Page 61 (1/2)

Following the First Lady and Lorena is a balda platinuh heels The blonde illuh clouds, and froer for Mrs Priscilla Blum, the doc’s wife

The patriotic tune stops, the band switches to a quiet waltz, and everyone sits down except the people at the back tables, who are now escorted to the buffet Waiters serve the guests of honor and I study them as they eat

Mrs Roosevelt interests me the most and I can’t keep my eyes off her as she focuses her attention on each individual at her table, as if he or she were the only person present in the huge hall Lorena stares at the crowd No shyness there She looks right at us and catches ? Does she mock us, we small-town folk? But then I remember, she’s the journalist and social worker froed Mrs Roosevelt to champion the cause of the i force for the completion of Arthurdale, a wolass of chane while ait for our food?" Captain Wolfe interrupts hts "There’s a bar in the back"

"Oh, yes, thank you," Ifrom the celebrities

"How’s the dinner line look?"

"About like the line at the chow house at White Rock" He heads for the bar and I again ed handsomeness You hardly notice the limp, and even in his tux you can tell by his tanned skin that he’s an outdoorsman

Twenty minutes later, when our turn to visit the buffet finally co just a little bit tipsy Even before Prohibition I didn’t drink lass of wine before dinner on special occasions, but since David died there haven’t been many occasions

By the ti a little bell, the chattering stops, and he introduces the First Lady Mrs Roosevelt puts her napkin on her chair and steps to the podiu woman, and she starts without preaht to celebrate the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the Mountain State and the beginning of Arthurdale, our miners’ community Could everyone involved in the state CCC camps please rise?" About a third of the audience stands, and reat ive this talk far better than I, because you have firsthand knowledge of the things you’ve had to do to get these progra, but I, perhaps, am more conscious of the importance of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the history of our country"

She goes on to talk about Arthurdale and heralternative employment for the out-of-workto You cannot help but be inspired when the wife of the president of the United States says you are doing so i: "President Roosevelt’s Tree Aron to Maine, froinia to Wisconsin to save our country froether fro sea!"

Here the band comes in with "America the Beautiful," as if it was planned, and we all stand up again "Arace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood Fro sea"

Oh, how Patience would love this!

29

Drop into Darkness

Outside the glittering fairy castle, fog has turned to snow, big, wet flakes that drive down the brick streets and bore into our coats as ait for the bellhop to bring around our car The red canvas awning over the double oak doors rattles and Wolfe almost loses his hat