Read Online Pages of Promise by Gilbert Morris - Free Book Online Page A

down, and as Stephanie dried her hair, she said, “You look like one of those muscle men on the covers of magazines in the drugstore— Muscles and Health or something like that.”
    “All I need is an S on my chest.” Richard grinned. “How did you manage to get a job working for Gramps?”
    “I’m so glad not to be going back to college. I despised every minute of it!” Stephanie pronounced venomously. “I made him give me a job. I just turned on the old charm.” She turned her shoulders bewitchingly and gave Richard a brilliant smile.
    “Hey, don’t turn that thing loose on me! Why, it could make a man keel over at fifty paces!”
    “It’s like Davy Crockett. He said he didn’t have to shoot raccoons, he just grinned ’em out of the trees.” She laughed and added, “He said one time he missed and knocked the top off an elm tree a hundred feet high!”
    “Well, that’s the kind of smile you got, Sis. Atomic power! Be careful. You don’t want to maim too many poor devils chasing around after you.”
    “No danger of that. I’ve got a lot of plans.” She ran the comb through her wet curls and said, “I’m going to be a war correspondent and travel all over the world. Then I’m going to write articles for National Geographic . You’re going to be proud of me, Streak.”
    “I’m proud of you now, Steph.”
    Stephanie turned to him and reached out her free hand. “I’m proud of you, too, Richard. I’m scared about you going to Korea, but there’s no point in telling you to be careful.”
    “I don’t remember the sergeant giving us any instructions on that,” Richard joked.
    “Well, you’ve got Mom and Dad’s prayers, and they’re pretty potent. You’ve got mine, too,” she said softly.
    “Thanks, Sis.”
    The two sat talking for a long time. He asked, “How do Dad and Bobby seem to be getting along? Have there been any flare-ups lately?”
    “I haven’t heard anything. I think you joining up has made Dad go easier on Bobby. Like he’s thinking he could lose you, so somehow Bobby’s behavior doesn’t seem so serious a problem.”
    “What do you think Bobby’s going to do? He’ll be eligible for the draft if he’s not in college in another year.”
    “Oh, he talks some about going to college, but he’s just treading water. He really wants to be a musician, a singer. He travels all over on weekends doing what he calls ‘gigs.’ Plays the piano like Paderewski.”
    “Or Leo Durocher?”
    “No, you idiot!” She laughed.
    “Wouldn’t it be something if he got to be famous like Snooky Lanson?”
    “He’ll have to change his name. Bobby Stuart is not dramatic enough.”
    Richard pretended to think and said, “What about Hoagie Decarmo?”
    This struck Stephanie as being very funny, and she continued to giggle as they threw their clothes on over their wet bathing suits and made their way home.
    As they walked up the driveway Stephanie said, “Whose car is that?”
    “Don’t know. Let’s find out.”
    They entered the house and were delighted to find their great-uncle Owen sitting in the living room talking with their father. Owen rose at once. He was sixty-eight but still athletic and strong. He had been a prizefighter in his youth and had lost his right hand in World War I. He put his left hand forward and turned it over to squeeze Richard’s and nearly crushed it. “How’s the marine?” he asked with a smile.
    “Fine, Uncle Owen. I’m glad to see you.”
    “I had a meeting over in San Diego, so I thought I’d come over and say good-bye.” Owen Stuart had been an evangelist for years, crossing the country and speaking in large auditoriums and in brush arbors all the way from Georgia to California, from Louisiana to Maine.
    “I won’t be here long. I’m shipping out day after tomorrow,” Richard said.
    “Well, we’ll have some time to talk.”
    After supper Owen asked Richard to show him the ocean, so they drove to a beach a few miles away.
    “I stopped in