Stories of Erskine Caldwell by Erskine Caldwell Page A

train, I waited awhile, and after a quarter of an hour I heard her coming back up the stairs. She knocked softly on my door, calling my name several times.
    I jerked open the door and faced her. She was so surprised at seeing me there, when she had expected to find me still asleep, that she could not say anything for a moment.
    “Gretchen,” I said, grasping her hands, “don’t hurry to get me off — I’m not going back this morning — I don’t know what was the matter with me last night — I know now that I love you —”
    “But, Richard — last night you said —”
    “I did say last night that I was going back early this morning, Gretchen, but I didn’t know what I was talking about. I’m not going back now until you go with me. I’ll tell you what I mean as soon as breakfast is over. But first of all I wish you would show me how to get down to the river. I have got to go down there right away and feel the water with my hands.”
    (First published in Pagany )

Snacker
    F RIDAY MORNING CLASSES were over, and Snacker was walking down the third-floor hall of the dormitory to leave his books in his room when Pete Downs saw him. There were a couple of other fellows in Pete’s room, and the door was open. Snacker saw them. He owed Pete forty cents, and he thought Pete was going to say he had to have the money right then.
    “Hey, Snacker!” Pete yelled. “Come here a minute.”
    Snacker went back to the door and looked inside. Tom and Jack Phillips were sitting on a trunk whistling, and Pete was motioning to him to come inside.
    “I haven’t got a nickel on me, Pete,” he said. “But just as soon as I can get it, I’ll pay you back.”
    “Forget it, Snacker,” Pete said. “Come over here. I want to show you a sight you’ve never seen before.”
    Snacker sat down on the bed beside him and looked at the picture Pete held in front of him.
    “Who’s that?” Snacker asked.
    “My girl,” Pete said. “Ever see anything in your life to beat that?”
    Snacker shook his head.
    “She’s all right, Pete,” he said.
    “All right!” Pete said. “She’s going to be the best-looking honeybunch at the banquet tomorrow night. That’s how ‘all right’ she is!”
    Tom and Jack Phillips were whistling louder than ever. Every time they looked at Pete they began whistling in a higher key.
    Pete nodded towards them.
    “Don’t let them worry you, Snacker,” he said. “They might think they’re going to have better-looking girls at the dinner, but they’ll be whistling a different tune after they see my girl. She’s coming all the way from the old home town just to show this school what a pretty girl looks like.”
    Snacker had forgotten that the football banquet was only one day off. It was the week after Thanksgiving, and the annual football banquet was always given the Saturday night after the holidays.
    Tom stopped whistling.
    “Who’s your girl, Snacker?” he asked. “Who are you bringing to the banquet?’”
    “Me?” Snacker said. “I haven’t got a girl, Tom. I’ll have to go by myself.”
    Everybody stared at Snacker.
    “You can’t do that, Snacker,” Jack Phillips said. “They won’t let you in at the door unless you have a girl with you.”
    Snacker looked at Pete and then at Tom. They nodded. Snacker began to worry. He had forgotten all about that rule.
    “You can’t go without a girl,” Tom said. “Don’t you know somebody to bring?”
    Jack leaned forward and frowned at Snacker.
    “Haven’t you got a girl, Snacker?” he asked.
    “Gee-my-nettie!” Snacker said aloud. “I never had a girl in all my life.”
    Tom whistled through his teeth, and Pete laughed. They looked at Snacker curiously for a moment.
    “That’s too bad, Snacker,” Pete said finally. “You put in a lot of hard work on the squad this season. It would be a shame for you not to go to the banquet and get all you want to eat.”
    “You played a full quarter in the Riverside game, didn’t you,