San Ramon Valley High School - Kernel Yearbook (Danville, CA)

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SANCTUARY Moonlight steeped the moor. The low grasses murmured in the wind. Otherwise all was silent, the lonely and deathly silence that is felt only in the vast waste lands. Silent and lonely as the moor itself, an ancient convent stood at it's edge. Moon whitened and ghostly, it's many towers gleam- ed softly through the black shadows of the cypress. Oh, ancient, dismal structure, how many des- pairing hearts have come to your patient portals seeking no more than solace and peace? A girl knelt beside an open windowg her pale cheek pressed to the cold iron bars. iShe was dres- sed as a novitiate of the order. The long months of penance were passed, and resignation marked the gentle beauty of her face. In her passive fingers hung a rosary. Thoughts of the past had stopped the telling of her beads. The lovely, stately sister whom she had loved, and the lover who had held so lightly the passion of her undisciplined heart--that dreadful night when she had seen them together on the bal- cony--had heard their whispered words and seen her betrayal in their embraces. Concealed behind the draperies she had watched him leave, and her quivering rage had been maddened by the smile on her sister's face as she sat on the balcony rail- ing. Would time ever erase from her memory that terrified shriek--the fall? But her sister had not died--God had been kind ---- or unkind. In the darkening silver sky, the stars trembled faintly. Over her pale cheeks the tears globed and fell. Tears that momentarily washed clean her soul, taking with them bitter thoughts and regrets. Soon down among a distant city's poor ---- where poverty brought it's desperate train, she would find her place---sister of mercy. A cloud passed across the moon. The cold wind blew about her. She instinctively drew her cape closer. The beads slipped through her fingers one by one as in the deepening shadows she murmur- ed her prayer. Willise Main

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V ' -- Y -f ---- 1- , -1 - I.-7 -.,. ' ! I z tifi ff N learned that the golden box which we valued so highly, had been stolen from a certain African tribe and was destined to bring death to whom- ever it belonged unless returned to the tribe. We began to understand the queer antics of the natives. We shivered at the thought of that twisted mind that had nursed a school grudge to become this vengeance. He, of course, had known the shadow that hung over this rarity and on learning the doetor's prediction had searched for an enemy to inherit this death warrant. The bitter ache of his school fe1low's taunts was still raw in his heart and the one most scornful of the fellows had been I. . Two days later Stipo returned. We found him cleaning a bird he had trapped for our dinner. He made no explanations and when Alice questioned him about the incident of the murder, his stolid unintelligence was clearly a guilc. Stipofre- dicted every native disturbance, learned every scrap of jungle news within a hundred mile radius but he was strangely uninformed as to the murder of the man who came to steal the golden box. ?rize Story Dorothy White

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Eizjr +-a.. V XJ s EL ESPANTO NTHE TERRORU Fclita sat on the little balcony looking down into the courtyard where the wedding festi- val was at the height of its mad gayety. The fevered rhythm of the guitars gave animation to the twirling feet of the dancing girl in the light of a huge bonfire. A circle of eager, happy faces surrounded her so that no movement would escape their gleaming eyes. Tomorrow was Felita's wedding day. To- morrow she would go to the chapel of the padre's mission, and after a few quiet words she would be Senora Moraga. No longer the gay Felita of San Ramon. y She would leave the sleepy, tranquil beauty of the valley that bore her name. Desert the gardens and orchards of the hacienda of adobe and bright red tiles, so dear to the heart of the color-loving child of Spain. She would pass out of the shadows of devil mountain to the stately House of Moraga where the mad old Senor ruled with heavy hand. ' A silence settled over the group as the haunting strains of NOld Madridu throbeed beneath the fingers of the dancing girl. Her clear, lilting voice sang the love song of a Spanish Knight of Granada. nCome, my love, the Stars are shining--N Time is flying, love is sighing-- Come, for thee a heart is pining-- Here alone I wait for thee--H NFelita,N a soft whisper ended her reverie. WFe1ita, did you hear that song--those words? nCome my love, the stars are shining.H UJuan,N she cried sharply,H go away, my father and Carlos will kill you! The hatred of the San Ramon's and Moraga's for the family of De Soto will never die! Since Romero Moraga was murdered the fued has doubled its fury. You