A Swell-Looking Babe Read Online Free PDF Page A

instances, for example, of smoking behind the key rack and working without his collar. But Bascom was guilty of some rule-breaking himself. Bascom wasn't supposed to slip up to an empty room for a quick shower. He wasn't supposed to trot down the street to an all-night lunch room instead of having his food sent in. Dusty always knew where he was, of course, and could get him back to the desk with a phone call within the space of two or three minutes. But that could make no difference to the hotel. Bascom was supposed to remain behind the counter throughout his shift. That was the rule, period. If the management ever found out –
    Dusty completed the two calls, and returned to the desk. He and Bascom resumed the night's chores, interrupted now and then when Dusty had to leave on a room call or one of the telephones rang. They checked off the day's charge slips against the guests' bills. They checked the room rack against the information racks. The work went rapidly, Dusty calling out the data, Bascom checking it. In the predawn stillness, the bellboy's clear steady monotone echoed through the desk area:
    "Haines, eight fourteen, one at twelve dollars… Haley, nine twelve, Mr. and Mrs., two at fifteen… Heller, six fifty and fifty-two, one at eighteen… Hillis, Dallas, Tex.-"
    "Wait a minute!" Bascom flung down his pencil. "What kind of a room number is Dallas, Tex.? If you can't do any better than that, I'll-"
    "Sorry," Dusty said quickly. "Hillis, ten oh four, one at ten."
    Bascom picked up the pencil. Then, suddenly, he laughed. Softly, amusedly. Suddenly – for the moment, at least – he was the old Bascom again.
    "Out of this world, wasn't she?" he said. "I don't think I've ever seen a woman who could come up to her."
    "I know I haven't," said Dusty.
    "Yes, sir, a lovely woman," mused Bascom. "Everything a woman should be. You know, Bill" – -he turned on his stool and faced Dusty- "have you any idea how it feels, to be my age, in the job I'm in, and to see someone like her? I've used up my chances. I'm not an old man, but I'll never amount to anything more than I do now. And that isn't enough by a million miles for a woman like that… It's not a nice-feeling, Bill. Take my word for it."
    Dusty nodded, slowly, still taken aback by the clerk's sudden change in manner. He could see what Bascom was driving at, but –
    You've been here about a year," Bascom went on. "How long do you intend to stay?"
    "Well" – Dusty hesitated- "I don't know. I can't say, exactly. It depends on my father, how my expenses run and-"
    "Does it? I've seen you on the street, Bill, the way you dress, your car. I've got a pretty good idea of what you make here – around a hundred and fifty a week, isn't it? That's what's actually keeping you here, the money. Plenty of money with no real work or responsibilities attached to it. A nice soft job with a lot of so-called big shots calling you by your first name. You don't want to give it up. If you did, you'd have gone back to school long ago."
    "Oh, yeah?" Dusty reddened. And then he checked himself. "I mean, I know you're just trying to help me, Mr. Bascom, and I appreciate it. But-"
    "I know. You've got doctor bills, your father to take care of. But you could still swing it, Bill. There's such a thing as a student loan. Scholarships. You used to talk quite a bit about them when you first came here. There are part-time jobs you could get. You'd have to do plenty of scrimping and sacrificing, but if you really wanted to-"
    "I couldn't. I can't!" Dusty protested. "Why the doctor bills alone, those and the medicines, take-"
    "Doctors will wait for their money, if it's in a good cause. There's a city dispensary for people with low incomes. So" – Bascom's eyebrows rose-"what else is there? A place to sleep, something to eat. That's about the size of it, isn't it? Don't tell me you couldn't manage that in these times. You could squeeze by for a few years, long enough to get your education."
    Dusty