Part 43 (1/2)
”Well, I was just feeling that at my age--that I was letting my life slip away--accomplis.h.i.+ng nothing really worth while. You know--?”
”Yes, we all feel like that sometimes, I guess.” Ed Martin nodded with profound solemnity.
Oh, Ed Martin was wonderful! He DID understand things! She went ahead less tremulously now.
”And I was feeling I wanted to get started at something. At something REALLY worth while, you know.”
Ed Martin nodded again.
”And I thought, maybe, you could help me get started--or something.” She gazed at him with open-eyed trust, as if she expected him with a word to solve her undefined problem.
”Get started?--at writing, you mean?”
Oh, how wonderfully Ed Martin understood!
He shuffled some papers on his desk. ”Just what do you want to write, Missy?”
”I don't know, exactly. When I can, I'd like to write something sort of political--or cosmic.”
”Oh,” said Ed Martin, nodding. He shuffled the papers some more. Then: ”Well, when that kind of a germ gets into the system, I guess the best thing to do is to get it out before it causes mischief. If it coagulates in the system, it can cause a lot of mischief.”
Just what did he mean?
”Yes, a devil of a lot of mischief,” he went on. ”But the trouble is, Missy, we haven't got any job on politics or--or the cosmos open just now. But--”
He paused, gazing over her head. Missy felt her heart pause, too.
”Oh, anykind of a writing job,” she proffered quaveringly.
”I can't think of anything here that's not taken care of, except”--his glance fell on the ornate-looking ”society page” of the Macon City Sunday Journal, spread out on his desk--”a society column.”
In her swift breath of ecstasy Missy forgot to note the twinkle in his eye.
”Oh, I'd love to write society things!” Ed Martin sat regarding her with a strange expression on his face.
”Well,” he said at last, as if to himself, ”why not?” Then, addressing her directly: ”You may consider yourself appointed official Society Editor of the Cherryvale Beacon.”
The t.i.tle rolled with surpa.s.sing resonance on enchanted ears. She barely caught his next remark.
”And now about the matter of salary--”
Salary! Missy straightened up.
”What do you say to five dollars a week?” he asked.
Five dollars a week!--Five dollars every week! And earned by herself!
Missy's eyes grew big as suns.
”Is that satisfactory?”