Arvida High School - Yearbook (Arvida, Quebec Canada)

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39 A MISERABLE MOMENT There it stood, tall, sentinel-like and un- nerving - reminding me, always reminding me. Why was it there? I hated it, with its leering look and silly talk. Oh, why had I been so stupid? Why hadnit I stayed in that even- ing? Oh be quiet you foolish grinning article with your silly phrase, 'did-it-again, did-it- again, did-it-again. I buried my face in my hands and tried to forget, but I couldn't. The thought kept coming back and torturing me. I looked at the little alarm clock on the kitchen shelf. It was ticking away the minutes rhythmically. I wanted to stop it. I wanted to stop time altogether, turn it back to much earlier that evening. How could I face people? It was the fourth time. Each time I had vowed that I wouldn't. but I had done it again. Why? SURE Spring is here at least. The snow has gone - practicallyg the trees are beginning to bud, and it is mild enough out that we can dispense with our winter clothing. Baseball has begun, and already there are several broken windows in token of this fact. Bicycles are appearing by the dozens. The pedestrians are beginning to trample down and mutilate the lawns again. The winter has gone by in record time in some respects, but, according to some of the old timers, we can expect snowstorms right up to the end of June. However, we shall see what we shall see. The little kids are starting to litter the roads with glass in one of their favourite games - hopscotch. From the bottoms of drawers, alleys and marbles have appeared, I turned. There he stood, looking malicious and domineering, Said-you-wouldn't, did-it-again, said-you- wouldnit, did-it-again. I took a coke from the fridge. It tasted flat and old. I left it and decided to try to get some sleep. As I mounted the stairs I could still hear that Grandfather Clock ticking away, did-it-again, did-it-again, did-it-again. Oh. why had I gone out instead of staying in and studying for my exams? It would be the fourth time I flunked my final exam to complete my course. 'fDid-it-again, did-it-again. did-it-again. MOYNA BERESFORD Grade 10. SIGNS and we shall be lucky if nobody breaks his neck trying to navigate through the marble tournament vicinities. All the women are starting to spring clean their houses, and one can hardly negotiate through the piles of furniture, Birds are beginning to establish themselves for the summer, and animals are busy repairing the ravages of winter on their homes and themselves. All in all, even though the old-timers insist that this is just an inter- lude, that a blizzard may be excepted any day, I'm not pessimistic - Spring is here! EDWARD NEFF, Grade 10.

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38 A THUNDERSTORM It happened at noon one day in the middle of August. The sky was a bright blue with pure clouds drifting aimlessly about. All week it had been very warm but that day it had turned blistering hot. It was just like the saying, Out of the frying pan into the fire. There was no trace or whisper of a breeze. All was calm and uneventful. Suddenly the bright sky turned to a deep blue, ominous clouds appeared, and a violent wind swirled out of nowhere. A rumble of thunder sounded through the sky. Distant flashes of lightning could be seen, forcing their way through the black sky. A raging storm was approaching. The once-settled birds were now screeching, squawking and flutte- ring about seeking shelter from their bitter enemy, the storm. The forceful wind howled around, picking up dust, twigs, and dried leaves. Unexpectedly people's hats were rolling crazily around with angry pursuers running after them. A THE FASCINATION There always has, and always will be, a perennial mystery in this world-the fascina- tion of the forbidden. To give a person some commonplace object is nothing strange, and will not arouse much attention, since it is not spectacular. He looks at it, thinks about it for a few seconds, then quietly resumes his previous work. But to hint of a secret, show a glimpse of something, or tell of a forbidden place is a sure way to arouse curiosity and interest. No matter whether a 'forbidden' deafening crash of thunder sounded, after which every person and animal raced for shel- ter. Then the rain came down in torrents, cleaning every nook in our little town. Thun- der crashed alternately with the lightning flashes. The clouds seemed to open up and let the rain wash the district. As suddenly as it came up, the storm died down. The wind subsided until there was just a refreshing breeze. The sky took its former appearance, then the sun shone brightly, eager to dry up the sticky wetness. Once again the birds were out, singing gay songs. The drowned grass and trees did their best to perk up again now that they had had their baths. Everyone was upset or worried about the storm except me. Like all the other lucky worms I just crawled around in and out of my many holes enjoying the whole situation. V ERONICA BOLAND, Grade Nine. OF THE FORBIDDEN room holds a dead corpse or still air, an ancient secret or a basket full of papers, it makes no difference to him, the word 'forbidden' is the key, and will lurk in his mind until he yields to the temptation to investigate. He may say that he has given up trying, out of sheer exasperation but in the back of his mind keeps ringing 'who? why? how? where? until the thought becomes an obsession. KAY WOODWARK Grade IX BACK SEAT DRIVERS The pests of life, the cause of accidents and one of the scourges of humanity - back seat drivers. These people can be such agreeable people in every other way. My mother is an exceptionnally good driver herself, that is for a woman, but when she is not driving she is a first class back seat driver. The other day I was driving on a routine shopping tour. When we left the house every- thing started off just fine, not a word said about the way I changed gears. I felt elated-at last mother had confidence in my driving. Then it all began to happen. We were about three hundred feet from a stop light. I was quite aware that there was a stop light there as I've passed by it only about three thousand times, but to assure me of the fact Mother said, Now slow down, there's a stop light ahead. Watch that car ahead of you. No, no, keep to the centre of the roadf' Well, anyway with my mother's expert coa- ching, I finally stopped, but much to my mo- ther's amazement. After the light changed to green, off we went with our destination Bib- bie's Clothing Store three blocks down the street. Did I hear Mother mentioning some- thing about a cloud of dust ? Well as you have suspected, according to my mother, I almost ran into three cars and almost ran down four children during the course of that three block drive. During that short cruise, my mother found many faults with my dri- ving along with the usual, Now watch this car, watch that car, slow down, tI'm going ten miles an hourj. As for the last block I just about rendered the position of driver to my coach. We finally arrived at our destination, without mishap. Even I was surprised. We- were there safe and sound, and it only took us eight minutes, to walk it takes five. ALLAN DIXON Grade X

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-10 ATOMIC My speech has to do with Atomic Energy and how it may bring peace to this troubled world. It is a simple narrative of what was done to give man his first control over the energy locked in the atom and the possibi- lities that some day atomic power will bring man to a state of permanent peace. What may come of atomic fission, for good or evil is enough to stagger any imagination, but the atomic bomb itself is no awesome mys- tery. Let us think of the tapping of atomic ener- gy as a detective story. The first meager clues were found about fifty years ago, when a Ger- man scientist discovered the X-Ray and a Frenchman, William Becquerel discovered what we call radioactivity when he found that uranium salts had exposed a photographic plate in the dark. From this point, Pierre and Marie Curie went on to discover radium, the first known radioactive element and always present in uranium. Scientists had believed that this energy could be nothing less than a breaking down of the element, but this was against the Laws of Physics which stated that the elements were unchanging and unchangeable. As radium dissipates its energy, it eventually turns to lead, but this natural decay is very, very slow. Dangerous to human flesh as exposure is, a gram of it would be one hun- dred years in giving off enough heat to boil a cup of water. According to Physics Laws , everything is made up of indivisible particles called atoms, but as early as 1900, Sir J. J. Thompson, a British Physicist had identified the electron, a minute particle of the atom. By 1918, Lord Rutherford had chipped a fragment from an atom and discovered the proton, and in 1932, Sir James Chadwick discovered a third par- ticle which he had called a neutron. All electrons, protons and neutrons are the same, and it is the proportion of protons which makes one element differ from another. Just as detectives make assumptions, to solve mysteries, the scientists, acting as de- tectives now made some major assumptions but there could have been no bomb if these as- sumptions had not been true. The first of these assumptions was rea- soned out in 1905 by Dr. Albert Einstein who announced his conclusion that mass and ener- gy were different forms of the same thing. He declared that all matter was locked up energy and energy was dissipated matter. ENERGY He now made another assumption, that if matter could be converted into energy by the breaking down of the atom, it would pro- duce unbelievable power. Then, Dr. Enrico Fermi, by using a neu- tron as a bullet and by first slowing it down by passing it through hydrogen succeeded in splitting an atom of uranium. A new figure now appears-he is Dr. Niels Bohr, a great atomic physicist. By his calcu- lations, if the atom had been split, the parts should have flown apart like celestial cannon balls. He soon proved this in the laboratory. Meanwhile, it had been discovered that uranium contains three different kinds of atoms. Chemically they are the same, U-238, U-235, U-234. More than 9952 of Uranium is U-238, there is only one part in 140 of U-235 and the barest trace of U-234. It is the less-than-192 of U-235 which was the material out of which an atom bomb might be made. The great problem now was to produce the U-235 in quantity. At this time, Hitler was about to invade Poland bringing on World War II and un- doubtedly,whoever succeeded in producing the U-235 in quantity would win the war. There could be no doubt of' the parali- zing effect, physically and morally, of even one bomb. In the terms of a detective story, the mur- derer now was identified and the case against him completed by the police. But the facts and alleged motives were fantastic beyond the experience of normal people, and a jury remained to be convinced. Ways were found to produce the U-235 from plutonium in sufficient quantities. It was now time to test the bomb. Other exposives can be tested safely in small a- mounts but a small scale atom bomb would be no bomb at all. U-235 is no more automa- tically explosive than so much sand until the quantity reaches a certain size and shape. If, for a given shape there is a critical weight, at which it explodes, how could man postpone the explosion until a desired mo- ment? The obvious way would be to divide the bomb into two or more well separated parts, bringing them together at the chosen moment with gunpowder or some other con- venient force. tConfinued on page 621