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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 1948)
_ “Marry me, Cathy. I've waited so long.** Love Me Tomorrow By ROBERTA BAER Cathy Thomas came from a poor family, one in which there was never enough food to eat nor clothes to wear. They had lived from day to day as long as she could remember so that when she was 18 years old and finishing school there in that small Georgia town, she went to find a job tjiat would help relieve the strain. At first she was doubious as to whether she, one of the known to be “poor Thomas’ ”, could find anything to do but domestic work, but she soon came to realize her beautiful olive skin and bronze hair were enough to get her most anything she asked for. So accustomed to weighing everything to see advantages from her own point of view had Cathy become from so many years of choosing between a loaf of bread for the family dinner and ice cream for dessert, that she instinctively stopped to consider each job offer from the practical standpoint. She had almost developed an entire selflessness about most everything. So she se lected the offer which would bring money for home necessities rather than something glamour ous and easy for a beautiful girl. It was as a stitcher in a garment factory that she entered upon a new world, one of work for pay. But what was hard to understand for those who found out was why Cathy had spurned the offer as “private secretary” to young Dr. Marks and office girl among such spacious surroundings ' as w'ere offered in the town’s richest undertaking establishment where she would be close to the eligible and handsome Clever Cook. These particular gentlemen smiled as they watched Cathy chapge her natural innocent ex pression to one of “I know what you mean” after a pause of reflection upon their too liberal offers. Dr. Marks, the town’s youngest physician had entered his career with a bank account, for his father had willed him his entire estate after 50 years practice. He had a reputation of liking all the women if they happened to be attractive, young and willing to see things his way. His reputation included all the things young girls long for clothes, jewels, trips to resorts and moonlight cruises on his private yacht. But Cathy thought of them, as he subtly suggested those things as “possible” for the right girl who could also become his secretary, as “ice cream”. She remembered her manners, smiled sadly and went in search of a “bread” job. Clever Cook really needed an office girl. It seemed he was always in need of one after about three months of apparent satisfaction. What real ly happened, he was unable to work 8 or 10 hours in close proximity with a beautiful girl (and that was the chief requirement for an office girl ac cording to his standards) without pretending to fall deeply in love with her. only to change his mind upon meeting another one in a night club or on a buying trip. The beautiful girls, who were not as wise as Cathy to leave the situation alone and proceed wearily in search of something more substantial, fell prey to the wiles of the rich Beau Brummel, and so seriously believed his amorous words that when they discovered that his affections had sud denly found another object, they left his estab lishment as office girl never to return again. So evasive and shrewd was Clever that no law suit ever materialized. The affair was just another one and Clever was simply in need of another office girl. He did smile a little as he saw Cathy turn her pretty head. He caught his breath as he saw her proudly walk from his office for he realized not only was her face that of an angel but she pos sessed the most beautiful form he had ever seen. He sincerely regretted having misjudged her. How was he to know that the “poor Thomas’ ” oldest girl was built like a queen? How was he to know she had more sense than all the dames he knew put together? So Cathy ended up in the garment factory where she sat and stitched 10 hours a day at a heavy machine in a poorly ventilated, poorly lighted room. But the money was very gooda»<f that was what Cathy's mother,/her blmdr-^fatlver and the other three kids needed. ThejF^was bread yet to buy. Perhaps thisw^jj^ihere may be ice cream once in a whpp^fta the kids, as she al ways referred to thfe a, had to try to inch their way through schoof tx). But now and th®i a vision of the way Clever Cook’s twinkling eiet spelled adventure kept re turning to Cathy arid she unconsciously slackened her usual steady, dy«n stitches on the machine. He returned just like that feeling she had after eating the bread and feeling full after supper, yet wondering if ice nream was not the thing to try sometime instead. She could have hai the experience of sitting in his spacious office,| knowing his life and an swering his phone calls. She could have realized what it meant to have furs, jewels and a car like that lovely red-headed Parkins girl with whom everyone thought Clever was really in love. “But he left her heart split in a thousand pieces too ” thought Cathy sui she resumed her stitching. “He would soon forget me, unsophisticated little mouse that* I am.” Cathy knew she was unusually pretty. The boys in school had constantly told her that. But her mother indicated that such remarks as they made about her being a “good looking chick” | were not to be taken seriously. “You can not spend compliments 4t the Food Fair”, she said. However, Cathy knew she lacked any experi ence such as the red-headed Parkins girl and all the rest of the pretty girls who went away to school because their parents were more able to pay than hers. She neither smoked or drank. She would not know the latest dance steps nor how to return the mythical “soul kiss” such blase wo men talked about. _ g There was no way she could attract*^**, ®r Cook other than her figure which dj^nSJ betray her utter innocence. There was way possible she could hope to hole a marv-Sccustomed to hav ing his desires in a woman gratified. She could not keep his interest nearly the accustomed three months. a / But the small tingle in remembering his eyes the day he interviewee/liter for his job kept taunt ing her. Some day wheh She was able to buy her self that outfit she could soon afford now if she kept efficient as a stitcher, she would just see what the possibilities were. That was Cathy. Again she pushed herself into the background. Again she put off the things she would really like for tomorrow. Clever Cook was of an entirely different dis position. He wanted what he wanted today, not tomorrow. He made up his mind Cathy was the only girl he had ever wanted in this way. Her soft liquid eyes, her lovely velvety skin with hair that could only compliment such golden skin seemed to bring him pains of regret that he was discovered by this entirely decent girl to be the cad that he was. Night after night he drove alone around where he might run into her. One time he almost had nerve enough, as he sat parked watching for a glimpse of her to come out the factory, to ask to take her home. But he knew he might lose any chance forever. He dared not let her think he had purposely tried to run into her. He traveled on foot to the edge of town, where the tumbled down shack she called home was, until he came to love even the humble place he never dreamed'he would even stop to look at. It was in the Fall almost a year later, a whole year of reformation, yearning and waiting, that he met her at the gate. She was neither startled nor surprised. She greeted him in a soft low voice and called him by his first name as if she had been used to saying it every moment of the day '' and night. Neither of them were strangers. “Come for a walk with me” he said without formal approach nor tact. “Won’t you ?” he almost pleading, taking her by the hand. They walked in silence for hours. Strange how easily they took to each other as if they had known one another intimately for months. By a lagoon in the park, Clever said, “Will you marry me, Cathy?” Then he added, “I’ve waited so long”. Cathy said, “Yes, Clever, I will.” And then she added, “I’ve waited a long time too.” It had been a long time for they had secretly been in love a year. Cathy had waited a year of tomorrows.
