ALOHA MEANS GOOD-BY of Your Beloved ••Home Swe«L Home," /Ron Pofr Jl) Co Reí Jourecll »Me Buc-«-Boo— N Ipray L( 'Round, and Pllt— Alberta Marlow
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THE S/lTUF(pAYEVENING POST "An American Institution' "Th/a ia the life far me," Alberta aaid. "Ifi were a man, I'd be a sailor." Rere through hia hair. His toilet was com- They grinned at each other; the clerk because he plete when he rescued his coat from the back knew tbere was no auch place, and Rick>' because ALOHA MEANS of a chair and hia overcoat from the closet. he knew there was. He wished that he could have He had no hat. sppn her face. That kind of a figure would undoubt- The bellboy came and they went down- edly have something special to go with it. GOOD-BY ataira. Ricky paid his hill at the cashier's He stopped to buy cigarettes and then followed window. The night clerk was ataring out bis luggage outaide. The night was raw and dank across the tall, empty, gloomy lobby. Ricky and windless. The taxi came up. He handed the turned to look. bellboy a coin and climbed into the car. There was a bellboy struggling under too " Know where the Genoa Muru is? " he asked the many, very new haga. Bebind him walked a driver, ItLVSTKATED BY BEN STAHL girl-a amall girl with alim, compftent ahoul- " Pier A," tbe driver said. dera, a straight back and long, quick legs. The Ricky opened one of the windows made steamy hair tbat fluffed around tbe edges of ber white by the car heater and looked out. His after-dinner HE telephone on the night stand rang and knitted skullcap seemed yellow as ripe corn in the nap had set him up. He felt line. Ricky woke almost without movement in the yellow light from tbe remot« lobby chnndelierB. They rolled on tbe pier and crept through a Twarm darkness and picked it up and said. She wore wbite sharkakin slacks and a jacket of warehouse lit by glaring, ungbaded bulbs. The cub "Hello." the aame material, with a little short white coat «topped and Ricky (¡ot out. He stooped over for "If 8 nine o'clock, Mr, Leland," the hotel oper- thrown over ber ahouldera. On her feet were wedge- his bags, brcathinc the exhauat Kuaeu of the depart- ator Baid. soled play shoes, apparently of canvaa. ing car. "Thanka. Send somebody up to get my bagB." It was winter in Vancouver, and cold. Ricky A small brown man, batless, in a thick overcoat Ricky sat up and switched on the night-etand glanced at the clerk. tigbtly buttoned, walked up to bim. He bowed witb lamp. His ehoea were waiting bcaide the bed. He "Canada's a wonderful place," he remarked. a quick motion of his head and inhaled sharply and slipped hÍB feet into them and tied the laces. Then "I've been here six years," the clerk «aid, "and rcHpt'ct fully. he rose and stretched, yawning and tucking his I've never seen exactly that before, even in the "Passenger?" he said. rumpled ahirt Into hia panta. summertime." "Yea." Ricky Bplaahed cold water on his face in the bath- "Probably where ahe's going," Ricky aaid, "it's "Bags," the amall brown man said, taking them. room and knotted his loosened tie and ran ftve ñn- always spring." "Should be." 9 10 THE SATURDAY EVENING POST "When do we sail?" Ricky watched him for a moment and then like, except that it was "Soon. Half an hour. Hour. Should be." sat on the bed, which was hard. The steward oval and appeared reason- "Should," Ricky agreed, and watched the waa slow at his job, which, Ricky noted, gave ably human. She was brown man depart with his bags. him time to get a good look at each article. shivering. He lit a cigarette, n faraway, indecisive ex- Finally he finished and turned around. "Wouldn't it have been pression on his lean, tanned face that was de- "Bed hard," he said cheerfully. better," Ricky asked, "if ceptive, Hia thinking wns general, fast and "Very hard." you'd taken the train?" accurate, but once he recalled tbe girl in white "My name Sugi," "I couldn't take a train in the hotel lobby and grinned faintly. Seeing "I'll call you Should Be," Ricky decided. where I'm going." things like that somehow made life easier. She "Do you mind?" Hawaii, Ricky thought, must be on a train at this verj- instant, bound— "Should he," Sugi assented. "Anything and grew very pleased. It God bless her —for Hollywood. else?" was a nice voice, low and He headed for the boat. Ricky shook his head and Sugi bowed again with a good accent; not a A floodlight shone down on the foremast of and left. The foremast floodlight had been voice belonging to the kind the Genoa Maru, and they were still loading shut off and the noise of the steam winch had of ladies who sometimes lead and zinc pigs. A short officer without an stopped. There was the banging of a hatch went cheaply to Hawaii overcoat stood forward directing operations. being battened down. Ricky rose, took a and returned later with Ricky saw the gangplank. sheaf of papers from the upper drawer of the fortunes. Ricky never got An officer waited by the rail as he came chest where Sugi had placed them, and put really discouraged or wor- aboard—another little brown man who looked them in his pocket. From the direction of the ried, but occasionally he at him incuriously and did not speak. Ricky stern came the throbbing of a tug. A man wondered va8:uely if things moved aft, picking his way through the deck shouted. couldn't be better. They litter that freighters always develop when Ricky walked into the alley and, not seeing were getting better now, they're in port. Entering a doorway, he Sugi, halted for an examination. AU the doora fast. smelled the greasy rankness of a galley near at were open. There were three single staterooms "I've dreamed of this," hand. He glanced down an empty alley and and one double, the latter evidently having he said happily. "I, too, decided these were officers' staterooms. On his been converted from the ship's hospital to have wished the gods right was a large, gloomy brown room, evi- passenger accommodations. The rest had ob- would love me. So has dently the saloon. He poked his head inside. viously been officers' quarters before conver- every other man. But it Not a Boul was about. A companionway led up sion. At the aft end of the alley waa the bath- rarely happens." to tbe boat deck. He climbed it. room. One of the singles was stacked with new- "What?" At the top was the man who had taken his looking airplane luggage. " I only know of one bags, o^t of his overcoat now and wearing a The Genoa Maru'a airen hooted twice. The man it happened to, and he white jacket. He bowed jerkily. "Steward," he tug answered. A hawser stretching off into the was on a short voyage. said, and consulted a slip. "Leland Richard?" fog from the stern grew taut. Down to the Canal or "Richard Leiand." Something in white was leaning on the port something, I think. Be- The man smiled, exhibiting large white rail, and it wasn't a ghost. Ricky altered his sides, she was married. By teeth. "Should be." x course abruptly. The rail felt wet and cold to the time they got to Colón, Ricky followed him into a narrow white his hands. he found out she loved stateroom. There was a single bed, a washstand " Spring will never come to me again nor the him —her husband, I with a mirror above it, and a chest of drawers. earth he painted green hy the vernal equinox," mean." One porthole waa forward, another on the side. Ricky said, "but that I think of you in your " I hope they were very Rick>''s bags were already open and part of white pants. 1 saw you in the hotel." happy," the girl said. his things in the chest. The little man resumed The girl turned her head and glanced up at "To get on a boat at working on them. him. He still couldn't tell what her face was night expecting to spend a He was Just one degree from being a bum in appearance. Jl small brom dull time with a bunch of Orientals, resigned to your fate, hopeless—and then discover a pretty girl. A pretty girl on a boat with no college boys, handsome officers or bachelors with honorable intentions. How do you think I feel?" "Drunk," the girl said. "I understand that's cus- tomary on sailing. Aren't you?" "No," Ricky said, "hon- est. My name's Ricky-Le- laod." He shook a amall, cold hand. "I'm Alberta Marlow." "Misa?" "Yes." "It's too good to be true," Ricky said. "Do you mind pinching me to see if I'll wake up?" îi- •I, In a Ihlek owvoat tightly buttoned, vralked up to him. He bowed with a quick motion of hie head and inhaled »harply and reipectfulty. "PamsengtrT" he »aid. "I don't know you well enough for that yet." light went by them not far off. A horn hootiHl. The " You need your sleep," Alberta aaid. She opened "Later, then," Ricky agreed magnanimously. Genoa Maru hooted in return. Ricky yawned. the door of her stateroom. "1 hope I'll see you The pier was melting into the fog.