“I—I want to see Miss Monague,” said Florence.
“I am Miss Monague.”
“You? Why I—” Florence broke off, staring.
The other girl smiled. “There have been stewardesses of the air for only about five years,” Miss Monague explained quietly. “We were all young when we started. Naturally you can’t grow gray hair and get your spine stiff with old age in five years. So—” she smiled a very friendly smile. “So—o here I am. What can I do for you?”
“I—why you see—” Florence began, “I—I’d like to be a stewardess. I—I’ve been a playground director.” She went on eagerly, “That really calls for pretty much the same thing. You try to make people comfortable and happy—show them a good time. That’s what a stewardess does, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I suppose so. But—”
“That,” Florence broke in, “that’s just about what I’ve done. Sometimes I taught them to do things, when they didn’t know how—trapeze, swinging rings and all that. But mostly I just stayed around and saw that everyone was busy and happy. Truly, I did love it. But I’ve been away. And now there are no openings. I just thought—”
“Yes.” The little chief of the stewardesses favored the big girl with one of her rarest smiles. She too liked this girl. She wished to help, but—
“I’m truly sorry!” A little up-and-down line appeared between her eyes. “The trouble is, I don’t think you could ever reduce that much. Besides, you’re too tall.”
“Reduce!” Florence exclaimed. “Of course I couldn’t. I’m hard as a rock. I put in four hours in the tank or the gym every day when I can. Why should I want to reduce?”