Miss Ellen Kingship, North Dormitory, Caldwell College, Caldwell, Wisconsin

The young man met Dorothy after her last class of the after­noon.

"I've just talked to my friend—the friend whose uncle owns the drugstore," he began. "He told me that he gave me the wrong pills on Monday." The young man took an envel­ope from his pocket. "These are the right ones," he said. "You must take them tonight."

"But I don't want to take any more pills," Dorothy said nervously. "I want to get married tomorrow."

"Dorothy, listen to me!" the young man said. "If we have this baby now, it will grow up in a trailer. It will have a bad start in life because its parents will be poor. Please, take the pills, Dorothy. We'll get married soon anyway. But I want to meet your father first. Then we'll have some money. We won't have to live in a trailer. We can live in a real house. We'll be so happy. And we can have a baby next year, darling."

"No," Dorothy said miserably. She started to cry. "No, no!”

"Dorothy, please do this for me," the young man said, putting his arms around her. "I know that you want the baby. But you're only thinking about yourself. You aren't thinking about me or the child. Don't give our first child a bad start in life." Suddenly, his voice was cold. "If you won't take the pills Dorothy, I won't marry you. You'll have to ask your father for help. What will he say?"

They talked for half an hour. Finally, Dorothy took the envelope from him.

"Take the pills at about ten o'clock this evening," the young man said. "If these pills don't work, I'll marry you tomorrow afternoon. I promise you that!"

Then he held her hand for a moment and he left her. Slowly and sadly, she walked towards her dormitory.

***

At a quarter after ten that night, the handsome young man went to a telephone booth in the street near his room. He phoned Dorothy's room at the dormitory.

"Did you take the pills?" he asked her.

"Yes," she said. "I took them at ten o'clock."

"Thank you, darling," he said. "My friend said that you will probably feel some pain half an hour after you've taken them. You mustn't worry about it. Don't tell anybody. The pain will soon go. You'll be OK in the morning. Goodnight, darling. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight," she replied. "I love you."

The young man put Dorothy's translation from La Casa de las Flores Negras into the envelope with her sister Ellen's address on the front. Then he dropped the envelope into a mailbox. He smiled as he walked back to his room.

***

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14