP YOUR HANDS, OR/- (~ [ Tjl TT j

IT? YERTWAS RIGHT, YOU RE WEARING 'SMY CROWN, AINT IT, DINNY, OLIBOYOL'* CO ) l^2r > YER CROWN ST? THAT WAS OUR BOYOL'BOy/ WELL, SO AGAIN/VOU f BARGAIN-WHEN YOU LONG, GUZ -ILL BE . r DIDN'T LOSE l GOT YER DINOSAUR SEEIN' YUH ' oV) / ift MG. U. a PAT. Off, L l I - l | m I ©lM* YNU SEWVICE. IMC. 7 L '"V~ ,

|_ teaviM. me. t.m. ntc.

Even by the blazing light he saw no living creature. But his eye was caught by a pile of mats. He pounced upon them and cast them aside; and now he saw what they had covered—the sleek, spotted skin of a great leopard! Tarzan examined it closely.

—By Edgar Rice Burroughs

In the throat, beneath the head, was a slash, large enough for a man’s head to protrude. And the toes were capped by claws of steel! This waa the Taloned Death; but the skin of a dead leopard could not. kill. Those talons must be animated by a living map!

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—By Williams

—By Blosser

—By Crane

—By Hamlin

—By Martin: