Odd Numbers: Being Further Chronicles of Shorty McCabeFord, Sewell
General
Odd Numbers: Being Further Chronicles of Shorty McCabe
Ford, Sewell
Humorous stories, American; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction
"Heaven knows!" says Sadie. "But Maizie has plans of her own. When I
mentioned the business college, she just laughed, and said if she
couldn't do something better than pound a typewriter, she'd go back to
Dobie."
"Huh!" says I. "Sentiments like that has got lots of folks into
trouble."
"And yet," says Sadie, "Maizie's a nice girl in her way. We'll see how
she comes out."
We did, too. It was a couple of weeks before we heard a word from either
of 'em, and then the other day Sadie gets a call over the 'phone from a
perfect stranger. She says she's a Mrs. Herman Zorn, of West End-ave.,
and that she's givin' a little roof garden theater party that evenin', in
honor of Miss Maizie Blickens, an old friend of hers that she used to
know when she lived in St. Paul and spent her summers near Dobie. Also
she understood we were friends of Miss Blickens too, and she'd be pleased
to have us join.
"West End-ave.!" says I. "Gee! but it looks like Maizie had been able to
butt in. Do we go, Sadie?"
"I said we'd be charmed," says she. "I'm dying to see how Maizie will
look."
I didn't admit it, but I was some curious that way myself; so about
eight-fifteen we shows up at the roof garden and has an usher lead us to
the bunch. There's half a dozen of 'em on hand; but the only thing worth
lookin' at was Maizie May.
And say, I thought I could make a guess as to somewhere near how she
would frame up. The picture I had in mind was a sort of cross between a
Grand-st. Rebecca and an Eighth-ave. Lizzie Maud,--you know, one of the
near style girls, that's got on all the novelties from ten bargain
counters. But, gee! The view I gets has me gaspin'. Maizie wa'n't near;
she was two jumps ahead. And it wa'n't any Grand-st. fashion plate that
she was a livin' model of. It was Fifth-ave. and upper Broadway. Talk
about your down-to-the-minute costumes! Say, maybe they'll be wearin'
dresses like that a year from now. And that hat! It wa'n't a dream; it
was a forecast.
"We saw it unpacked from the Paris case," whispers Sadie.
All I know about it is that it was the widest, featheriest lid I ever saw
in captivity, and it's balanced on more hair puffs than you could put in
a barrel. But what added the swell, artistic touch was the collar. It's a
chin supporter and ear embracer. I thought I'd seen high ones, but this
twelve-inch picket fence around Maizie's neck was the loftiest choker I
ever saw anyone survive. To watch her wear it gave you the same
sensations as bein' a witness at a hanging. How she could do it and keep
on breathin', I couldn't make out; but it don't seem to interfere with
her talkin'.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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