Stadium High School - Tahoma Yearbook (Tacoma, WA)

Page 19 text:

THF IAHOMA ln the mornrng Dale hurrred back to the hosprtal to see Glen fhe doctor greeted hrm somewhat gravely sayrng Your brother rsnt restrng well thrs mornrng He has a hrgh fever You may see hrm for a whrle rf you dont stay long or talk too much Dale entered the room slowly Glen lay half asleep Hrs face lrt up when he saw Dale Oh Dale you drdnt tell the folks drd y0u3 lm so glad They must not be worrred Dale lm burnrng p My leg feels so queer rust lrke rt rsnt there l cant move rt And Dale l wont be able to graduate l cant be valedrctorran You ll have to do rt for me you really should anyway you drd all the work Dont talk Glen old boy the doctor sard you must be quret l ll go to see the prrncrpal thrs mornrng but l won t be valedrctorran Glen smrled farntly Youll have to Dale Please go now and see the prrncrpal l cant rest trll rt s all settled lts all my fault he broke off wrth a moan Lookrng at hrs brother s miserable flushed face Dale prtred hrm from the bottom of hrs heart lll go now Glen and lll come back thrs afternoon and stay wrth you rng pornt of hrs lrfe The prrncrpal shared Glen s vrewpornt You boys have been at the head of your classes all through the four years The only reason that Glen was chosen for valedrctorran rn stead of you rs that Glen s recrtatrons were so brrllrant You never say much rn class Dale but you possess the abrlrty just the same Youll have to carry on now and take your brothers place l s your duty Poor Dale was panrc strrcken He returned to the hospital wrth the feelrng that he had been sentenced to death and the two weeks that followed were harrowrng rn the extreme He neglectd hrs school work and went around wrth a preoccupred arr muttering hrs speech over to hrmself When the rest of the students heard that Dale was to delrver the address they made lrfe unbearable for hrm by sayrng such thrngs as Hello how s ulrus Caesar comrng on3 Have you made your last will and testament yet Dale3 Why so happy old chap3 You look as cheerful as a bulldog Every afternoon rmmedrately after school Dale hurrred to the hosprtal where Glen coached hrm on how to delrver the hated speech Glen enjoyed the srtuatron rmmensely It ll be the makrng of you Dale See rf rt rsnt he would often say The two boys had planned to keep rt a secret from therr grandparents Dale was to meet the trarn that came rn at 7 30 and conduct the couple to the audrtorrum He was to explarn that Glen was behrnd the stage rehearsrng hrs speech for the last trme that both the boys would meet them after the program and that everythrng was pro ceedrng splendrdly Under no condrtron must they know about the true state of affarrs untrl afterwards when the news of Glen s rllness nd Dales takrng hrs part would be broken gently The boys ' i i 1 I5 : - ' , . His interview with the principal of the High School was the turn- . . i t. , - - . . . 7 ki 1 C I . . . I

Page 18 text:

THE TAHOMA wonder rf lm mrssrng somethrng l ought to haxe l dont get much krck out of lrfe But l dont see what Glen sees rn th rt crowd he frnrshed savagely anyway lm gorng to bed Glen can take care of hrmself l m through As he started up the starrs the telephone bell rang A vague premonrtron of danger swept over hrm as he prcked up the recerver Hello rs thrs Dale Buford3 a vorce sard Thrs rs Doctor Wharton of the Qrty Hosprtal speakrng Your brother has been an accrdent and rs now here serrously rnjured He wants you Come at once Hrs brother hrs own brother rnjured perhaps dyrng' For a moment hrs brarn ceased to functron Then he grabbed hrs hat and dashed out of the house The cool nrght arr seemed to quret hrs nerves As he ran he kept repeatrng to hrmself mechanrcally He wants you He wants you Then Glen was not angry he wanted hrm Tears blrnded hrs eyes as hrs thought of the way he had treated Glen before drnner Perhaps hed never see hrm alrve agarn Dale never knew how he reached the hosprtal He re membered only the blur of the nurse s face as she drrected hrm to the room and the grufl: sympathetrc vorce of the doctor The smell of the anaesthetrcs choked hrm Hrs brarn whrrled but somehow he got there and was kneelrng by hrs brother s bedsrde Glen he whrspered hoarsely Glen' Look at me' Speak to me' lts ale Glen lay there a very drfferent Glen Hrs head was bandaged hrs face pale and drawn wrth parn Recognrzrng Dale he smrled a weak trred smrle that seemed to hurt Sorry Dale he murmured all my fault Then he closed hrs eyes and lay there rlent and wan Dale rarsed a strarned and rmplorrng face to the Doctor He wont dre wrll he Doctor5 he asked breathlessly The Doctor smrled No my boy your brother wrll not dre Hrs rrght leg rs broken hrs head rs badly cut and hrs body rs some what brursed but he wont dre Dale trred to smrle but somehow hrs lrps wouldnt work He eemed petrrfred Hrs chrn trembled and for one horrrble moment he thought he was gorng to cry Frercely he pulled hrmself t gether and rose strflly Thank you Doctor lll make the neces ary arrangements The Doctor put hrs hand on Dales shoulder and sard krndly Thats all rrght Now you go home and get some sleep You look nearly as rll as your brother But by the way dont you c-rre to know about the accrdent3 Oh ye Drle answered vacantly yes about the accrdent Your brother had been drrvrng about srxty mrles an hour apparently wrthout carrng where he was gorng He crashed rnto a car whrch was parked rn front of a house t . , . . . . U - C . . c , . .. . . Y 1 ' . . -- , . . . . .. . . V, . . - . - - - . .. .. .. .- - . .. .. . .. , , . . . D .. r - . - - . V - - . , .. -. . , , s , Q . , e . . . . H i . .. T . . - I Q . . . V 1 ' . . . .. , . . . . . . - . - . S . 5 . . . , . A- .- S' - - .. . . T 1 . . U li Q'. . . - . .1 nh ' . sf. 1 . . , ., l . . - . .v

Page 20 text:

THE TRHOMA looked so much altke that they would have dtfhculty tn telltng., thent apart The old folks would doubtless belteve th tt Glen was de ltvertng the speech as he was supposed to and than Dale was sttttnt., up on the platform wtth the rest At last the eventful ntght arrtved D tle felt th tt ht ltst vesttge of tntelltgence had dtsappeared He was nervous and shaky ve some force seemed to propel htm onward Xt stu oclock he went to Glen for the hnal tnstructtons and advtce tfterw trd maktng hts way to the statton to meet hts grandfather and grandmother l seemed to htm that they would never stop asktng questtons Would tomorrow never come3 He ftnally left hts gr tndparents wtth an usher promtstng to tell Glen for them th tt they would be watttng for hts speech Then he hurrted to hts place on the plat form found htmself speaktng to some of hts frtends tn a gutteral tone and thtnktng of all the horrtble thtngs that mtght happen fverythtng seemed to be wrong Hts hatr felt mussed hts tte seemed to be crooked He felt rtdtculous and out of place yet he must go through wtth tt The curtatn was gotng up Before htm were hundreds and hun dreds of faces They were all looktng at htm Now the prtnctpal was speaktng What a great man he was' He spoke as tf he were perfectly at home on the platform lt must be wonderful to be ltke that Hts knees were shaktng How fooltsh' Why should they shake5 That was nothtng just a mere audtence Hts knees had no rtght to shake ltke that He wondered tf tt would be all rtght to hold them steady Some one else was talktng now At least he wasnt the only one Oh well tt was all tn a ltfettme Then he heard the prtnctpal tntroductng htm as the next speaker He found htmself standtng and begtnntng to talk The words came automattcally at ftrst as tf he were grtndtng coffee He went bravely on however when suddenly out of the blur of faces he saw hts grandmother She was leantng forward tn her seat and her old face was altght wtth anttctpatton and prtde From then on he spoke to her He found the words comtng easter tt was even posstble to thtnk a ltttle and hts self possesston was comtng back Gradually the faces seemed to drop further back He forgot about htmself and hts trembltng knees and thought only of what he was saytng Before he realtzed tt he was through completely through' As he took hts seat the whole house thundered tts applause l-hey were clapptng for htm he was through and he had made no mtstakes Why tt wasnt so bad after all The Prtnctpal arose and told the audtence of Dale s unttrtng ef forts and noble sacrthce Once more they clapped loudly Although Dale s knees were trembltng as vtolently as before there was a tng tng joy tn hts heart He had done hts part and had clone tt well But there was more to come What should he say to hts grand parents3 Durtng the rest of the program he wondered what he should do and how he should break the news of Glen s acctdent I6 - .f ' 4 1 . . z ' - , , ,. . E, ' ,. 2 2 sz .', . . . ,vt , . . . . . . V2 E , I , gy . . . 'Y ' V . - ' , . , , - ' ' Q . , - . v N I - , Q - . Mrs . .