“Oh, all right,” I answered cheerily. “But the interesting hour of high
noon approacheth. Will you please be so kind as to furnish me with exact
information regarding your financial standing? I am pained to confess
myself the victim of a too familiar craving which calls aloud for
attention.”
Dan thrust his hand into his pocket and withdrew a solitary ten cent
piece, nor did a prolonged search of numerous pockets yield further
riches.
“’Tis sad,” I sighed, “but a still voice tells me that that bit of
silver will prove strangely inadequate to the demands of nature.
However, no doubt you can dine off your natural pride, served up on your
paid-up union card, while I eat a dime’s worth of doughnuts or
something.”
We approached a rather pretentious place as I spoke. A large brass sign
announced “J. Stanchley Loane, M.D., Physician and Surgeon.” I paused to
study the white house with the red-roofed garage in the rear.
“This looks like a good place to make a start. Think I’ll just go in and
call on my fellow practitioner and see what happens.”
Dan stepped in front of me. “Now see here, Ethel!” he began angrily.
“Don’t go to pulling off foolish stunts. You are my wife and I
absolutely forbid you to go about like an Irish washerwoman and——”
“Now see here, Dan!” I mimicked, breaking in upon his authoritative
harangue, “I am your wife, ’tis true, but sad to say, the fact does not
prevent me from growing hungry. ’Tis also true that I am only a graduate
physician with a high-class appetite. I have no paid-up union card to
stand between me and possible employment with its promise of a square
meal. Moreover, I have never felt myself to be so wonderfully superior
to the Irish washerwomen who earn an honest living by honest labour. At
any rate, I shall not attempt to hold myself above them unless I can
prove by my conduct that I have that right. Just now I fail to see how
either you or I can do better than by marching up to that back door and
asking for work like the genuine bundle stiffs that we are. Of course if
you desire to remain here on the curb, upholding your dignity while I
ask for employment, you are entirely at liberty to do so. As for me, I’m
going in right now.”
As I turned up the concrete driveway Dan leaned the wheel against the
fence and followed. I rapped at the door of the screen porch. The inner
door was opened and a heavy-set man with bristling, reddish hair stepped
out.
“Good morning, Doctor Loane,” I began. “My husband and I are cycling to
California, and being short of funds are looking for employment. My
husband is an excellent mechanic and will be glad to go over your car
for you. I can cook, wash, scrub or do any kind of housework.”
The doctor looked us up and down with an insolent stare.
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