U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [457]
When they got out of the taxicab at the Penn station there was Tad and a skinny little sleekhaired boy with
-266-him waiting to meet them. They were al very much ex-cited and the boys' breaths smel ed pretty strong of gin.
"You girls buy your own tickets," said Tad, taking Margo by the arm and pushing some bil s down into the pocket of her furcoat. "The reservations are in your name, you'l have a drawingroom and we'l have one."
"A couple of wise guys," whispered Queenie in her ear as they stood in line at the ticketwindow.
The'other boy's name was Dick Rogers. Margo could
see right away that he thought Queenie was too old and not refined enough. Margo was worried about their bag-gage too. Their bags looked awful cheap beside the boys'
pigskin suitcases. She felt pretty down in the mouth when the train pul ed out of the station. Here I am pul ing a boner the first thing, she thought. And Queenie was throwing her head back and showing her gold tooth and yel ing and shrieking already like she was at a fireman's picnic.
The four of them settled down in the girls' stateroom with the little table between them to drink a snifter of gin and began to feel more relaxed. When the train came out of the tunnel and lights began flashing by in the blackness outside, Queenie pul ed down the shade. "My, this is real cozy," she said.
"Now the first thing I got to worry about is how to get you girls out on the boat. Dad won't care if he thinks we met you in Jacksonvil e, but if he knew we'd brought you down from New York he'd raise Hail Columbia."
"I think we've got a chaperon al lined up in Jackson-vil e," said young Rogers. "She's a wonder. She's deaf and blind and she can't speak English."
"I wish we had Agnes along," said Tad. "That's Mar-go's stepmother. My, she's a good sport."
"Wel , girls," said young Rogers, taking a noisy swig from the ginbottle. "When does the necking start?" After they'd had dinner in the diningcar, they went
-267-lurching back to the drawingroom and had some more gin and young Rogers wanted them to play strip poker but Margo said no. "Aw, be a sport," Queenie giggled. Queenie was pretty tight already. Margo put on her fur-coat. "I want Tad to turn in soon," she said. "He's just out of a sickbed."
She grabbed Tad's hand and pul ed him out into the
passage. "Come on, let's give the kids a break. . . . The trouble with you col egeboys is that the minute a girl's unconventional you think she's an easy mark.""Oh, Margo . . ." Tad hugged her through her furcoat as they stepped out into the cold clanging air of the observation platform. "You're grand."
That night after they'd gotten undressed young Rogers came in the girls' room in his bathrobe and said there was somebody asking for Margo in the other stateroom. She slept in the same stateroom with Tad, but she wouldn't let him get into the bunk with her.
"Honest, Tad, I like you fine," she said, peeking from under the covers in the upper berth,
"but you know . . . Heaven won't protect a workinggirl unless she protects herself. . . . And in my family we get married before the loving instead of after." Tad sighed and rol ed over with his face to the wal on the berth below. "Oh, heck . . . I'd been thinking about that." She switched off the light. "But, Tad, aren't you even going to kiss me goodnight?" In the middle of the night there was a knock on the door. Young Rogers came in looking pretty rumpled.
"Time to switch," he said. "I'm scared the conductor'l catch us.""The conductor'l mind his own damn business," said Tad grumpily, but Margo had already slipped out and gone back to her own stateroom.
Next morning at breakfast in the diningcar, Margo
wouldn't stop kidding the other two about the dark circles under their eyes. Young Rogers ordered a plate of oysters and they thought they'd never get over the giggles. By
-268-the time they got to Jacksonvil e Tad had taken Margo back to the observation platform and asked her why the hel they didn't get married anyway, he was free white and twentyone, wasn't he? Margo began to cry and.
grinned