Ashbury College - Ashburian Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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Jules was unconscious and was perspiring profusely. Carol held his head and looked up at the ceiling blankly. They were under the influence of drugs. Jules ' pulse rate was very very slow. He was dying. Carol began scanning the room, then she realized what had occured. She clumsily lifted herself to her feet, brushing her tight jeans. Jules lay limply on the dusty floor, staring into space. He was very pale. Carol looked at him and knelt beside him. She was very experienced in the use of drugs and realized the mistake she had made with Jules. A lethal overdose of heroin. She knew he was unable to take heroin at his stage in drug taking — but he had insisted. She was scared now, scared that Jules might die because of her. Carol thought frantically of what to do. She decided to call his parents. Luckily she had a dime to call. As she was leaving the musty room she glanced at the limp body of Jules and quickened to a run towards the nearest phone booth. e4c%4:% % Mr. Harris was startled awake by the rude call of the telephone. His watch said 4:30 a.m. Jim picked up the phone and heard the excited voice of Carol at the other end of the line. She quickly gave him instructions where to find Jules, and Mr. Harris, although tired, remem- bered them clearly. When Carol had hung up, crying, Jim Harris called the police and related all the information Carol had told him. They said they would come and pick him up in five minutes. Jim bounded up the stairs and wakened his wife. Mary guessed what was happening and said she would be ready in five minutes. The two of them were set to go when the patrol car pulled up — a minute late. Inside were Constables Peters and Kingsley who had been talking to Mr. Harris only three hours before. Mr. Harris and his wife opened the door quickly. The car pulled off at a fast speed while they were just seating themselves. They were an odd sight in the dark and empty streets of the city, screaming along in a patrol car with a flashing red light. After about twelve minutes driving at top speed they wheeled around a corner sharply and the dark street revealed a shabby neigh- bourhood. The tallest building was a four storey apartment house and they pulled up beside this dingy place, bursting out of the car. Mr. and Mrs. Harris looked down the street where another patrol car was coming and behind it an ambulance. The four of them ran through the door and in the hallway saw Carol hunched by the wall sobbing. The two constables rushed in the only 13

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The three men began talking again and she drifted out of the room silently. You say he hasn ' t a car, eh? Constable Peters asked. No, he doesn ' t. I don ' t think him responsible enough to drive one came the answer of Mr. Harris. Constable Kingsley was busily ticking off things on a printed piece of paper as the other two talked. Do you know whether he has a girl friend? asked Constable Peters. Jules . . . Ha! No one likes him. No, of course he doesn ' t have a girl friend. At least not one that I know of. retorted Jim Harris. Oh, I see . . . Well, do you know whether he has been experimenting with drugs? Mr. Harris was struck with this question. He sat there looking at Constable Peters silently, then he said, Ah, well, I ' m not sure. Well, I never thought about it! No, I really don ' t know. Constable Peters looked sternly at Mr. Harris and said to Constable Kingsley, O.K. let ' s go, we ' ve got all the information we need. The two men shook hands with Mr. Harris and said they were sure they would find Jules; they would work on it. Then Constable Peters stopped suddenly and said to Mr. Harris, By the way, Jules hasn ' t been at school for the last few days. Also he does have a girlfriend. She ' s missing too. I ' m afraid this is going to be bad news for you. I ' m afraid she has been experimenting with drugs frequently! Mr. Harris stood in the doorway dumbfounded as the two men got in their patrol car. He couldn ' t believe that his Jules could do such a thing. He tried to reassure himself over and over yet he always failed. The patrol car drove off and Mr. Harris closed the door. He found Mary asleep when he went into their room. He decided not to disturb her and went downstairs again. He sat in the living room by the phone and waited. He feared the worst. Could Jules do it? He asked himself the question again and again. The hours passed and he fell asleep — his hand on the phone. Jules lay in the arms of his girlfriend, Carol. The room they were in was smoke filled and wreathed in the smell of incense and other miscellaneous odours. Music was blaring from the small record player in the corner. The record was stuck and repeated the same bars over and over again. 12

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open doorway and in the room they saw Jules lying. Constable Peters cursed to himself at the sight and rushed beside the body. He knelt beside the boy and felt his pulse ... it was erratic! Constable Peters looked up at the horrified faces of Mr. and Mrs. Harris and said, It looks bad. He ' s so close to death it ' s hard to believe. There was a noise in the hallway and two men in white with a stretcher appeared in the doorway. They carried the stretcher beside Jules and carefully placed him on it. They said a few words to the two constables and quickly carried Jules to the waiting ambulance. Mr. Harris just glanced at Constable Peters who gave him a nod and he and his wife got in beside their son. Mary was quietly sobbing. The ambulance started with a jerk and screamed through the ignorant city, its urgent siren wailing. Looking from the doorway of the shabby apartment house was Carol, her hands cuffed. The two constables escorted her to their patrol car. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying. The lights of the Emergency room were bright and they made all the equipment sparkle. In the centre of the room lay Jules surrounded by doctors and nurses in white cloaks. Their expression was one of ur- gency. The steady hiss-haw of the breathing regulator could be heard as a nurse checked the blood pressure gauge. Jules was coming back into consciousness and he could see the expressionless faces staring down at him. He quickly closed his eyes for this scene terrified him. He could not think straight; his mind was a jumble of ideas and thoughts scattered all about. Jules crept back into unconsciousness. Mr. and Mrs. Harris sat in the office of their physician. His usual calm and complacent face was now stern. He explained to them how close Jules was to death; how taking drugs can kill a person, make him permanently insane or damage his brain for life. They listened carefully and realized the seriousness of the situation. They felt that they had failed in bringing up their son and that he was not to blame; it was themselves. Their physician ' s comments were interrupted when the door of his office was briskly opened by a young, bright-faced intern. He told Mr. and Mrs. Harris that Jules was going to make it, he would not die. The Harris ' sighed in relief. They were overcome with joy. Their physician posed a question to the intern. Has Jules regained con- sciousness, may his parents speak to him? 14