Analy High School - Azalea Yearbook (Sebastopol, CA)

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THE WISDOM OF MARY ANN By Lucille Scott. Fourth Prize ARY Ann opened the door slowly and walked out on the veranda, her chubby face solemn and her eyes big and round, as she reflected on the duplicity of mankind. Thoughtfully she sat down on the steps and chewed on her bonnet strings; not even Chubby s efforts to arouse her prevailed, as he whisked around her, barking and wagging his stub of a tail with the very joy of being alive and able to chase chickens on such a beautiful summer morning. At length he became sol¬ emn, looking at her as if bewildered, and the truth was it was the first time he had ever seen his ten-year-old mistress so quiet. But suddenly a whistle broke in upon Mary Ann’s revery as a boy burst into view holding in his hand a fishing pole and advancing to where she sat. With a joyful bark Chubby rushed to meet him, but Mary Ann sat still, for was not this false speci¬ men of the male sex the cause of all her trouble? He was the “next-door boy” and had a very nice long name, but Bud was what all the younger generation called him. He and Mary had been the best of chums, fishing and chasing jack-rabbits all day until the new boy came to live in the neighborhood. For a week now Bud hadn’t come near Mary Ann; she had seen him and the new boy one day and, thinking they of course would enjoy her company, had joined them, but she had been told she was in the way and that they didn’t like girls to tag along. And now her scorner and scoffer dared to break in upon her revery! Loftily she arose and, elevating her freckled nose in the air, started to enter the house when Bud cried: “Oh, Mary Ann,- hey, Mary Ann, me and Tom are goin’ fishin’ and we thought mebee you’d like to go along”. Now, Tom was the name of the detested newcomer and Mary Ann’s nose went still higher, but suddenly she paused in her flight, debated a moment, and said under her breath, “I’ll show them if a girl isn’t as good as them.huh, tagging along, is it?” Then aloud she said, “Oh well, I s’pose so, although I shouldn’t be wasting my time.” And while Bud looked at her in amazement, for before she 24

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life itself—his mother. Now as he sprinted at top speed across the fields to El Amigo one thought was uppermost in his mind. He must stop the “Gilt Edge” before it reached the switch of the old freight siding and he must not fail. The old spirit of revenge was dead in Branden. A new and awful fear had taken possession of him. For he was sending the only friend he had in the world to death, to a death he had so villanously planned for other men ' s moth¬ ers. Why had he not thought of that before? Why had he not realized the full significance of the warning of the stars? His breath came in short gasps as he toiled up the hill toward the woods. Beyond those dark trees lay El Amigo, and yet how far away it seemed. Would he ever reach it? How his throat burned, how the blood pounded at his temples, and oh, how weak and heavy his legs felt. He could hardly raise them and yet he ran. An engine whistle echoed through the sleeping hills and a low rumble burst distinctly in Branden ' s ears. A hundred yards ahead loomed the dark space that marked El Amigo. The low rumble had become a roar, the gleams of a headlight were playing on the rocks, and Branden realized he was too late. He staggered on the brink of the gorge. Below he saw the gleaming rails flash under the glare of the headlight. Two hundred yards away was the “Gilt Edge” coming like a meteor. For one despairing moment Branden hesitated. He saw he could never hope to make that perilous journey down the jagged side of the gorge in time to flag the train. Yet he must attract the engineer ' s attention somehow, for a half mile further on lay the freight siding and death. But how could he do this? Yes, he realized that he must hurl himself into the canyon with the hope that his falling body might be seen by the engineer. It would mean certain death, but Branden was now desperate. Then, without a glance to right or left, he leaped straight over the brink of the gorge. Down, down, down, he whirled until with a sickening thud his lifeless body stretched itself across the rocks beside the track. But the engineer had seen his fall and quickly applied the brakes. The “Gilt Edge,” however, was not to be stopped so easily, and ran for almost half a mile before it could be convinced that it must stop. With the headlight playing full upon the old freight siding ahead the train came to a standstill. Branden had saved the train, but he paid the price. The wages of sin had been paid. 23

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would have received such a proposition with a cry of joy, she ran around the house and got her fishing pole. They then pro¬ ceeded down the hot road, wriggling their toes in the thick dust, with Chubby running ahead. When they came to Tom’s house he came out and soon Mary Ann forgot her grievances and laughed and shouted as loud as they. The creek was a couple of miles away and when they reached there Mary Ann was very hot and dusty, but she kept silent for was she not being treated on an equal basis with them? and she would scorn to have them think she was like any other girl. “Gee, I’m hot, moaned Tom, when at length they were in the cool woods; “bet I can get more’n you, Bud.” “Bet you can’t, either,” retorted Bud, screwing up his face as he placed a wriggling and squirming worm on his hook. Mary Ann kept silent, but she resolved mentally that she would also do her best. Inwardly she shuddered as she baited her hook, but she said: “Wish we had some decent worms; these are ’bout half dead, they don’t even wiggle.” Bud and Tom glanced at each other. “Gee, I never saw a girl before who’d bait her hook, did you, Bud?” asked Tom. Tom made no reply and they separated, each hunting out his own particular spot. As a farewell, Tom cried to Mary Ann: “Be sure and sit still and mebbe you’ll get a bite.” Mary Ann only tossed her head and marched away; she knew where the trout bit fine, but it was across a hot dusty field full of prickles, for the creek made a great curve here; but she shouldered her pole and in the hot sun hurried across the field, the sharp stubs of grass pricking her feet at every step. When at length she reached the shade again she sat down and with tears in her eyes, for her feet hurt abominably, she removed various stickers from her feet and took off her sun- bonnet to cool her hot face. The stream here was narrow but very deep, and the water was still. Here and there a splash of sun¬ shine, penetrating the thickness of the leaves above, would dart back and forth on the water; in the silence could be heard the stream farther down where the current was rapid. Very quietly Mary Ann sat down and cast her line; it seemed to her that she sat there for hours without a bite. Her face grew downcast as she thought of the humiliation she would endure if she faced the boys without even one fish. But suddenly her fine pulled and she knew that she had a bite. Rising quickly to 25