And the angels sang By donald west WHITE hot cone of light beat down upon the small shrouded form lying on the operating table. Figures in gleaming white hovered expectantly about. Other white shapes flitted in and out of the cone of light like moths around a lamp. Shining equipment caught the shafts of light and fired them out into the gloom where a young man stood, helpless and embarrassed. All eyes were focused on the still pale figure on the table. Only the eyes moved. They might just as well have been closed for all the real things she saw. Her brain had whirled and spun her back eighteen years to the first time she had entered the very same hospital. The present faded out, and the past stepped in. She relived her life . . . She was going to have a baby. Her first child! She hoped it would be a boy. The doctor ought to come to visit her soon. She hoped he could do something about the pain. It was almost unbearable. But she didn't mind; she was going to have a baby boy. Here they came now to take her into the operating room . . . A faint muttering had seeped into her brain. "She's just a kid. This sort of thing always is hard on kids. They shouldn't get married so damn young." Her, a kid? She was twenty-two. Evidently the doctor was upset. "Almost lost her. The muscles had just stopped working. Here I thought all the time that that tumor was the baby's head and that she was just having a hard time of it. The first thing I knew I had a first class piece of surgery on my hands and the kid to take at the same time. It's just a miracle that both of them are still alive. The kid's in good shape. A perfect baby. But I'm worried about her. She's torn up bad. Even if she does pull through, she'll never be really healthy again, and it might develop into something serious later on. Cancer, maybe ..." "Look at the little rascal. He don't know which way to turn." Larry's first Christmas. Wide-eyed, he sat in the middle of the floor with red cars, drums, tin horns, teddy bears, blocks, and many other things piled high around him. First he would go for one thing, then for another. He couldn't make up his mind which he wanted first. Finally he ended up by just sitting there and waving his hands. He looked terribly funny, but so cute that she could hardly resist the temptation to pick him up and squash him or eat him. A spirit of intoxicating joy surged through her veins. This was her own baby boy for whom she had sacrificed so much. Her very own! The best in the world! Life had been good to her. It would be hard not to spoil him, but she wouldn't. He was going to grow up to be a great man . . . "Larry! Oh'h'h'h! Larry!'" Without warning the frail figure on the table began to scream and to thresh violently back and forth in an attempt to rise. Doctors and nurses rushed over to quiet her down . . . "Larry's hurt. He's hurt. A truck! Hurt bad! Maybe he's -! No, Lord, No!" Somehow she reached the hospital, coatless and hatless. With shaking hands she swept the tumbled hair back from her face. Her eyes darted frantically from one object to another and spilled tears that traced shining paths down her yellow-tinged cheeks. Before entering the room, she paused a moment to regain her self-composure.. It wouldn't do to have Larry see her like this. It would only upset him. John was already there. "Dad! Dad! I wanna go home, Dad. Please get the old Model T. I wanna go home." Thank God Larry was all right .... Just as quickly. as it had started, the figure on the table ceased tossing and moaning. A smile split the scum that fever had laid on her lips ... . It was Larry's graduation day. The young graduates presented a marvelous spectacle, the girls in their fluffy, pink and white formals and the boys in sophisticated black and white Larry had grown up into a fine young man, tall and straight as a pine. His face shone with the frank honesty of youth. He had earned good grades in high school and had graduated with honors. The officials even gave him an important part in the commencement exercises. Unconcernedly he stood up there now and delivered his speech masterfully. But she knew he was really nervous. Inwardly she offered a little prayer for him. She was so proud of him that it nearly made her choke up and cry. But she couldn't do that. Larry wasn't through. He was going to college and become an important man. She couldn't show him how she felt now. It would only embarrass and hinder him. After the exercises were over, she hurried backstage to see Larry. She had to be careful not to make him feel too important. Of course, Larry wouldn't get the "big head," but it doesn't pay to take chances. She couldn't find him anywhere. She left the building and stepped out on the campus to wait for him. When she saw him he was with a girl, an attractive girl. He had just finished pinning his graduation pin on her dress. They stood apart for a moment hesitant. Then awkwardly but sincerely, he took her in his arms and kissed her. Page Twenty And the Angels Sang (Continued from Page 20) She felt a pang of resentment towards the girl who was receiving Larry's affection. That was something not even she, his own mother, had ever openly received. Of course, she couldn't expect Larry to be a warm, affectionate son. He hadn't been raised that way. John and she had never made a fuss over him. He had never seen any of that sort of demonstrative love about the house. They were what you might call a cool family. She didn't believe in that showy type of love. It seemed false and unenduring. Her love for Larry wasn't on the surface and easily demonstrated. It was buried deep under the outer calm. Only at times like this did it send ripples across the surface. She hoped that he understood how she felt toward him and that he felt the same towards her. Sometimes she doubted it though. They had never been very close to each other; but of late, they had grown even farther apart. She seldom saw him, except a t mealtimes. Then, he never even seemed to notice her. She was just a part of the furniture of the house. Perhaps she had reared him wrong. But someday he might feel that great tie between them that she felt. That would be a glorious day. . . . A worried expression crept in the pale face. A frown formed troughs for the cold sweat on her brow .... Larry had quit college. She didn't know why exactly; he'd just quit. He had worked hard the first two quarters and had earned some very good marks. All the professors predicted a brilliant future for him. But then everything fell flat. His girl and he had an argument and broke up. After that, school seemed to hold little interest for him. He couldn't force himself to work. Finally he took his saxophone and joined a group of other fellows who had quit school to form a dance band. They weren't good company for Larry. Besides, cheap swing music wasn't deserving of his efforts when he was capable of so much finer things. Somehow she had to make him realize this. This was the crossroads in Larry's life. She had to make him see the true course to follow. But she didn't feel up to it physically. The pain that had smoldered in her , side and back all her life had finally . burst into flame. Occasionally something would fan the coals into a searing blaze that took her breath away. She could hardly bear standing upon her feet to do her housework. But she kept it up. No one ever suspected a thing, not even her husband or Larry. And she never told them. They had enough to worry about as it was. She only hoped that it was nothing serious so that she could see Larry through his crisis. She had to do something to change him, or he was lost-lost-had to chan- or lost-something-had to-lost-lost -los-s-s- The doctor straightened. "I'm afraid she's gone." The young man never heard him. His eyes were focused on some distant object that didn't exist. He was listening to voices that never spo\e. A curious beauty crept in his face, and his staring eyes smiled tenderly. Without saying a word, he turned and groped his way from the room. Behind him the dead face glowed with a subdued glory. Page Twenty-one