Stadium High School - Tahoma Yearbook (Tacoma, WA)

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THE TAHOMA

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20 THE TAHOMA curtain and grinned at her reflection in the door glass. There she is up there spying on me -l hope she sits there all afternoon -I hope she cries her eyes out-I hope she hates me,H fiercelyg and then in a pleasant voice: Hello, Ted, yes, isnlt it lovely, kind of hot in the sun, tho, isn't it? Come in and I'll have Ann bring you some lime freeze. She smiled invitingly. The porch did look cool. Peg did look charming in the green dressy and lime freeze was his favorite ice. So Ted came, and stayed. l-le was the first, and there were others, eight in all. Peggy played the ukelele and laughed and talked and gave each one, in turn, her flattering attention-and flirrt- ed just a little with each one. But Peggy was not satisfied. What were eight men you didn't like partic- ularly to one that you did like? About four o'clock, however, Ron- ald Rhodes came by. Hello, Rod, she called out, come in and let me give you something cool, won't you? Ronald, eying the eight young men occupying the porch, said: No, thanks, I'm in rather a hurry, and walked on past Peggy-up the steps of the house next door-and into it. Peggy was furious! Once more her eyes blazed-and once more she smiled scornfully-this was only the first day. For seven days she held her court. and for seven nights her porch, was occupied by many white-trousered young men. For seven days she fussed up and looked beautiful. For seven days she felt angry and acted charmingly, vivacious, captivating: but for seven days Ronald Rhodes passed by and up the steps of the house next door. On the morning of the eighth day her eyes were red when she came downstairs, and when her mother asked what was the matter she answered UNothing! Once more the Preston household wore an air of industry. Once more Peggy, in cap and apron, directed the placing of articles of comfort and decoration. Take the couch in and put it in the den, Bud: run up and take this green pillow back, Helen: help me with the table, Ann: yes, the small rug goes on the piano stool. When the porch was all clean save for the porch swing she smiled a crooked little thank you and, running up to her room. locked the door, and throwing herself on the bed, cried out her de- feat and shame. Two hours later, the signs of the storm removed by water and powder, she came clown- stairs. l-le hair was plainly dressed and she had on a shirtwaist and skirt. lf anyone comes, Ann, l'm not at home. She sank down desolately on the bottom step and thot it all out again, and blushed. Half an hour later, answering the phone, she cried excitedly: Oh, yes, Ronald. lf you think you can stave off your other numerous beaux this even- ing l'd like to come out and talk to you. There is something l've want- ed to say to you all week, but you are so popular that l couldn't expect to talk to you alone, but l'm tired of waiting, May I come? Once more the front porch was oc- cunied in the evenings-and once again, and this time without effort. Peggy captivated her audience of one.

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22 THE TAI-IOMA ??. l..ord! We had a great time, said Bilious, when asked about the trip he and three other savages had taken up l'lood's Canal the summer before. And cheap-why, we got nearly all our eats, chickens, and eggs and vegetables, you know, for nothing, or 'for the takingf if you want to call it that. .And we made more 'summer acquaintances' in those two Weeks than in all our lives before. All those farmers us or knew of us Say, it was great. up that Way knew before we gots thru. You see, there were four of us and we'd never been away together before, so the trip was full of sur- everybody. They called or 'Biliousf according to what I was doing'at the moment. Then there was 'Uselessi fhe pro- nounced it Ulyssesj, the 'Cherubf so called because of his unsophisticated and innocent expression when he ex- plained to the farmer why he was weeding his vegetable garden. And then there was F lossy, which needs no explanation. We had decided to let 'Uselessl run the 'Tin Lizzy' on account of the dexterity with which he cut the corners on 9th and Broadway in his Hudson, but when it came to the simple matter of starting that Evinrude, there was nothing doing. Useless started his Hudson by pulling a lever, and stop- ped it by pushing another one, and when anything else was required, he telephoned down to the garage for some one to come up and assist with the car. Flossy and the Cherub weren't any good at this either. The former had taken Physics from Tvlr. prises for me 'Cap' 33 .99 Post and was entirely too theoretical. and the latter was artistically inclined, so of course I had to start the thing. I had a hair pin that I used to wiggle around in the old engine and sometimes it went and sometimes it didn't. Mostly it didn't. Our morn- ing recreation was getting that engine in a good humor, and when that was accomplished, we had to let it go until it ran down itself, and it certainly landed us in some queer places. Well, we all met on the dock about 3 o'clock tha.t afternoon and started to load up the Tin Lizzy with our stuff and Useless' 'baggagef as it turned out to be. All I had was what I had on and some canned eats, a fountain pen and some stationery. The Cherub's chief possession was half a sack of spuds, which he clung to fondly, ignorant of the land of milk and honey which lay before us. Flossy had enough canned cream to supply the Day Nursery for a couple of months, and Useless deposited two huge U. S. mail sacks bulging over with bundles in the bow of the boat. l-le told me of cold roast beef his mother had cooked, olives and lots of trimmings. They' turned out later to be a regular Keystone Comedy or Barnum or Bailey side show. A 'LThere are more ways of loading a boat than you can think of, and be- lieve me, the four of us had all the combinations there were. It was half past five before we were ready to start, and then there was another half hour for tuning up the engine. I wiped it all out with a soft piece of rag torn from one of the mail sacks,