Colonel E Brooke Lee Middle School - Cougar Yearbook (Silver Spring, MD)

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Hunger It was a beautiful day. The sun shone brightly and the wind was just that perfect speed. But all of this did not catch the wonder of the little girl who sat in a harvested field. She was about eight or nine years old but her figure was somewhat distorted. Her small belly was blot- ted and her black eyes shone with a distant empty stare. The whole day was blank. No cheerful cries of little boys and girls playing in the streets, no barks of dogs, no alarming screeches of cats, not even a cart on the road. Only still, blank, emptiness. The little girl was thinking now about the last time she felt full after a hearty meal. The way everyone was joyful and the happy smiles of satisfied faces, all con- tent, all remarkably full of cheer. She could remember the times when her parents encouraged her to take seconds, and she did until she could not take another bite. Until she could not take another bite, she thought to herself. Slowly her mind blurred, and all she could remember now were wagons. Wagons upon wagons of wheat rolling down a dusty road, passing so close to her that she could reach out and grab a handfull of wheat with her very own hands. But now she reaches and there is nothing to grab. Slowly she got up and looked around the field to see if there were any small grains of harvested wheat hidden beneath a clump of dirt. But why bother, she thought to herself. She knew that these very fields had been scan- ned by people in the same need as she. The little girl turned to her house, her faded, dis- colored house, the same place where she had so many good times before. The house was empty now, all except for her mother standing over in the corner. The little girl walked over to her and then glanced into the crib. As she glanced into her motheris eyes, two large tears appeared in them as she slowly and silently picked up the limp body of the little girl's brother. As her mother reached the kitchen, the little girl walked over to the cupboard and took out some plates for tonight's unexpected dinner. Larysa Kurylas 47 WHY THE KANGAROO HOPS Long ago there lived a kangaroo on a very small island. His name was Kim and he was the only crea- ture living there. Kim was very lonely so he decided he wouldn't live there any more and jumped off the island and started swimming. He had never been off the island 'before and Kim found out that the water was freezing. He swam a while and got very tired. There was ice floating on top of the water. He saw one of these pieces of ice and decided to rest on it for a while. Kim fell asleep on it. When he woke up, he decided that he should continue on his journey to another place to live. When he stood up, part of his front legs fell through the ice and got stuck. Kim could not get them out and finally they got so cold and hard from the water, they broke off and sunk to the bottom. After he got over that tragedy, Kim started swimming and finally came to a place called Australia. They had many animals there and he be- came very happy. He adjusted to his front legs being shorter than his hind legs and now instead of him walking or crawling, he hopped and jumped. From then on, all the kangaroos had short front legs and hopped. Ann Overstreet

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HOW THE CHESAPEAKE BAY WAS FORMED A long time ago what is now known as the Chesapeake Bay was just a deep barren gulch, known as the Chest-a-peake gulch. 5 It all started when a baby boy was born. His length was one mile at birth. His parents named him Chester A. Peake. As a child he would cut down trees. He was sort of like Paul Bpnyan, only much, l much taller. One day while he was walking home from his hard day's work, he spied his mother and started waving to her. He forgot to look where he was going and he tripped over the Appalachian Mountains. When he fell, his arms sprawled in all directions. He got up and beneath him where he st ld ,ml an 133 lil- : ' Vssg , at i 1 1 I . 'l FQ! R - -K Ben Kramer How Giraffes Got Long Necks Long ago giraffes were looked down upon in the animal kingdom because of their position they held in the kingdom-leaf mulchers. Day after day the giraffes moped about, wearily munching the leaves which had fallen from the trees to the ground into a fine mulch with their slender snouts. The job was such a monot- onous drudgery, munching leaves with their eyes con- stantly focused on the ground. Then one day the giraffes struck upon a brilliant idea, catch the leaves in their mouths before the leaves fell to the ground. How splendid the idea was. It added such excitement and adventure to the job. Soon there was an air of competi- tion and rivalry among the giraffes. The dull, drab job had turned into a fun packed, fast action sport. But a good thing never lasts long, for each day the giraffes necks stretched and stretched and grew longer and longer until finally the giraffes moped about munching leaves off the tops of the trees. Only two things re- sulted from the brilliant idea. Giraffes's necks became extremely long as a result of their craning of them to catch the leaves, and now none of the animals could help but to look up to a giraffe. Up to this time giraffes have been born with long necks which tower into the sky. Peter Vescovi had fallen was an indentation of his body. And in one of the crevaces from his finger print was his mother flat as a pancake. His mother was buried at that spot. And every day Chest fas his friends called himj would go and put flowers on her grave. The tremendous ditch was named Chest-a-peake after Chest. A few years later he went to his mother's grave. He was so sad that for the first time in his life he ltarted to cry. The whole gulch filled up with water. His body made a large bay and his ap ms and legs made rivers. And that is how we got the Chest-a-peake Bay. I l WHY THE BEE BUZLES l Did you know that long ago thai bee never used to buzz? They would talk! Let me tell you the story. There was a beehive in the middle of the Busy Bee Forest. This beehive had two big problems. One was Barney Bee. This bee would talk and talk. All he would talk about was how great he was, and all the medals, trophies, and ribbons he won. Everyone was just SICK of his bragging. The other problem the beehive had was, soon there wouldn't be a beehive because people were cutting down all the trees in the Busy Bee Forest to build apartments. One day while Barney was brag- ging, someone said, If you're so great why don't you do something to save our beehive? Barney said, O.K., I will! Barney thought and thought about how to get rid of those electric saws that were cutting down the trees. He was just about to givel up but he got a brainstorm! He was going to swallow the five electric saws! Everyone in the beehive thou'ht it was a great idea because Barney had a big enoug mouth to do it. So the next day, Barney swallowed the first saw with- out any trouble at all. The second arld the third saws were easy. The fourth one was gettinglharder. The fifth saw was impossible, it got stuck irl his throat. By accident the switch turned on! All y lu could hear was buzz coming from Barney's mouth. ,Everyone watch- ing was so happy because the beehive was saved! Also when Barney started to brag, all hl could say was BUZZ! From then on, all bees ever saywis BUZZ-BUZZ! Chris Sample ' l n 1 l

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l l WHY ELEPHANTS ARE GRAY I Once upon a time, deep in the jungle, there W, s a tribe of blue elephants. They were the only elephants in the world. The youngest of this tribe was named Thumper. l One day while Thumper's mother was doing the lairndry at the river, Thumper and one of his playmates wandered away froifn the village. They walked along the riverbank to the waterfall. At the walterfall lived a very mean lion. Whenever someone from the village came nl-:ar his tree house, he would do something terrible to them. As the elephant children neared his treehouse he called who dares come near my lvaterfall'? Your waterfall? screamed Thumper. c'Since when is it yours?b' Are you from the village? called the lion. l Well, what if I am? talked back Thumper. Thumjier's playmate was backing away from the treehouse and waterfall. The lion grew angry. Are you from the village? he rpared. Yes, we are from the village, said Thumper and added quietly, Sir. The mean lion sprang from his tree and chased Thumper and his playmate. He pushed Thumper into the river and poor little Thu, per fell over the fall. As Thumper scraped along the bottom of the riverl his beautiful blue skin scratched off until all that was left was an ugly, virinkly gray color. That is how elephants got their gray skin. 1 Janet Vielhaber N l HOW THE FLAMINGO GOT llTS NAME The Weak and The Strong A Young Puerto Rican walks down a New York street. He stops in a bar for a beer. A man sitting at the bar makes some sly remark about not wanting to drink in a joint that served dirty Puerto Ricansf' Someone nearby tells the man to shut up. The man sends the young Puerto Rican a dirty look, and walks out. Everyone in the bar sits and stares at the young man. He can feel the icy stares on his back. As he gets up to leave a place where he is unwanted, something stops him. It is not a person or a material object. It is a feeling that wells up inside of a person that prevents him from giving in. He refuses to be turned away by these small people who are strong only in groups. And so he stays until the last swallow of beer has made its way down to his stomach. Now a new feeling enters him-one of triumph, of knowing that he has actually won a battle within himself. As the other men in the bar slowly file out, they, too, experience a feeling. Their feeling is one of shame and guilt-and justly felt. A smile comes to the lips of the Puerto Rican. He begins to leave the bar and he notices a man waiting for him at the entrance. It's the man who told the drunk to keep quiet. They meet, talk a little, and laugh. Then, together, they walk down the now-quiet street. Helene Silverman You would never guess this is how the pink bird, who can't fly got its name! It all happened on a misty day in the Everglades. The Royal Ordler of Birdsf, was having its monthly meeting. The minutes of the last meeting were read. Today's order of business con- cerns the name of our club and members. It shows such little thought, our name is tool hort and besides we need a specific name for our secies. You must have guessed by now, what took up the next hour. The members were arguing over the title of its club. It just so happens they had an eavesdropperg Herman the hermit crab, who was not in favpr with the birds. He had it all figured out in his fmind for years, fbecause that is all he had to do.j 'llhe only thought that troubled him was how to get jthe members to accept it. live got it, said Hernfan. I'll use the initials of my title I thought of fwhich were obvious- ly F .L.A.M.I.N.G.O.j If I yell out in the confusion like a bird they will never know really who I am and they will be sure to accept it bCC3?.lS6 I think it is appropriate, if I do say so myself. j Sure enough, it was. accepted without further ado. The Flamingos, Cas they now were proudly calledj were all so jealous among themselves, that they didn't bother to ask who suggested this ingeneous idea. This jwas just perfect for Herman. Of course the Flamingds never realized what their name meant. Come to think of it, not many people do. So, I'll just slip it in, Feathered Lunatics fwho arej Awkward Manielcs Inc. Not fto mentionj Goony Oddballs. Ann Postman