Hi-School Romance #40

Even though Maxine was still in high school, she had planned out her life. She'd marry Ralph Shore. He'd become manager of the store and life would be perfect. The problem was that Ralph hated the store and wanted to be a gardener. Infuriated that he wanted to work in the dirt, Maxine broke off with Ralph. Later, when Tom Jordan called, she agreed to go out with him, and at the dance learned that Ralph was working at the Worthington estate in Elmdale. Deciding she had to see him again, Maxine took the train. On the trip, she witnessed a squabble between a couple and overheard the woman say, "If I want to be interested in my father's gardener, I will" and then she threw her engagement ring at the man. Thinking the woman was a Worthington and she was talking about Ralph, Maxine grabbed a cab at the train station and hurried to the estate hoping to beat the other girl there. Racing around a hair-pin bend as they approached the estate, the taxi and Worthington's car collided. Ralph ran out dragging Maxine from the car and after everything was explained, she and Ralph reconciled. Maxine realized that no one had the right to dictate what another person did with their life, and it was definitely more important that her husband be happy at his work.

Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).