The Sick-a-Bed Lady
Book Excerpt
For days and days that followed, the Sick-A-Bed Lady was conscious of nothing except the Young Man's Face on the footboard of the bed. It never seemed to wabble, it never seemed to waver, but just stayed there perfectly balanced on the point of its chin, watching her gravely with its blue, blue eyes. There was a cleft in its chin, too, that you could have stroked with your finger if--you could have. Of course, there were some times when she went to sleep, and some times when she just seemed to go out like a candle, but whenever she came back from anything there was always the Young Man's Face for comfort.
The Sick-A-Bed Lady was so sick that she thought all over her body instead of in her head, so that it was very hard to concentrate any particular thought in her mouth, but at last one afternoon with a mighty struggle she opened her half-closed eyes, looked right in the Young Man's Face and said: "Got any arms?"
The Young Man's Face nodded perfectly politely, and smiled as he raised two strong, lean hands to the edge of the footboard, and hunched his shoulder
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R: *****
Plot bullets
THE SICK-A-BED LADY
o A girl confined to her bed. The neighborhood children call her the sick-a-bed lady.
o A doctor trying to make her well.
o A doctor falling in love.
HICKORY DOCK
o A gift and a promise.
o A clock that means everything to a couple in love.
o A clock that may become the symbol of their separation.
THE VERY TIRED GIRL
o Three working girls share an attic apartment.
o All tired at the days end.
o But, there is good, even in fatigue.
THE HAPPY-DAY
o Each man must make his happy day.
o A young man, finds his is only borrowed.
THE RUNAWAY ROAD
o Where does any road lead?
o Happiness, an awakening, love?
SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED IN OCTOBER
o Seven, meet one October.
o The next year, only four can return.
THE AMATEUR LOVER
o A woman is left by her lover.
o She rebounds and marries a man she likes but does not love.
o Can she learn to love by December?
HEART OF THE CITY
o A young girl comes to New York to find romance in the heart of the city.
o She finds it in a man, not of the city.
THE PINK SASH
o A girl makes a list of the things she would like to do and have before she dies.
o Only afterward does she find she has a life threatening disease.
o Of all her desires the simplest is a pink sash.
o Even such a simple gift may prove impossible.
WOMAN'S ONLY BUSINESS
o Is a woman's only business love.
o If so, can love be misrepresented and perhaps never returned?
o How deep is some love and how shallow another?
My favorites: HICKORY DOCK, THE RUNAWAY ROAD, THE AMATEUR LOVER, THE PINK SASH
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