Dennysville High School - Dentonian Yearbook (Dennysville, ME)

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26 THE GOSSIP could see it was going to be a long hard war. Lucky had turned more and more to religion since he had been in the army and he had found it very comforting. Back home they had gone to church every Sunday, but it seemed more important now. He wrote his mother once when he had heard a rumor about being shipped overseas, Letters may be few and far between, but don't worry, Mom, because God will see me through. Remember how we always called it luck, but now I know it was God who was always with me. He'll help us over all the rough spots. It was good to get home to his par- ents and Carolyn, but Carolyn seemed uneasy when she was with him and finally he asked her if something was the matter. It was hard to tell him she had found someone else. She tried to explain to Lucky that he had changed, that he had grown up all at once. She said the war was probably to blame but Lucky didn't wait for her to ex- plain anymore. He went back to camp that night, as bitter and discouraged as he was when he came home. Months passed, and he heard with great joy the rumor that his company was being shipped overseas soon. Since his furlough Lucky had been getting into a lot of trouble. He got intpmfights ev ytime he went into towrl and'M: P32 were always locking him up. At camp he didn't joke any- more. He wasn't the good-natured carefree fellow they had known the first few months. Finally the chaplain talked with him asking him if there was something wrong. Lucky wouldn't tell him and kept getting into trouble. One day Curly told him he had been issued all summer Clothing and the rumors were getting hotter. Some even said their destination was the South Pacific. Lucky hadn't been issued any summer clothing. Perhaps Curly was mistaken. Curly O'Neally had been Lucky's closest buddy since they entered the army. They were so fond of each other that Lucky sometimes introduced him as me brudder, Curly . Curley even stood by Lucky he changed so much. Lucky Curly wasn't mistaken, and he that secretly it was bothering after knew knew Curly too. The next day they went out drilling in the field and they practiced with live ammunition. All the boys were excited and some admitted a little scared. There was an accident. No- body knew how Lucky happened to get in the way. It all happened very quickly and they 'iinew before they reached Lucky that he was gone. Curly put Lucky's head in his arms and cried, over and over, Lucky, speak to me, Lucky. Lucky's eyes opened and he faint- ly mumbled, Don't waste tears on me, pal. I'm not worth them.. He stopped a moment and then continued in his heavily accented English, Tell Mom dat I love her and Pop. He squeezed Curly's hand very, very slightly and said so faintly that only Curly heard, God bless you always, brudderf' His body was limp in Curly's arms and the tears streamed down Curly's face. All the boys had known that Lucky's dis- charge papers were coming through any day. They knew he couldn't stand the humility of knowing he had been dishonorably discharged from the service of his country. Curly knew it and he might have thought Carolyn to blame but as it was he thought God

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THE GOSSIP between the United States and Rus- sia. The United States is going to ad- mit the Philippine Islands as a state which will make forty nine states. Germany and France will come in on the:side of the United States. -Germany and France are supported by the United States, which makes a scarcity of food in our country. We should have a better and stronger government to control Russia. I think that Germany and France should furnish themselves with food so We could have more ourselves. We should build more factories, newer machin- ery, more homes and farms, and make this country the biggest and strongest country in the world. Colon Morrison '47 Guy Cook '47 Editors 4' if if Ik First Prize Short Story A BLUE STAR TURNS TO GOLD Sometimes the smaller children poked fun and called them names, but Franco Del Amico Wasn't ashamed of his name nor that his parents could speak only broken Engish. His par- '3ents had come fron. Italy, but Franco had been born in America. He had studied about Italy and heard his father tell of its great men. They were Americans now, there Was nothing to be ashamed of. They lived in a small town in eastern Maine. Their home was furnished better than some for they had known many hardships in the old country and their money was not to be wasted. Still they were known as those Italians when peo- ple spoke of them. Hardly anyone knew his name was Franco Del Amico. To everyone he was known as Lucky . When he told I Q.. Q 25 people his name in his heavily accent- ed English, they asked him to repeat and always a look of disapproval spread over their faces.'Lucky seem- ed to be just what his name implied, always the happy-go-lucky fellow., For Lucky there was fun in everything? but it was always on his mind that he' was that Italian boy . Lucky graduated in June of 1943 and the following December he was eighteen. Things happened fast after that. A month after he had become eighteen there was a blue star in the window of those Italians . Lucky was proud of his chance to prove to the people in his town that he was an American and loved his country as much as they did. The snow was falling softly when Lucky said good-bye to his parents and his girl, Carolyn. He didn't seem to take even this seriously. Rather jokingly he told his parents to look after Carolyn for him and Carolyn assured him she'd be waiting when he came home. It was June, and Lucky was coming home. He was a different Lucky, quiet and serious. It had been new and ex- citing the first few months and he hadn't minded taking orders. His of- ficers and buddies liked him and ma- n I rote home about their buddy, Sgt. Lucly, they called him, who never complained and seelned to have all the luck. During the first few months the crap games, boxes from home, week-end leaves, and talks with the boys about their girls had off-set hard- work. Now he was tired of it all. To him now it was just a hard daily routine and the very thoughts of it made him bitter. People had said the war couldn't last long, but Lucky

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' ' g . Q.: THE GOSSIP 27 had given Lucky the easy way out. Curly was sent home with Lucky. His parents knew only that there had been an accident in the field that no one could account for. As the discharge papers hadn't come through Lucky was still in the U. S. Army when he died. In the par- lor lay Lucky Del Amico when Curly, Whose Irish heart was filled with sor- row, went in to say his last farewell to a buddy he would never forget. It was November, 1944, and the blue star had turned to gold in the window of those Italians in a little town way down in eastern Maine. Eleanor Leighton '46 41 41 41 if First Honorable Mention A PLEASANT INTERLUDE ' It was a beautiful morning in May when I decided ing vacation in ing that makes live. The birds was a delicious blue, with only some fantastic tdispend my forthcom- Maine. It was a morn- one feel glad to be a- were singing, the sky blanket warmly tinted an occasional cloud in shape, floating lazily across it, this last seeming to enhance its beauty rather than to mar it. The Warmth of the day was of a lovely lazy kind, and the young green grass wassoft and springy to the touch. This was how it looked to me as I stopped by the hedge and called, Ronnie! Oh! Ronnie! Ronnie was our next door neighbor. He was the traditional scape goat of the neighborhood, the family confi- dante and general handyman. His name wasn't Ronnie. It was Ronald S. Camford but everybody called him Ronnie He was about twenty-two or twenty-three years of age, with dark unruly hair that would not stay in place, a vital glowing complexion, and, in contrast to this, he had start- ling blue eyes. He was about six feet tall and had the build of an athlete. If anyone wanted anything, at any time, he asked Ronnie. Ronnie had answered me mean- while. Coming out of the house, he vaulted the boxwood hedge that sepa- ated our property and came swinging up the graveled drive with a free and easy grace that comes only from living out of doors most of one's life. Ronnie, I repeated, a trifle im- patiently. What seems to be the matter, Mi- lady Anne. He was very fond of nicknames. You'll never guess. I'm going to spend my vacation in Maine. What's so wonderful about that? he asked. It's been done before. Where are you going? Kittery, Ban- gor, Portland, Augusta? No, I replied rather hesitatingly, I want to find an out-of-the-way place. I then consulted a map of Maine, which I had taken from my pocket, and found a small town near the sea- coast. I said goodbye to Ronnie, and pro- ceeded to the railway station, where I bought a one-way ticket. Then I came home and ga efed sufficient luggage for a short 'ip iif the gnear future. The day that I picked for my journ- ey can only be described as terrific. The weather report had said, Cool and clear. It was cool all right, but by no means clear. The day started with a slight drizzle, and before we reached the south-western boundary of Maine, it was a downpour. The con-