Life — March 8, 1929 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Preparation" by Philip L. Ketchum This is a romantic short story, not political satire. The narrative follows Ronald Dawson, a young office worker who leaves work late and encounters an attractive girl in an elevator. She mentions wanting to go out some evening. Ronald becomes determined to advance his career to be worthy of her. When his boss unexpectedly offers him a promotion to ninth assistant accountant—a modest raise to four hundred dollars monthly—Ronald sees it as preparation for courting the girl (Betty Brown, the boss's daughter, though Ronald doesn't initially know this). The story's humor derives from Ronald's earnest self-improvement and the irony that his professional ambition stems from romantic motivation rather than careerism.