Somewhere in Red Gap | Page 7

instant flight while for one moment he timidly overlooked man in his
hideous commercialism. But, of course, she was a minister's wife. I
said he made me feel just like that. I said so to all of 'em. What else
could I say? If I'd said what I thought there on the street I'd of been
pinched. So I beat it home in self-protection. I was sympathizing good
and hearty with Lon Price by that time and looking forward to Ben
Sutton myself. I had a notion Ben would see the right of it where these
poor dubs of husbands wouldn't--or wouldn't dast say it if they did.
"About five o'clock I took another run downtown for some things I'd
forgot, with an eye out to see how Alonzo and Ben might be coming on.
The fact is, seeing each other only once a year that way they're apt to
kind of loosen up--if you know what I mean.
"No sign of 'em at first. Nothing but ladies young and old--even some
of us older ranching set--making final purchases of ribbons and such
for the sole benefit of Wilfred Lennox, and talking in a flushed manner
about him whenever they met. Almost every darned one of 'em had
made it a point to stroll past the Price mansion that afternoon where
Wilfred was setting out on the lawn, in a wicker chair with some bottles
of beer surveying Nature with a look of lofty approval and chatting
with Henrietta about the real things of life.
"Beryl Mae Macomber had traipsed past four times, changing her
clothes twice with a different shade of ribbon across her forehead and
all her college pins on, and at last she'd simply walked right in and
asked if she hadn't left her tennis racquet there last Tuesday. She says
to Mrs. Judge Ballard and Mrs. Martingale and me in the Cut-Rate
Pharmacy, she says: 'Oh, he's just awfully magnetic--but do you really
think he's sincere?' Then she bought an ounce of Breath of Orient
perfume and kind of two-stepped out. These other ladies spoke very
sharply about the freedom Beryl Mae's aunt allowed her. Mrs.

Martingale said the poet, it was true, had a compelling personality, but
what was our young girls coming to? And if that child was hers--
"So I left these two lady highbinders and went on into the retail side of
the Family Liquor Store to order up some cooking sherry, and there
over the partition from the bar side what do I hear but Alonzo Price and
Ben Sutton! Right off I could tell they'd been pinning a few on. In fact,
Alonzo was calling the bartender Mister. You don't know about Lon,
but when he calls the bartender Mister the ship has sailed. Ten minutes
after that he'll be crying over his operation. So I thought quick,
remembering that we had now established a grillroom at the country
club, consisting of a bar and three tables with bells on them, and a
Chinaman, and that if Alonzo and Ben Sutton come there at all they
had better come right--at least to start with. When I'd given my order I
sent Louis Meyer in to tell the two gentlemen a lady wished to speak to
them outside.
"In a minute Ben comes out alone. He was awful glad to see me and I
said how well he looked, and he did look well, sort of cordial and
bulging--his forehead bulges and his eyes bulge and his moustache and
his chin, and he has cushions on his face. He beamed on me in a wide
and hearty manner and explained that Alonzo refused to come out to
meet a lady until he knew who she was, because you got to be careful
in a small town like this where every one talks. 'And besides,' says Ben,
'he's just broke down and begun to cry about his appendicitis that was
three years ago. He's leaning his head on his arms down by the end of
the bar and sobbing bitterly over it. He seems to grieve about it as a
personal loss. I've tried to cheer him up and told him it was probably all
for the best, but he says when it comes over him this way he simply
can't stand it. And what shall I do?'
"Well, of course I seen the worst had happened with Alonzo. So I says
to Ben: 'You know there's a party to-night and if that man ain't seen to
he will certainly sink the ship. Now you get him out of that swamp and
I'll think of something.' 'I'll do it,' says Ben, turning sideways so he
could go through the doorway again. 'I'll do it,' he says, 'if I have to use
force on