Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 10, Number 46, DeMotte, Jasper County, 3 October 1940 — TRAILER GIRL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TRAILER GIRL

© Ledger

By VERA BROWN

WNU Soviet

THE STORY THUS FAR Lynn Morrow, beautiful blonde New York girl, is stranded In Palm Beach In her bathing suit with only 50 cents when her jmployer, Mrs. Helen Warren, disappears with car and trailer from a camp where she. Buddy, her son, and Lynn had been Living. A note from Mrs. Warren advises Lynn to call at her New York attorney’s office for her clothes and wages. She is rescued by Terry McNair, whom she met at the beach. She goes to his home, where he has a maid provide her with some of his sister’s evening clothes. They then go to a beach club. His sister appears and a quarrel ensues. Lynn accepts the help of a stranger to escape. He takes her to his home where he identifies himself as Raymond (Wild) Austin. He accuses her of trying to blackmail him. Greatly incensed, Lynn flees. Stopping at a coffee shop, she meets a young artist, Rene Bouchier, who is returning to New York by trailer and offers to take her there. They enjoy roughing it along the road. She finds Rene to be a decent sort of a fellow. Lynn tells Rene her story. He knows McNair and Austin as moneyed playboys. The car breaks down. They are forced to stay at the Lovell farmhouse during repairs, the Lovells believing them newlyweds.

CHAPTER V—Continued When Rene came in later Lynn was still laughing. “Wasn’t it priceless?” “It was! I begin work tomorrow.” “Are you serious?” “I was never more serious in my life.” He slumped on to the sofa. “Lynn, that car’s a mess. Just about everything is wrong with it. The last guy who tinkered with it certainly fixed it! The bill is going to be at least S4O. That will take all our cash.” “Oh, Rene!” “Now don’t worry. The old boy said he’d give me $5 if I’d paint the garage two coats. I can do it in two days.” “But, Rene —” “We’ll manage somehow.” “Rene—” Lynn did not know how to begin. “I know what you’re going to say. Yes, he thought we were married, and I let him think so. I never dreamed we’d be stuck here. There was nothing else to do, Lynn. They’d never understand.” “I don’t suppose anybody else would, either.” “Of course, they would, if they knew you!” Lynn then suggested she write to Mrs. Warren’s lawyer and ask for her money. “Maybe I should tell him to wire ijt? What do you think?” “It will cost money to do that, but maybe it is better than being stranded.” So that is the way it was left. Mortimer was to wire the money to Lynn to the Western Union office in Lu Lu, the nearest town, Bright and early the next morning Rene was up and at his painting. Lynn waited until the hired man was going to town and sent her letter in by him to be mailed. And there was nothing to uio but for the tjvo young people to nope for the best. Mrs. Lovell came to call on her in the morning. “Why don’t you folks come up to the house and eat with us? It will save you money, and my husband tells me you are a little hard up. You can help me with the work.” Obediently Lynn went up to the big farmhouse. That morning she helped Mrs. Lovell clean an upstairs bedroom. Mrs. Lovell gave her a couple of cotton dresses, for which Lynn was grateful,, and she wore one of them to the dinner table. Of course, there was the dreaded conversation always. Lynn finally told Mrs. Lovell she and Rene had been married in Florida. That seemed simplest. All in all, the day went smoothly enough, although Lynn was exhausted when night came. She came back to the trailer after dark and found Rene there, the curtain up, their beds made. “Did Mr. Lovell ask you where we were married today?” Lynn called. “Lord, did she ask you, too?” “I said Florida.” “I said New York!” Rene groaned. “I’m a fool.” CHAPTER VI Lynn and Rene would- not have been so confident of their situation if they could have seen ahead. On the second day, Riene was finishing ► up the paint job. All day there was a stream of farmers’ wives and sometimes their husbands from neighboring farms who wanted to look through “Mr. and Mrs.” Bouchier’s trailer. Once when Lynn came into the living room unexpectedly the conversation stopped with telling suddenness. She knew they had been discussing her. One of the neighbors was driving into the village of Lu Lu and Lynn went along to see whether there was any word yet from New York. Until the moment when she walked into the telegraph office she did not think about the complications which might arise, since she’d naturally given her own name to Mr. Mortimer when she wrote. *But only the operator was in the place, so Lynn did not worry. There was no message for her. By the third day both Lynn and Rene were discouraged. The car was done, the bill would be SSO. With what Rene had earned they could just about pay it. But where was, money coming from for gas and oil and food on the rest of the trip?

When she heard Rene talking to somebody she came to the doorway. “That your wife?” the garage man asked., “She’s real pretty.” Rene nodded without enthusiasm. “By George! You say you paint pictures, too? How about painting a picture of her here by the trailer? I would like it for my garage window.” Rene shrank a little. The garage he did not mind, but painting a picture to put in the window of a country garage was something else again. “Tell you what I’ll do,” seeing Rene’s reluctance. “I’ll cut a third off your garage bill.” “I’ll paint it.” Rene’s voice was sharp as he spoke. “How big do you want it?” “Pretty big—like this,” he said, motioning a five-foot canvas with his hands. “When can you have it done?” “Tonight, within two hours,” Rene said crisply. j “We’re going to paint your picture for Mr. Welks,” he said to Lynn.. Lynn meekly took up her pose near the door of the trailer as Rene directed. Grimly, Rene began to paint. Gradually a crowd began to gather. -Had Lynn not felt $o sorry for Rene she would have liked to laugh. It was all so pbsurd. Rene painted

for an hour. The picture! took shape, a pretty cfalendar-like picture. “Can I take it tonight?” asked Welks. “It’s wet, better leave it till morning. You can get it when you bring the car out.” Gradually the crowd dispersed. It was when the two were doing the supper dishes that Mrs. Lovell exploded the bombshell. “If my daughter had lived she’d have been about your! age,” she said, arid tears came to the woman’s eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” “I wanted to tell you that before you heard what I’m going to say. You and Mr. Bouchier aren’t married are you?” Lynn could find no \kords with which to answer. “I sensed it all along. You didn’t wear a wedding ring which was funny for a bride. Mr. jLovell told me to mind my own business. But I kept thinking of Nancy, and I just couldn’t bear to think of you going around the country this way.” * “But Mrs. Lovell, yoii don’t understand —” “I know. I know what you’re going to say, but I know best. Mr. Lovell is going to speak to your—to Mr._ Bouchier tonight.” ? |> “Oh, please, Mrs. LovaiL You’ve been so kind to us, I wish—” Lynn found it hard to face Mrs. Lovell’s honest, sincere gaze. The poor woman was deeply hurt. “But Mrs. Lovell, Rene has been kind to me, he’s taking me back to New York. You must understand our friendship is purely platonic—” Mrs. Lovell held up her hand. “It doesn’t help any to call it high fangled names, my dear. You’re too nice a girl. Father is going to bring that man to his senses.” She patted Lynn’s arm, reassuringly. “He’s going to see that Rene marries you.” Aghast, Lynn turned around and stared. “But, I don’t want to marry him —oh, please, Mrs. Lovell! Let us alone. This is something you know nothing about—” “And me married for thirty-five years? My dear girl! Come, now, I know you must care for him a lot —” She went on and on until in despair Lynn ran out of the kitchen, down to the trailer. Rene was not there, and Lynn threw herself on the sofa and wept. Thus it was Rene finally found her. He stepped into the trailer, slammed the door. “My'God, Lynn! Stop crying! I don’t know what to do. Do you know what that old fool threatens to do? He says he’ll have the law on us if we’re not married tomor row!” Rene slumped into a chair “That’s what he called it. ‘having the law on us.’ Lynn, I feel terrible. Here we have the money to get out of here, and then this happens!”

Lynn tried to control her sobbing. “What shall we do?” “Get that car, hook it on and run for it.” “We couldn’t, they’d know and stop us!” There was no sleep for Rene that night. He could see no way out. Even the morning light brought little help. Lynn, when she awakened and remembered, she called out to Rene: “Did you think of anything?” “Only of something called a shotgun wedding!” Then on either side of that gingham clirtain they laughed hysterically. “The only thing left is for this darned trailer to burn down!” Rene remarked. Before they were through breakfast Lovell came to the door. He came in evidently embarrassed. “Mrs. Lovell wants me to take you td town now to get the license?’ Lynn, pleadingly, turned toward him, “Will you give us just a little more time?” she begged. “I’ll wait outside,” he said firmly. As he waited on guard the girl and the man looked at each other helplessly. “No.” “All right, then. If it makes them happy, we’ll have to get married.” He came over to the girl. “I swear I’ll never make any demands on you and just as soon as I get a little money I’ll see you have a divorce. Nobody need know.” Lynn grasped at a straw: “We’ll go and get the license, Rene. Then we can stop at the telegraph office. If that money has come from Mr. Mortimer, then I’ll hide some place until the bus comes along.” When Lovell came back into the trailer they were both silent. “I h#e to get mixed up in your affairs, children, but you see Mother feels pretty strongly.” He turned severely to Rene. “She’s making you marry her for the girl’s own good. My child, you’ll be glad some day you met us and did not go on your way in sin.” ' Rene groaned and Lynn did not dare meet his eyes. In an hour they were ready and Lovell drove them to the County Clerk’s office. Rene was nervous and his hand shook as he signed his name, and Lynn had a hard time to keep the tears back. At the telegraph office she went in and asked about a wire. The girl handed it to her. It read: “Report to me immediately on arriving in New York. Will pay you then.” Signed Mortimer. CHAPTER VII

When they got back to the farm there was a car beside the back porch. “That’s the parson,” Lovell said. “I want to see Mrs. Lovell,” Lynn said. “Let me talk to her alone.” Lynn went inside the house and was introduced to the minister. The Rev. Mr. Hoffman smiled pityingly on the erring girl, and Lynn was wild with a helpless fury. The kindly old man talked to her as you might talk to someone who was very ill, had just escaped death. “May I see you just a moment, Mrs. Lovell—before—” Lynn could not complete the sentence. Mrs. Lovell, kindly severe, ushered Lynn into her austere bedroom. Lynn, her back to the closed door, was desperate. “Mrs. Lovell, you don’t realize what you’re doing. I don’t love Rene and he doesn’t love me! Please understand that.” Mrs. Lovell looked horrified. “Of course he loves you, my child. I know love when I see it. When a man wipes dishes for you, that’s love. Now when I was first married, Mr. Lovell—” “Please—listen to me I never saw Rene before until early this week. I’ve known him since Monday. We’re not sweethearts—” Mrs. Lovell took off her glasses and wiped them. It was plain she was shocked beyoa^measure. “If that is the case, my child, it is certainly a blessing you fell into my hands. If I had an erring daughter I’d want some good woman to do the same for me!” She cleared her throat. “There will come a time when you’ll thank me. I am doing this in the memory of the girl I lost!” She was silent, and, to Lynn’s horror, Mrs. Lovell began a prayer. Lynn had no weapon for such simple faith. In a daze Rene and Lynn, each equally desperate, heard the beginning of the marriage service. In the middle of it Lynn heard Mr. Lovell whispering to his wife that he’d got a wedding ring at the 10cent store when he was in town. Two minutes later it was over and Lynn had the cheap gold ring on her left finger. She caught a glimpse of Rene’s face and he was furious. “Kiss your wife, my son,” said the R<|v. Hoffman. Specked at Lyhn’s cheek was- crying into her pocket handkerchief She took Lynn into her arms and wept over her Then the Rev Hoffman read them a long lecture about morality. He gave Lynn the marriage certificate, carefully made out, with a triumphant flourish. It was while all this was going on that Welks drove into the yard with their car. (TO BE COSTiyIED)

"I am doing this in the memory of the girl I lost."