Buffalo Seminary - Seminaria Yearbook (Buffalo, NY)

Page 27 text:

SEMINARIA 1950 23 stantly domg everythlng we could to make h1s last days more comfortable and also hopmg that Mother see1ng our dex ot1on to h1m would change her mmd But Mother wasn t gomg to pass up her opportun1ty over such rubbish I guess she just didn t reallze how deep our love for Eggbert really was Poor Eggbert' He d1dn t understand h1s sudden popularxty Never had he re cexved such great amounts of attentlon as he recexved those days He d1dn t realxze he couldn t have realmed that they were to be h1s last On the last day Tad and I even wanted to sleep w1th hmm but Mother wouldn t allow lt Tad and I d1dn t sleep well that nxght I don t th1nk Father d1d e1ther unless he had had 1t all Hgured out before and just hadn t told us Anyway the next morn1ng Mother gave Father the ax and two hours to do away w1th Eggbert As he went out the back door he mot1oned for us to follow It was 1n the garage wlth Eggbert that he told us h1S plan Th If evening for the first t1me ln three years we ill sat down to a turkey dinner w1th ill the trxmnungs Mother wasn t looklng qu1te so smug md sitxsfied IS she h1d when Flther first brought her the dead turkey Father Tad and I on the other h md dlspliyed much merrlment 1nd plunged 1nto the turkey w1th great gusto Mother couldn t understand the sudden change IH our attltudes and xt made her feel worse This we had all counted upon Father hld sud th It he thought she never really d1sl1ked Eggbert th it she only thought she dld We were hop1ng th1t when she re 1l1zed that Eggbert was really dead at her orders md th it she w is now e itmg h1m her conscience m1ght begln to bother her That was chokxng on each pxece of turkey she ate but our happy nonch xlance and complete lack of sympathy finally wore her down She began to cry accuslng us of bemg heartless She wznted to know how w1th poor Eggbert dead only a few hours we could SIC there and p1ck h1s bones It was only the r1ng1ng of the doorbell that kept us from bursting 1nto laughter Mother w1ped her eyes and went to the door When she opened It she recexved quite a shock It was a frxend of Tad who lived on the next block and IU h1s arms very much ahve and k1ck1ng was Eggbert It was Father who explamed 1t to her Instead of k1ll1ng Eggbert he had gxven h1m to Tad to hlde unt1l the trouble passed wh1le he went down to the store and bought an ilreidy butchered turkey It was th1s turkey they had eaten Tad had txken Eggbert to his frlend s house and asked h1m to keep h1m At first the boy had refused but when Tad remlnded h1m of all the gupples and toads and turtles and other ltems we had kept for him on occasxon he had no choice It seemed however that h1s futher had objected to Eggbert s presence IH the bathtub when he wanted to tlke 1 shower and htd IIISISIICCI th it he be returned Though h1s return hid b en a little e lfllhf thln we had expected lt h 1d Worked out all rlght for Mother wls too relieved to be mgry Since then our funlly his nexer hxd turkey on Th llIkSg1VIIIg ind I thlnk Mother would be the list one to uggest lf LBORA ZANDER 53 1. , I i 1 i 4. L - l , I , , l v 1 . 9 1 ' 5 , . ' 1 ' x 1 I ' , . 1 1 . 1 ' , ' ' ' , 1 ' 1 1 1 . 1 1 1 1 ' 1 ' 1 . 1 , 1 , ' 1 1 , A 1 ' 1 ' . 1 1 3 1 ' H 1 ' 1 . 1 1' 1 1 1 1 K ' ' , 2 ' D ' 1 f 1 ' 1 ' ' 1 3 1 1 1 1 ' ' , ' A ' . 1 exactly what began to happen. She bore the burden during most of the meal, . j . Q 2 j , ' y I . Z , . 1 , . . , . . . . ' 31 , 31 , . I I I 1 A ' , I Q 1 1 . . 1 ' . . L Q a ' , ' . , 5 , 1 . 1 1 ' 1 ' 1 1 ,1 1 ' A 1 ' . 1 ef ' ' a -1 '- 1 1 a ' , ' 1 1 , 1 as 1 l S 12 . A ' ' , 1 ' 1' ' 1 ' 1 3 ' A 3 1 4 ' ' 1. t s 3 ' . 'WV' Y

Page 26 text:

22 SEMINARIA 1950 Poor unsuspectmg Mother' In my mmd I could p1cture the scene Mother and her frxends would all be srttmg around a table Ill the mlddle of the hvrngroom playmg cards wh1le S1pp1Ilg tea from Mother s best tea set and spreadmg around the jU1C16St nelghborhood goss1p A scene of quaetude and restramt Then every thlng changed I could see a small whlte dog suddenly burst unto the room run under the table and between the legs of a startled group of women followed by a lrve turkey leash danglmg behmd Then Tad would run IU dlrty and out of breath making attempts at stoppmg the chase and probably only makmg thxngs worse I could see chma cups and saucers broken amm als and people scramblmg lake mad over the furnrture For a moment the scene struck me as bemg xery funny but then I reallzed how mad Mother would be and began to run even faster The actual scene was even worse than the one I had amaglned Mother and her frxends had man aged to crawl up on any prece of fLlI'I1lfUI'e they could hnd and were screamlng thexr heads off Churs were oxerturned and curtuns had been yanked down The tea table was overturned and lyang 111 puddles of tea and broken chlna As I came ID Tad made a dxve for Eggbert and nussed knocklng over a corner stand wh1ch untrl then had held a table lamp Eggbert was qu1te an unusual Slght hrmself HIS head was crowned wlth the remalns of an IX y plant drappmg wlth feathers from a torn pxllow The plllow case not qulte able to de tach ltself from 1ts stuffing was draped around h1s tul Father had apparently arrlved home just before I got there and It was he who nn ally stopped the chase by trapplng Eggbert an one of the fallen curtams All rn 111 Eggbert s llttle escapade added up to a new tea set new curta1ns the temporary loss of several hysterrcal frrends a damage su1t by the eccentr1c and thoroughly upset owner of Pmky and the possxbllrty of a turkey dmner for Thanksgwmg Now we all were qurte angry at Eggbert but not angry enough to want to see h1m on 1 platter all except Mother that IS and now she had her excuse Under the crrcumstances we had no good argument 1n Eggbert s fax or We could only plead w1th her but at seemed no amount of pleadmg would help She had made up her m1nd and no one was going to change at In desperatron we went to Father who had always been the lead1ng member on the Eggbert team 1n prevrous years and who was to hax e the unpleasant duty of separatmg Eggbert and has head Tad feehng hrmself qurte grown up at the age of ten was trymg hard not to cry and to comfort me wh1le I made no at tempt whatever We d1dn t know exactly what he could do but we were de termmed that he should do somethmg He d1dn t feel much better about k1ll1ng Eggbert than we d1d about havmg h1m krlled He trled to re assure us by telhng us he d thrnk of somethmg Th1s helped a httle but we strll d1dn t have much hope If Eggbert had prcked a day when Mother d1dn t have company and maybe after Thanksgn mg but what was the use we decaded Eggbert was doomed Those last few days before Thanksgrvmg saw the loft where Eggbert was kept becommg more and more l1ke the executaon chamber Tad and I were there con . . . , 1 1 , . . . . 1 , 1 1 1 1 . 1 1 . ' 1 . , 1 1 , , 1 . 1 1 I , , . 2 , . ' 1 1 . 1 7 , 1 , , . . '.' 1 1 1 1 1 1 . 1 ' - - I - 's ' 5 1 - 1 11 1 1 1 s ' ' ' s v-, s 1 1' 1 1 1 . 1 1 1 1 ' . R I 1 1 5 . ' , 1 k 1 , , ' ' ,, ' , , , 1 1 . 1 . . . . . .Y . 1 2 . , 1 ' 1 , 1 1 1 1 . 1 1 1 1 , ', ' .1 ,. ' . . , -1 . 1 1 ,1 1 1 1 1 . . S . 1. 1 1 e. . 1 . . , , . ,, , 1 1 l 1 1 1 1 2 1 4 K z 1 ,. , , 1 . . . 1 1 1' . , . 1 ' 1 K 1 - 1 1 1 1 . 1 ' 1 . . . 1 .. 1 , . 1 ' . 2 Q . . . . . . 1 . , . . . 1 1 .v. im . I 1 , . . 2 - l s ss :-

Page 28 text:

SEMINARIA 1950 Curfaln Gomg Up PRIZE ESSAY The the 1tre was old and n1a1nt'11ned 1-1 qu1et Cllglllty vuhlch see111ed 1lmost .1l1en 111 the busthng world wh1ch had groven up iround If In th lobby plllltlngs of for111er gre It 1ctors 111d 1ctresses were hung who st1red dully lt the people flllllg IH The 1nter1or w1s p11nted 1 deep sh 1de of ros 111d on the Celllllg the hghts for111ed 1 umque flower pattern Strange dron1ngs th111 squ1wks 1nd 111 occas1on1l Illlltfbfed CjlCllllt1OI1 lSSLlt.Cl from the orchestr1 p1t where the 111us1c11ns were flllllllg the1r 111stru111e11ts Ne 1rby 1 s111 Ill boy s1t e11tr1nced by everyth111g he s1w FIFSI he would gaze 111 r 1pt11re It the l1ghts next turn to stare 1t the people Bllteflllg then s1t down and e1refully ex11n1ne h1s 1lre1dy well thumbed progr 1111 lSlC1llg h1s mother QLILSUODR 1ll the wh1l How gre 1tly h1s re 1ct1o11s d1ffered from those of Ill elderly wom1n who o cup1ed her t1111e by COUUDLI 1lly re1d1ust1ng her h1t' To exh1b1t her 11ew outht w1s Ol3V1OL1Sly her only purpose IU commg She shr1lled ID gre1t det 111 to s111t 1I'lLl of her 1111ny 1nd x1ry1ng l1lIl16l1t9 One of the cr1t1cs Ill the front row h1d CL1I'l1eCl to see who w1s glvlllg such 111 1mus1ng monologue but belng re pulsed by 1 ch1lly gllllC6 turned 1ga1n 1nd drun1111ed h1s pe11c1l 1g'llllSI1 h1s pad IS he sh 1red pred1ct1ons w1th one of h1s colle1gues B1ck st1ge w1s hot 1nd reeked of gre1se pllllf l3Llt exeryone w1s 111 such 1 flurry of exc1te111ent th It these factors were oxerlooked The m1ke up 1rt1st c0111 pleted h1s work on the le1d1ng l1dy 1nd prepared h1s utens1ls for the p1use before the se Olld 1Ct whe11 some touch ups would undoubtedly be necessary After h IX lllg f1n1shed h1s prep1r1t1o11s he rushed from h1s roo111 to the s1de l1nes 111 order to be III 1 good pOSlIlOI'1 to see the play ex1sper11ted If the leadmg lady whose nervous hdgetmg had del1yed h1111 A woman w1th her exper1ence should cer t11nly hue more po1se OI1 1n openmg n1ght he felt Me 1nwh1le she was bus1ly . . 1 S' 1 ' ' W 3 3 Y 3 ' 'n ' S 1 3 - A A . 1 A A 11 1 A 1 1 e, 1 1 1A A 1 A 1 A ' . A , A 1 1 1 A 1 3 3 A2 2 A A 5 Z A V 'Q 3 1 A Al 3 5 . 5. . x 11 1 1 1 1 , 1 1 1 A 1 1 . A 1 ' 1 1 1 , 1 , 11 1 1 A 1 A 1 1 f 1 1 , 1 A A1 1 1 A 1 1 1 A e. 11 A 1 A A 1 1 1 1 1 1 c A A A 1 1 .A A 1 . A A 1 1 A A . A A 1 1 A the little audience of friends she had collected 2ll3OLlt the style 1111d 111ater111l of her 1 A 1 1 1 1 '1 A 1A 1. 1 1 A A 1 A 1 1 1 1 1 A A 1 1 A , A 1' . A . 1 1 A 1 3 A s A r A A I 1 3 - A A A A 3 1 , I s 1 - 1 w, 1 A -1 vs 3 . ' . s A 1 s s 1 vs 1 . 1, , ' r . Q . K 1 1 .4 . 2 3 1 A 3 L , 1 - 1 1 1 , .1 . 1 1' A A 1 A s ' 1 A -1 A- - A s A a A . I . . , I 1 4 X I I . 1 ' A ' YN A 3 ' A A 3 3 ' A 'L ' A