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Show oase 38 slim waist, and was wearing a colorful dirndl. "My friends said that I couldn't get you to join u s , " she said, with mock solemnity. "But you can," he said. He never could explain just xvhy or how he agreed so quickly. But he picked up his beer and folloxvTed her to her booth. She introduced him to the s a i l o r Jerry, and to Margie the blonde. "Margie operates a beauty shop," she said. "Your name?" he asked. "Elizabeth Fleming." "And she works for a general at the Induction Center," said Margie. "Home on a v i s i t ." The Sundown Kid considered t h i s pleasant news, and realized that the peculiar lax<7S of probability might be working in his favor (they did, seemingly, a l l his adult l i f e , perhaps because of some alchemy of humbleness and harmony he began to develop during his last days of school, perhaps because he early faced himself in a d i r e c t i o n of service to the nation). " I ' l l be a general someday," he said. "Well, for goodness sake," said Elizabeth Flemings She looked at him studiously. Their eyes searched each other's face and found mutual respect. "Stand up and cheer," said the s a i l o r , Jerry. The Sundown Kid's innate manners helped him considerably. "I may be as old as Rip Van Winkle when I do," he said to Jerry, "but I can visualize i t . " He turned to the black-haired g i r l. |
