To Have And Have Not

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT
'Not only that/ said the red-headed one. *I
don't know where I saw her last/
'He don't even know what country she's in.'
'But listen, buddy/ said the red-headed one,
'Wherever she is, that little girl is faithful/
That's God's truth/ said the other Vet. 'You
can stake your life on that.'
'Sometimes/ said the red-headed one, CI think
that she is maybe Ginger Rogers and that she has
gone into the moving pictures.'
*Why not?' said the other.
Then again, I just see her waiting there quietly
where I live.'
'Keeping the home fires burning/ said the other.
That's it/ said the red-headed one. 'She's the
finest little woman in the world.'
'Listen/ said the other/my old mother is O.K., too.'
That's right/
'She's dead/ said the second Vet, 'Let's not talk
about her/
'Aren't you married, pal?3 the red-headed Vet
asked Richard Gordon.
'Sure/ he said. Down the bar, about four men
away, he could see the red face, the blue eyes and
sandy, beer-dewed moustache of Professor Mac-
Walsey. Professor MacWalsey was looking straight
ahead of him and as Richard Gordon watched he
finished his glass of beer and, raising his lower lip,
removed the foam from his moustache, Richard
Gordon noticed how bright blue his eyes were,
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