Love Was My Bodyguard 

by Author Unknown

Originally appearing in My Love Life comics issue #6 in 1949.

The dim lights of the restaurant, the soft music, and the blinking lights of the cars outside all thrill me. This is my first night on my first job, and it is my chance for escape. I am a waitress and carry trays to the cars parked under the colored lights. My costume is very short and bright red. My tall hat has gold tassels and gold tassels on my high boots.

"Will you be happy here?" Mr. Case my boss asks me.

"I love it, and I'm the luckiest girl in the world to work here."

He looked at me and winked. "With your looks, you won't have any trouble, Betsy."

A horn tooted, and I skipped outside with my order book and tray. Some day I knew I would find adventure and escape from the watchful eyes of my parents. They have babied me since childhood. I hate and resent it. This job is my chance. It is like a door opening to my future.

On the steps, a hand stopped me. "You look sharp, Betsy," I heard. It was Greg, the boy next door. We had been classmates in high school, and we had gone to school affairs together. I was sure my parents had sent him to watch over me.

"Thank you, Greg," I smiled and pulled away.

"I'll wait for you tonight," he whispered. "You're through at midnight, aren't you?"

"You'll do no such thing!" I snapped. "I know very well that Mom and Dad sent you. You and everybody else thinks I'm a baby. Well, I'm not! I can take care of myself."

"No one sent me, Betsy," he answered. "I—I just wanted to see you and take you home; it's pretty lonely walking down that country road at midnight."

"I won't be lonely long. Please leave and tell my parents I don't need a bodyguard."

I flung away, feeling secure in the thought that I could take care of myself.

I could feel Greg's eyes on me as I walked to the car. "Hi, Babe," a voice greeted me. "You're new here, aren't you?"

"Yes, I started tonight. What is your order, sir?" I asked as I had been instructed. A handsome young face was framed in the car window.

"Ham sandwich, java, and a date with you tonight. How about it?"

It had started already. My first order was my first invitation. I had never been very popular in high school. Now I felt that good times, fun, and perhaps love would come my way through my new job. I didn't want to appear too anxious, so I put him off jokingly. When I returned to the restaurant, Greg was gone. He had probably heard the conversation and knew I didn't need or want him.

The evening was exciting. Three more men asked me for dates, but I put them all off. I would accept in a day or two, and my dull life would change into the glamorous existence I dreamed about.

It was lonely walking home. Only a few cars passed, and in the distance, a dog howled. I could feel someone following me, and I turned around quickly. Greg was about a hundred feet behind me. I saw him dodge behind a tree. I was furious. Didn't he know I didn't want him trailing me? The thought came to me that perhaps my parents were paying him to shadow me. Well, this would be my last night walking home alone. Tomorrow and every night, I told myself, I would have a date and ride home in a car. I'd show all of them that my life was my own and to be lived as I pleased.

The next few weeks were a whirl of excitement. Every night after work, a car was waiting for me, and almost every night, I dated a new man; I danced and took long drives in the moonlight. None of them attracted me much, and the adventure of new dates led me from one to another.

Greg came to the restaurant every night. He never said much—only watched me. I knew he followed me in his brother's car, but I snubbed him and laughed at him sitting alone in the corner of a nightclub.

One night as I was approaching a car with my tray, he stopped me. "Betsy, I've got to talk to you," he pleaded.

"Well, hurry. I have to take an order."

"I've got a car, and my boss gave me a bonus. Will you go out with me tonight? There's something I want to ask you."

"Don't be silly, Greg," I said snippily. "I'm dated up for a week. Is that bonus from my parents for following me?"

"Betsy, you know that isn't true. How about next week?"

"I'll see," I answered as I hurried away. I didn't have a date but knew I would before long. An older man was in the car I approached. His hat was cocked at an angle, and a cigarette dangled from teh corner of his mouth. He asked me for a date, and I accepted, even though I saw the danger in his pale eyes and cringed from the pressure of his hand on mine.

In the restaurant, Greg stopped me. "You're not going with him!" he asked. "That's Forbes. Everyone knows he's a gangster…"

"I'll go with whom I please, and I wish you'd remember that I don't need a bodyguard. I'm old enough to take care of myself."

Forbes was waiting for me at midnight. I got in his car, and we drove off. I looked back and, for the first time, didn't see the lights of Greg's car following me. Fear gripped me, and I wished now that I had refused to go with Forbes.

We stopped before a large old-fashioned house. He leaned over and tried to kiss me. "Stick with me, little girl," he whispered as I tried to pull away. "You're never going back to that restaurant. Your waitressing days are over. There's big dough in my racket—and no quitting now. Get it?"

"Nah—no! I want to go home. Let me out!" His slit eyes and his clammy hands revolted me.

"Don't be a jerk," he continued. "There' easy money in it for you and a good time. You're just the type I've been looking for You'll make a perfect front for our next job—a nifty little jewelry robbery..." His voice droned on and on.

Here was danger as accurate as Greg had warned me about as authentic as my parents had tried to keep from me, and I was trapped, smothered in the arms of a gangster, perhaps soon to be forced to commit a crime for them that had no going back.

I heard the car door being forced open, and Forbes was jerked out. Someone shouted, and I screamed. That's the last thing I remember. A faint was my escape from the sidewalk fight.

"Betsy, wake up. Betsy!" I heard and saw Greg's face close to mine.

"Oh, Greg, where were you? You didn't follow me tonight—the one night I needed you..."

"I followed you all right but at a good safe distance. I wasn't sure how many henchmen Forbes had with him. Come on; we've got to get out of here fast. Forbes is unconscious now, but he'll come too soon, and we'll have the whole gang after us."

I sat up in the car. "Greg! It was you who pulled Forbes out of the car. On Greg!" I knew I loved him now more than I would ever love anybody. I knew I had loved him all the time.

He grinned. "I'm your bodyguard, remember? And I want to guard your body forever." He kissed me, and I suddenly realized how foolish I had been. Love had been my bodyguard, and my eyes had been blind. Now I was awake. My escape and adventure were in Greg's heart and arms all the time.

"My darling, you're—you're hired," I told him. His strong arms held me close, and my heart sang with happiness.
END