Suds In Your Eye Read Free Page A

He was a vet’run. She gets the widow’s pension now, but that daughter of hers takes the most of it, if you want to know what I think!’
    Miss Tinkham tchk-tchk’d sympathetically.
    ‘That dumb girl don’t appreciate her mother! An’ what a cook an’ manager that woman is, too! What she can’t do with a dime’s worth o’ hamburger! I’m a kinda Irish cook myself…all in one pot; but I know good cookin’ when I taste it!’
    Miss Tinkham said she did too, then added apologetically.
    ‘I know it isn’t ladylike to eat and run, but I simply must go on with my search for more suitable accommodations. Something tells me it is not going to be easy with the cost of living soaring by leaps and bounds! But something is bound to turn up! It always has! Besides, the stars predict a change for the better!’
    Mrs. Feeley was thinking the stars would really have to lay an egg to help Miss Tinkham this time. Wasn’t it only yesterday she’d talked to that young fellow that bought the pistons from the twenty-two Chevrolet? Didn’t he tell her him and his wife and eight kids was paying seventy-two dollars a month for a one-room tourist cabin way down below National City? No use discouraging the poor soul by telling her that.
    ‘Which one o’ your meetin’s you goin’ to tonight?’
    ‘Oh, tonight is school night. We have twenty Spanish proverbs tonight! Couldn’t you come with me? Our teacher loves to have visitors! Even if you didn’t care for the lesson, you would have a lovely time anyway. Won’t you give me this opportunity of repaying your charming hospitality? That is, until I am in a position to reciprocate properly? Do say you will let me call for you,’ Miss Tinkham coaxed.
    ‘Why not? Sure I’ll go!’ Mrs. Feeley capitulated suddenly. ‘Ain’t been out in a coon’s age! Get in a rut, my nephew says. Did I show you my nephew’s picture?’
    She made up quickly for her oversight and led Miss Tinkham over to look at the brawny but bright-looking young man in the uniform of a chief petty officer of the United States Navy.
    ‘He ain’t no common sailor: he’s a chief. A yeoman, he is! Writes all the Captain’s letters.’
    Miss Tinkham fished among the chains at her bosom and came up with a cloudy-looking but impressive lorgnette.
    ‘Gawd, ain’t that elegant!’ breathed Mrs. Feeley to herself; the lorgnette so enthralled her that she scarcely heard the admiring remarks Miss Tinkham was making about her nephew. No, she guessed she couldn’t get away with them fancy eyeglasses herself; not her style, and besides, she didn’t need them. She doubted if Miss Tinkham did either. But they sure gave a person a elegant tone! Miss Tinkham’s question about her nephew broke through the mist of admiration.
    ‘Oh, I think he’s in Panny-Maw; ought to be back soon. I worry about him a lot now, with the war an’ all. He’s my heir,’ she said proudly. ‘A good boy, too! I sure hope he don’t get hooked by one o’ them flea-bags, like so many sailors does!’
    Miss Tinkham said she hoped so too; it sounded like an awful fate for anyone.
    ‘I simply must run, much as I hate to go! Will six o’clock be convenient for you?’
    ‘Sure! I’ll be ready an’ waitin’,’ said Mrs. Feeley. ‘Wonderful! And thank you so much for the lovely chat, and the beer! It’s such a pleasure to meet a kindred spirit, my dear!’ And Miss Tinkham took her stately departure, pausing here and there along the path to sniff coquettishly at a flower.
    ‘There goes a rare dish o’ tea!’ Mrs. Feeley remarked to no one in particular as she watched Miss Tinkham go.
    When Mrs. Feeley and Old-Timer had finished their warmed-over spinach and spareribs and were dawdling over their beer, Mrs. Feeley said dreamily:
    ‘Old-Timer, this afternoon I wish you’d go over that lumber pile an’ see if there’s any o’ them squares o’ plywood left. What you an’ me needs is a guest room.’

Chapter 2
     
    W HEN Miss