Just Around the Corner: Romance en casserole — John Shaqi
Just Around the Corner: Romance en casseroleHurst, Fannie
General
Just Around the Corner: Romance en casserole
Hurst, Fannie
New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Short stories
"This old wagon can eat up the miles, all right, eh? She toured Egypt
fer two months and never turned an ankle."
"To think of having traveled as you have."
"Me, I'm the best little traveler you ever seen. More than once I drove
this car up a mountainside. Hold your hat--here goes, kiddo."
"I guess you'll think I'm slow, but this is the first time I've been in
an automobile, except once when I was sent for in a taxi-cab for a
private manicure."
"You think you could get used to mine, kiddo?" He nudged her elbow with
his free arm; she drew herself back against the cushions.
"The way I feel now," she said, closing her eyes, "I could ride this way
until the crack of doom."
They drew up before a flaring, electric-lighted cafe with an awning
extending from the entrance out to the curb. A footman swung open the
door, a doorman relieved Mr. Barker of his hat and light overcoat, a
head waiter steered them through an Arcadia of palms, flower-banked
tables, and small fountains to a mirrored corner, a lackey drew out
their chairs, a pantry boy placed crisp rolls and small pats of sweet
butter beside their plates and filled their tumblers with water from a
crystal bottle, a waiter bent almost double wrote their order on a
silver-mounted pad, and music faint as the symphony of the spheres came
to them from a small gold balcony.
Miss Gertrude removed her gloves thoughtfully.
"That is what I call living," she repeated. She leaned forward, her
elbows on the table, and the little bunch of violets at her belt worked
out and fell to the floor. An attendant sprang to recover them.
"Let 'em go," said Barker. He drew a heavy-headed rose from the
embankment between them and wiped its wet stem. "Here's a posy that's
got them beat right."
She took it and pinned it at her throat. "Thanks," she said, glancing
about her with glowing, interested eyes.
"This place makes Runey's lunch-room look like a two-weeks-old
manicure."
"I told you I was goin' to show you the time of your life, didn't I? Any
goil that goes out with me ain't with a piker."
"Gee!" said Gertrude; "if Ethyl could only see me now!"
She sipped her water, and the ice tinkled against the frail sides of the
tumbler. A waiter swung a silver dome off a platter and served them a
steaming and unpronounceable delicacy; a woman sang from the small gold
balcony--life, wine, and jewels sparkled alike.
A page with converging lines of gilt balls down the front of his uniform
passed picture post-cards, showing the cafe, from table to table.
Gertrude asked for a lead-pencil and wrote one to a cousin in Montana,
and Mr. Barker signed his name beneath hers.
They dallied with pink ices and French pastries, and he loudly requested
the best cigar in the place.
"It's all in knowin' how to live," he explained. "I've been all over the
woild, and there ain't much I don't know or ain't seen; but you gotta
know the right way to go about things."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account