U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [435]
-294-her hand and cal ed her Glad. They were al younger than Charley, but they made quite a fuss over him and kept saying what a godawful town Detroit was. When Charley got a little gin inside of him he started tel ing war yarns for the first time in his life. He drove Anne home and old Bledsoe came out with
a copy of the Engineering Journal in his hand and said,
"So you've got acquainted, have you?""Oh, yes, we're old friends, Dad," she said.
"Charley's going to teach me to fly.""Humph," said Bledsoe and closed the door in Charley's face with a growling: "You go home and worry about that motor." Al that summer everybody thought that Charley and
Anne were engaged. He'd get away from the plant for an hour or two on quiet afternoons and take a ship up at the flyingfield to give her a chance to pile up flying hours and on Sundays they'd play golf. Charley would get up early Sunday mornings to take a lesson with the golf pro out at the Sunnyside Club where he didn't know anybody. Sat-urday nights they'd often have dinner at the Bledsoes'
house and go out to the Country Club to dance. Gladys Wheatley and Harry were usual y along and they were known as a foursome by al the younger crowd. Old Bled-soe seemed pleased that Charley had taken up with his youngsters and began to treat him as a member of the family. Charley was happy, he enjoyed his work; after the years in New York being in Detroit was like being home. He and Nat made some kil ings in the market. As vicepresident and consulting engineer of the Tern Com-pany he was making
$25,000 a year. Old Bledsoe grumbled that it was too damn much
money for a young engineer, but it pleased him that Charley spent most of it on a smal experimental shop where he and Bil Cermak were building a new motor on their own. Bil Cermak had moved his family out from Long Island and was ful of hunches for mechanical im--295-provements. Charley was so busy he didn't have time to think of women or take anything but an occasional drink in a social way. He thought Anne was a peach and enjoyed her company but he never thought of her as a girl he might someday go to bed with.
Over the Labor Day weekend the Farrel s invited the young Bledsoes and Gladys Wheatley out for a cruise. When he was asked Charley felt that this was highlife at last and suggested he bring Taki along to mix drinks and act as steward. He drove the Bledsoes down to the yacht-club in his Buick. Anne couldn't make out why he was feeling so good. "Nothing to do for three days but sit around on a stuffy old boat and let the mosquitoes bite you," she was grumbling in a gruff tone like her father's. "Dad's right when he says he doesn't mind working over his work but he's darned if he'l work over his play."
"But look at the company we'l have to suffer in, An-nie." Charley put his arm round her shoulders for a mo-ment as she sat beside him on the front seat. Harry who was alone in the back let out a giggle. "Wel , you needn't act so smart, mister," said Anne, without turning back. "You and Gladys certainly do enough public petting to make a cat sick.""The stern birdman's weakening," said Harry. Charley blushed. "Check," he said. They were already at the yachtclub, and two young fel ows in sailorsuits were taking the bags out of the back of the car.
Farrel 's boat was a fast fiftyfoot cruiser with a dining-room on deck and wicker chairs and a lot of freshvarnished mahogany and polished brass. Farrel wore a yachtingcap and walked up and down the narrow deck with a worried look as the boat nosed out into the little muggy breeze. The river in the late afternoon had a smel of docks and weedy swamps. "It makes me feel good to get out on the water, don't it you, Charley? . . . The one place they can't get at you."
Meanwhile Mrs. Farrel was apologizing to the ladies
-296-for the cramped accommodations. "I keep trying to get Yardly to get a boat with some room in it but it seems to me every one he gets is more cramped up than the last one."
Charley had been listening to a light clinking sound from the pantry. When Taki appeared with a tray of man-hattan cocktails everybody cheered up. As he watched Taki bobbing with the tray in front of Gladys, Charley thought how wonderful she looked al in white with her pale abun-dant hair tied up in a white silk handkerchief. Smiling beside him was Anne with her brown hair blow-ing in her eyes from the wind of the boat's speed. The engine made so much noise and the twinscrews churned up so much water that he could talk to her without the others'