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

Page 44 text:

Soldier Boy by Brad Tepper Well, once upon a battle there wuz da Battle o' Gettysburg. Well, I tell ye that ole battle wuz the damndest ever, o' 'em all! To start me story da North wuz killing da South. As fa' as the eye could see, we wuz beating the damn rebels so bad, half of 'em had to unbutton their shirts to eat! We fought, too, ya see! Well, those were da good ol' times. Until one day, da South disappeared. 'l'hat's what I mean disap- peared, just vanished! So I tell ye, we wuz rejoicing from Gettysburg to Petersburg, one whole MAHL! One day, ten days later the South returned fightin' like da devil itself. Would yer believe it? We wuz falling like flies! No one could figure it out. Day, da Rebels, den rejoiced and rejoiced and . . . well, I wuz sent as a spy-type person. What did I see? A man with a dog's head, frog's body, and man's legs! Most of all he talked and walked Rebel! Dat bad! Next day da soldier-type varmint ate fifty men in a battle. We all ran from the slaughter house. On the next day, wez returned an' ambushed da soldier-type persons' army. I took me gun an' shooted da soldier-type varmint, day called Soldier Boy. Dat Soldier Boy spligered fsplitj into three parts. An' one went to da moon, da other went to da sun, and da last other one, jus' fell down, splat, and died! After dat da battle wuz over, we wuz bof Cbothj scared! Dat wuz de most famous battle of em all, Da Battle of Gettysburg ! Oh, by da way, ma name is General Sherman! 1 l The Great Run by Deidre Dixon 4 Once a long time ago, the old man began hib story, that there ot over there was full up of trees! There were perty green trees as far as the eye coulcl see. A man by the name of Carlo, don't rightfully know his last name, lived there. Well, anyway, he waslone of those Italy fellows, and he strutted around here like a stuffed turkey. All the women folk liked him. Person- ally I kinda thought he was strange. He kindaltook a fancy to ol Tank's girl, Melinda. Tank thati was a lumberjack, a good one at that. Tank tol' that ol' stuffed turkey that he better leave his gal alone. Dat Carlo fellow refused to do it. Well, 'bout that time Melinda came up. Tank had a notion to flatten him, but Melinda would not have it. She said whoever can clear that lot the fastest can have me. So they divided it in half, and Tank went to work choppin' lejft and right. Carlo lit a match an' stood back. Well he cleared his side and some of Tank's side. Of cburse, Tank felt cheated an' demanded another test. I-le was a good lumberjack, but he was a great runner. lLittle did he know that Carlo was, too. They were tlo run the next morning. Tank ran round the world twice, in the same time Carlo could only get around onde. So, to show his real strength, Tank ran around the lvorld again. Well, by then he had up so much speed lie just took off into orbit, and we haven't seen him since. My Identity by Jenny Boyd l I like to think about myself, Who I am and what I be, Am I thoughtful? Am I nice? What is my identity? ' I like to run, I like to skate, I like to climb an old, dead tree, I I like to swim the rolling tide f But that's not my identity. I like the seashore's cooling breeze, And camping with the family, I like the quiet woods at night l Is that my true identity? I like to watch a calling bird, j I like to smash an annoying flea, l I like to find a robin's nest, But that's not my identity. . I play an oboe in the band These things are all a part of me L These and other things I do I I l l All make my identity. l L 1 E

Page 43 text:

ff V! Sir Sneeze-A-Lot by Betsy Pastor Sir Sneeze-A-Lot was walking through a garden in the cemetery one day when he stumbled over a plant. Leaning down he looked at it, and immediately began to sneeze. The sneezes were not soft sneezes, mind you, he awakened three dead persons with his first sneeze and made the preacher bald with his second. If you haven't guessed by now the plant was the highly dangerous sneezing plant. One glance at it and youill start sneezing for God knows how long! Now Sir Sneeze-A-Lot didn't know what to do. He was sneezing 177 sneezes a second, so of course he couldn't tell anyone his problem. But he soon found out he didn't have to because people for miles around knew what the horrible, screeching noises were. They scattered away as fast as they possibly could, before the Sir could get closer to them. But, fortunately for him, the loud terrible sneezes eventually came down to a deafening roar and the pharmacists allowed him to come into their stores for help. The first pharma- cist said, I'se so sorry, Sir, but there's nothing I'se can do fo' you. As far as I'se knows, there's no cures for yours dread disease. Sorry, Sir, good day. But that certainly was not a good day for Sneeze-A-Lot. But he was in luck at the second store, for the pharmacist knew the cure. Says him, Sure, I know that cure. It's a right simple one, at that. Allise you has to do is eat a lot of pepper. And with that the pharmacist led him to the great pepper field. The field was chock full of pepper, all right. The pharma- cist told Sir Sneeze-A-Lot to start eating the pepper and assured him that he would not sneeze while he was eating it. So he started to eat the terrible tasting thing and after a long, long while, he was finished. He sat back and rested a moment weary from the hor- rible cure. An then, Sir Sneeze-A-Lot let out a sneeze that nobody will ever hear the like of in a zillion years! It was so loud it killed all the plants in the area for miles around, broke all the windows of the houses in 5197 neighborhoods, and deafened any person who hap- pened to be around for 82 miles including the phar- macist. But the pharmacist was used to that, and got his hearing back the next year. But the main thing it did was cure Sir Sneeze-A-Lot from ever uttering a single sneeze in his life again! And I suppose I should mention that it made the people for 82 miles around never sneeze also! Small But Mighty One day in Ethiopia there was a herd of big gray elephants stampeding thru the brush. When the ele- phants were pretty far away, a little black mouse poked his head thru the tunnel to see what the noise was. As soon as he poked his head thru the opening of the tunnel, he almost got his head knocked off. He fell down the ladder to the bottom of the dark tunnel, and under the bed he flew. He heard a crum- bling sound and a big elephant foot fell through the tunnel and ruined his little house. By this time the little mouse was quite annoyed. He flew from under his bed, and he raced up his ladder and poked his head through the ground carefully. He saw some big elephants chewing up his camouflage around his home. He walked up to the king elephant, forgetting how small he was and bit the king elephant right on the tail. The king elephant screamed, and seeing this the other elephants ran away, with the king elephant right at their heels. Moral: lt doesn't matter how small you are, if you have determination. Nicky Patchan LOVE by Karen Klanga 'Love can be found all over town It can bring joy when you are down It can bring faith to the one with no hope. It can help when you find you can't cope. Love can be found in a girl and boy. But most of all Love is joy. Butterflies by Dorothy Trinh Butterflies are such a beautiful sight The colors on its wings glimmer in the warm sunlight. They land on flowers with such grace, And take off with a fast pace They flutter in the air as the wind blows gently. And as I watch so intently, I think of other beautiful things, Like the bird's flight and the strength of its wings. if ff-p 'fl . .111-

Page 45 text:

SNOW AND FIRE by Elayne Kriss The skier gathered up speed, then soared through the air like a bird and landed with a whoosh again on the snow. Getting the feel of it, he glided and swept over the peaks easily and confidently until he stum- bled on something hard. As if flung from a catapult, he crashed down the slopes, followed by his poles. After stopping by bracing himself against the snow, he managed to crawl around on all fours, calling for help until other skiers came to his aid. Laughing heartily, they untangled him and led him to a clearing where they started a fire. The fire crackled merrily as the skiers fed it with paper and twigs. Greedily, the hungry fire consumed the fuel. Intensely-colored flames shot out of the fire as it danced and leapt. The gay flames, glowing like brightly-colored streamers, were a source of comfort and delight to the circle of skiers. Suddenly, an unex- pected gust of wind made the fire waver and sputter until all that was left of the cheery blaze was ashes. THE WOODPECKER by David Feldman The woodpecker chopped out a little round hole, Where he made him a house in a telephone pole. One day I saw him poke out his head, With a funny hood and a collar that's red. When the water from rain pours from the sky, And the flashes of lightning go flashing by. And the big roars of thunder roll, He can sleep in his telephone pole. Cat and Mouse The mouse creeped slowly as time etched by. He was fearful of the cat, but more fearful of death from hunger lingering before him. The grandfather clock suddenly struck 3:00 a.m., startling the poor mouse. He scurried across the floor into the living room. The soft couch lay invitingly before him. Unmindful of the cat for a moment, he sprung joyfully on the couch. After a quiet rest, he resumed his journey toward the kitchen. He ran on. Finally he reached the cold tile floor. He walked with fake patience to the kitchen and squeezed under the pantry door. Patience had failed. He set to work. When he has sufficiently stuffed himself, he left the pantry. Unable to run, he waddled toward his home. There was a small puddle of blood on the floor. The mouse lay next to it. The cat stood with a gleam in his eye. By Lois Yurow A Ditch in Time by Wendy Metzger Rick wuz the best durn ditch digger I ever seen. He wuz six foot tall with shoulders as broad as an ox's. He claimed he wuz the fastest ditch digger in the west. Folks from all around called him Quick Rick. Well, one spring day a fella named Pete got fed up with hearin' about Quick Rick. He got fightin' mad. Ain't nobody can dig a ditch faster in me. If Quick Rick ain't asceered 0' racin' against me let him prove it. Tomorrow at the streak 0' dawn we'll both set to diggin'. Which ever one o' us digs the biggest ditch by nightfall wins. Someone here kin tell him that! An' he stormed out oi the saloon. The next day at the streak o' dawn everyone wuz gathered near the ditch diggers' camp. Pete and Quick Rick were ready with their shovels. The startin' gun wuz fired off an' the two men began to dig. At first they wuz diggin' most even. They went on this way 'til shortly past noon. Then all o' the sudden Quick Rick had a spurt oi energy. He digged faster an' faster. By nightfall he wuz way ahead o' Pete. Now the folks waited an' waited for Quick Rick to climb out 0' that ditch, but he didn't get out until Christmas. Then everyone told him that it wuz the grandest ditch they ever did see an' to this day it's knowed near and far as the Grand Canyon. AN UNEXPECTED VISIT I by Shirley Win Sitting in the room, Kate read to her impatient listeners. The enthralled group was together listening with open ears to the gruesome tale. But, what was that? Was it a roar of a nearby storm or a plane flying by? Yet, that noise could not have been either of those two. Kate, taking the three children with her, went to investigate the incident. As Kate stepped out of the house, she saw beams of light. These strange beams gave them an eery feeling. Walking on, they noticed it had gotten very dark. Making their way to the lights, the group suddenly gasped in horror!! It looked like a spaceship, but of a shape unexplana- tory. All of the sudden, a door opened and a ramp slowly slid out, landing on the solid ground. Not waiting another moment, Kate and the children fled for their lives. Coming down the ramp two creatures appeared. Gee, said one of the creatures. I wonder why they ran? Such cowardly Earthlings, and I was only going to ask them where the nearest store was, so we could get a new stock of Tang.