THE DAILY NEBRASKAM
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Article Story
Essay Poetry
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Tuesday, May 26, 1940
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Any war is plain international dumbness
By Paul E. Svoboda. i motionless looking off into space, for the waiter to bring another i them Germans? Can't they wait those guys ever managed to fly
' . . . .. . . bottle. I 'til tomorrow to start pluggin' at that plane half way over Germany
"Hey, waiter! Give us four more) DrinK to tne acaa. pierC( got any cigarettes? Hey, us? Their 75's have been landing without getting blown to pieces,
of those things, you know, the "Well, who will we drink this pjeret wake up! What the Hell ya all-over the country. Either the The French papers said they went
man gesticulated with his hands one too ? Paul dead somewhere doin' ? Dutch asked. gunners are drunk or they're just at night, but Christ, with all those
for loss of words, 'those things m Alsace-Lorraine? To Chuck, A good target. plain fools," Mike said when every- plane detectors and things', I don't
vin de fleur, or whatever you cau wn0 crashed his plane on the other thl ... fhaf.a ,. body started to move about again, see how they did it."
them-and rush it, willya?" 8ide of the line, or Bill, or Jim, or 'J"s thinking, thats all, jus t '
Hi voice was almost dro-vned in ?" I thinking about tomorrow when we 20 million men. Its this way.
the noise of the crowd. The men "For Christ's sake, Mike, shut gotta go up there and play target "Probably fluke shells," Piere "I met a guy just before our
and women laughed and danced in up! Ain . t enough that maybe all for them Nazi bullets and Wonder- said "Good powder is getting company was transferred up here
o h,..Vi.H f,v aa it thov were of .. wl out there with a load nS ma.Ybe I'll get back to Mis- plenty scarce for them just like it from the Italian border, Dutch
ti-vine to crowd all their gaiety
J . . . "
Into one night. Uniformed men,
tired of war, its dirt and filth, sat
drinking their wine in a business-
like fashion trying to forget that
tomorrow they were to move into
the line near Flambeaux where the
Nazis were pushing hard with all
they had. Even now they could
hear the dull roar of cannon and
bombs unloading their cargoes of
death in the distance. Occasion-
ally the windows trembled when a
shell exnloded far behind the lines
and everyone in the small cafe sat
J
Alice was The Third Sister7
At thirty-five she looked like fifty
By Carol Wheeler. sisters she was going to the li-
Miss Alice began at five to pre- brary. They merely nodded when
pare supper. The bare little kitch- she spoke.
en was shadowy In the early win- The night was clear; the wind
ter dusk but she put off turning had gone down. The street lights
on the light as long as possible, glowed forlornly down the empty
She heard a sound at the door, and blocks. Alice took the long way to
opened it to Peter, fat blue cat the library. She enjoyed the quiet
with fur ruffled from cold and stars and the cold air against her
wind, and eyes greedy as he mewed face. She felt almost young, and
for milk. Alice spread a linen cloth no longer alone,
on the small table, sliced the bread The library was warm and
and spice cake, and put the kettle brightly lighted. Alice returned
on for tea Louise would be clos- her books, and browsed about a
in the shop soon now, she re- bit awkwardly, hating to leave,
fleeted Their rooms were behind She finally selected two books,
her sister Louise's odd, dusty little checked them out, and smiled
notion store. She neara int oeu
over the door in the shop tinkle
and knew that Emily was back
from Ladies' Aid. She prepared the
tea and placed the creamed po
tatoes and fried ham upon the
table. Louise and Emily came in
from the shop, Louise heavy and
placid in her dark dress, Emily still
in coat and hat, talking nervously-
Vices and men.
". . .and Mrs. Carlson said he did
it deliberately. Deliberately."
"Did what, dear," from Alice by
way of greeting.
"Jimmy Connors taught Ann
Btnnett to smoke. Deliberately.
She's only seventeen, and he's
twenty-two. Everyone says they're
engaged, but you can't tell. Since
he's been away at college he's
picked up some wild ways, I guess.
Why Mrs. Carlsen says she saw
him only the other night, cold as
it wa1?. ."More and more and
more. Alice thought her head
would surely split. Every night it
was like this, with Emily dispens
ing the latest gossip and Louise,
pompous, encouraging her.
Somehow supper was thru, and
she could finish the dishes. Her
head ached a little, and her feet
were tired. She dreaded going into
th box-like living room where her
sisters spent their maiden eve
nings. She had learned them by
rote. Louise would work on her
accounts, perhaps write a letter to
some obscure relative. Emily
would recite gossip incessantly,
with her ever moist blue eyes
gleaming brightly behind her
black ribboned spectacles, and her
hands busy with crochet. At ten
one sister would put up her pen,
the other her needles, and off to
bed they'd go.
To get away.
Alice wiped her hands and took
off her apron. "I can take back
those library books," she thought,
suddenly grateful to get away.
She liniped to her room, smoothed
her hair, and put on a drab little
coat 'and hat. She stopped by the
door of the living room to tell her
of lead U our ribs? What's the
use of bringing them up? What's
done's done. No matter what you
or I say ain't going to change it
any."
"Yeah, I guess you're right,
Frank, Mike said thoughtfully,
yeah I guess you're right."
"You bet I am. Drink up and
we'll have another. How about
you Dutch? Piere?"
The two men downed their wine
quickly and shoved the glasses to
the center of the table. Frank
raised his hand and gesticulated
Z
(see THIKD SISTEK, page t.)
He talked amazingly
well for a corpse and
had to interview him
By Don Bower.
'And I died."
My dear fellow, I Insist that
you could not have died." I was
just a little tipsy, and I knew
darned well that twp things were
wrong. I knew this guy couldn't
be dead, and I knew that if he was
he couldn't be telling me about it,
"My dear fellow, for an hour
and many minutes I have been lis
tening to you, and I have con
cluded that you do not know what
you are talking about."
"Listen, mister," he says.
"You're a reporter. Fine. I wanted
to give you a break. I wanted to
let you have the biggest scoop in
history. I wanted you to interview
a corpse." He talked in an amaz-
ingly clear voice for a corpse,
Even with the six Collins he'd had
on me. But I wasn't convinced.
It wasn't locical. and I wasn't the
guy to believe it.
Interview with a corpse.
r
"Sure," I said, "you want me to
have a scoop. Thanks. This would
be the biggest scoop I ever had.
Only trouble is, it'd be the last."
Our conversation had been moving
in that same circle for quite a
while, and it was 3 a. m., and I
had a wife, and she had a temper,
and I had better get home. Maybe
in th nn,r. Qn
out all night, but I wasn't in the
movies. And although my wife was
a. iny unuurautnuing woman, i
had to have another drink before
I was convinced ohe would be-
neve mis taie.
uaicu, oL-oup, me corpse
yelled at me. He decided that I
should be Scoop because of the
Qi ir- Qo-Qin Paoaia noona m a rx
wui i obutxt. wdkjiv a v
lot; more than ever now since the
kid came. Funny, I ain't seen him
yet. Here it's dawn near Fourth
of July and the kid'll be four on
the 26th and he ain't never seen
his pop. Bessie and I got married
in February of '41 and we lived to-i
gethcr for three months best
three months I ever lived then I
got called over here to help fight
this war that somebody got us
into just because we have to pro
tect our rights. Can't see how
toeyre my rights The only right I
I have is the right to live." His
clenched fist pounded the table, "I
gotta get through it. I gotta!"
In same boat.
"We're all In the same boat.
Mike here has a wife and two kids
waiting for him in the Bronx,
rw... woM, in Tin.
bui a. uivi ""'v "
nois, and I, well, I hope I've got a
girl waiting for me back in Ne
braska," Frank said.
The windows rattled again; even
the wine jiggled in the glasses a
little as another shell exploded
somewhere close. The music from
the three piece band came to a
discordant stop. The bartender
let the whisky overflow from a
glass he was filling. Everyone
seemed cemented in his tracks. A
moment later the band took up
again, the women began to laugh
a little, and a few dancers began
to move about the floor. Soon
everything was the same as be-
lore.
"What the Hell's wrong with
scoop that he was going to help
me scoop. "I have decided that
y" dont believe me. I just read
vmir minH rornsAa a pa nhl to Ho
that and you were thinking that
I was lying to you. It's a lucky
thing I'm an understanding spirit,
or t wo.iiH rm wi, to mv
grave and leave you high and dry.
But MnS an understanding guy,
ghost. Bartender, Mr. Scoop wants
i win prove 10 you mai a am a
me to have another drink."
This guy's batty.
Hell, I thought, this guy is bats.
I don't know why, unless I did
have one drink that I shouldn't
have. I staved and listened to him
Besides, it was costing me money,
But I decided to let him prove to
me that he was a ghost. "How can
you prove it?" I says.
"Well, I'll take you out to my
p-ravi. "
I wasn't in the mood to go to
any grave. Particularly to the one
a.Li. . a
in,s wa.9 suPPsea 10 occupy.
" w" rainmS , ". anu 1 naa a
vviic. xiiia waau i mc xcanuii iiwua
raining, but it would be a reason
for her reigning blows on me.
Besides, graveyards are not my
idea of pleasant places to be. Not
at three in the morning. The last
drink did it. Next thing I knew I
was in my roadster sitting beside
thia talkative corpse,
Changed address.
-we won't nave to dig up my
grave. I moved to a vault shortly
after I died. Hell, I thought, why
spend au day in that cheap cof-
nn : ine oiu ooy wno was in tne
vault was too feeble to argue, so
we changed places."
ia no Xith OA Yiil1inn m on
iq ivi uoi viii4 lutiiiuu
blowing hell outa each other day
and night there's bound to be some
kind of shortage. I heard that the
boats from home can't haul the
stuff over here fast enough.
Mike pushed back his chair,
gulped down his liquor, and stood
up. He cocked his overseas hal
over his eye and straightened his
tie.
"You're not leaving are ya",
Mike?" Frank asked.
"Hell, no. That little French gal
over there by the band winked at
me and I never was the man to
pass up a chance. Probably be
the last girl that'll ever wink at
me after tomorrow. Well, I'll be
vou;" ... ...
. e. re f athem arou"d the
table laughed raucously. They un-
derstood. War makes a man un-
(WotanrI a W nt tViinoo Whir in
the Hell shouldn't a man have
little fun? May be hia last
Women and war.
"Give her our regards," Dutch
said laughingly as Mike made his
way across the dime-sized dance
floor. They bent over their glasses
again as Piere said, "Say, I heard
in St. Barritz when I was in the
hospital that the president asked
congress to give those four college
kids who captured Hitler for that
miltlon bucks a bonus of a hun-
dred grand apiece. Man, what I
couldn't do with a hundred G's."
"Me too," Dutch exclaimed,
"You know, that was the damn-
dest thing. I can't figure out how
He was a neighbor
of John Dillinger
I had quit talking. I was whistl-
ing or trying to. It was cold, I
ffue3aat least my teeth were
chattering. I was darn sure I
dn t want to visit any vault. I
wanted to get home to my wife I
never realized how nice my wife
rvna. 411c wiiiu was uiuvvmg uu jnjr
face, and a couple of Collins wore
off. I began to ret scared more
scared- Butt 1 kePl BOS- "e told
me wueie iu gu, tiiiu x wrm.
The graveyard was in the coun
try. I knew it would be. Not only
my teeth were chattering now. My
whole body was chattering. Why
was it me who got into things like
this? Thousands of reporters, and
I get to interview a corpse.
Pals with Dillinger.
"Buck up, Scoop, I'll soon show
you where I live and you'll have
your scoop. Old John Dillinger
'ianK3 around mv Place to- Maybe
he's Kt something to say to the
illVSS.
---
Jeez, I was scared! My hands
were frozen on the wheel, and I
couldn't turn back. Why was this
guy so damned unpleasant? The
graveyard loomed ahead. The
gravestones stood out in the dark
ness. They reflected the light of
the moon. Only there wasn't any
moon !
W stopped. He got out. I got
out. He walked to the gate. Then
he went through it. I didn't. I
turned around. A dark object
loomed up behind me It had "yes
a foot in diameter. They glowed
They were white, and didn't haveJ
any pupils. It was my car
I got in. I went home. I told my
wife about it. And then I died
The rip-roarin glory of
the day when Dad wt-nt
to college t
niA nlniniAl Via trnawr nna rt'
otXlii 11 c tianucu rvi iv vv uul v.
the fellows and he said their plane
had a silent motor that didn't
make any more noise than an elec
tric razor. He said they worked
on the motor secretly. Nobody
knew about it, not even the gov
ernment. I guess they bought a
plane and installed this new motor
and then they took off across the
ocean. This guy I met said they
landed on one of the Oikeny
Islands and played like they were
American flyers. They had faked
papers
them 1
and the Britishers took
;m for ."
"That ain't the way I heard it,"
Piere broke in. "I heard the gov
ernment fixed them up with that
new plane and sent them over to
England where they were sup
posed to try from. I heard those
kids went to see the president
about doing the stunt and he
balked at the idea for a while but
he came around after he saw
that maybe with Hitler out of the
wav. the Germans wouldn't fight
anymore. He was dead wrong
though. It just made them Nazis
sorer than ever and Goering took
over just where Hitler left off.
From what they say he's doing a
better job than the Old Boy did.
At least we ain't pushing ahead as
fast as we were six months ago
when Hitler was still running1
things instead of sitting in Al
catraz waiting to be shot."
This guy was saying.
"Well, this guy T was talking to
seemed to know his stuff," Dutch,
continued, "and he claims it waa
this way. They flew this plane
over to them islands without any
body knowing about it. They had
these faked papers and uniforms
and played like they were lost.
Said they were doing reconnai
sance flights over northern Bel
gium and a storm came up that
made them lose their way. Well,
the Britishers let them fill up their
ranks and gave 'em something to
eat, then they took off heading
straight for Germany."
"Aw, hell, those Tommies might
be dumb, but they ain't that
dumb," Pierre exclaimed.
"That's what I say," Frank said.
"Okay, you guys are so smart.
But this buddie I was talking to
in the hospital said they took off
in the evening and got to Ger
many about two in the morning.
Somehow they found this country
place where Hitler was staying. It
was storming to beat the devil and
rain was falling by the barrel. The
guards were sitting in out of th3
rain and didn't hear the plane
when they finally set it down be
hind a bunch of trees."
They sneaked up.
'Two of them stayed in the
plane while the other two went
sneaking around the house look
ing for a way in. From what this
guy told me, they looked in a win
dow and ther e Der Fueher was sit
ting in front of the fireplace with
a couple guards at the door. For
some reason the guards left and
the Old Boy was left alone, so
these two college kids jimmied the
window open and one of them
crawled in while the other stayed
outside to watch. I guess Hitler
was dozing a bit and didn't hear
the guy come in. There wasn't
anything to it then. He just
conked him on the head with hi.
pistol and drug him out the win
dow. They finally got to the palne
but had to kill a couple guards to
do it. When they took off tha
rest of the guards saw them and
See WAR, page 6.)
STUART
TOMORROW!
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