Durham High School - Messenger Yearbook (Durham, NC)

Page 16 text:

THE MULLION The queen reigns in golden diamonds In a land of castles and seagulls With the grace of beauty and art, And loves to walk through pigeoned parks And touch the slote and grasses between, Stepping slowly and watching the sky of Spring; Eve ' yone needs a queen. The pauper reigns in a garden plot In a countryside of sunshine and harvest With the grace of autumn and the fertile seed. And loves to stroll a leaf-strewn lane And touch the leaves blowing there free. Stepping briskly and watching where his next step will fall; Everyone needs a pauper. But everyone is going I know not where. In a world of summer and winter. With a soul of ice and fire. And nothing to thaw or extinguish it. Senses honed dull. Sleeping; Do queens and paupers need everyone? — Steve Preiss 12

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ONE LITTLE GIRL She clawed as if trying to fly underwater, moving her slender arms faster, racing death to tread up¬ wards towards the light. The tiled bottom of the swimming pool ran in wavy black lines, distorting more as she felt the pressure of water rush up through her arms. The fuzzy blackness in her mind obscured her vision. Pain in her lungs cut knife-like, sharp and twisting. But she drew her arms to her sides, pinning them there as if with weighted metal chains, to slow her ascent. It was then she began to count objects in her mind, compensating for the emptiness in her lungs. Moving noises like the squiggly lines on the bot¬ tom of the pool broke her reverie. The chlorine burned in her eyes. Groping, her han d touched the ledge. She pulled herself to the side of the pool by her handhold and felt her ear break the meniscus of the water. The feeling that her head was stuffed with cotton wads popped in her ears. The voices came again: Phoebe! Phoebe! Now quit that. Don ' t ever do it again. What are you trying to do, anyway? Phoebe leaned back, caught her hair in the water, did not answer. Two knees like pink gourds were pressed against the pool floor and crouched behind them, on hands and knees, peering through spec¬ tacles, was Allison. I can hardly breathe myself when you stay down so awfully long. It ' s almost like you didn ' t want me to breathe either. Now quit staying down on the bottom of the pool, said Allison. Her spectacles were misted. Short black hair hugged her face like an inverted bowl. Her dark eyes squinted as she peered upward to the overhead light fixtures to read the wail clock. Come on out, anyway. It ' s time to go. Everybody else has already gone home. And besides, you ' re not procticing now. You haven ' t done any laps in the last half hour. You ' re just goofing off. It ' s time to go home for lunch, Phoebe. Allison sat down on the floor and took off her spectacles and polished them c;!ean on her blouse. Phoebe closed her eyes, holding on io the ledge with one hand, and caught her hair in ihe water again and let her ears pop. She sensed Carolyn Vaughan the reflection of lights playing over the water in her mind ' s eye. I don ' t want to come out yet, she called. Phoebe pushed off with her feet from the pool, swimming on her back out to the deep end. Allison adjusted her glasses. You have to, she said. It ' s time to go. Phoebe pushed her face back in the water, sucking up water through her teeth and rolling on her back. She squirted it out like a whale. I waited all morning for you to finish team practice. Phoebe squirted again. 1 waited all morning. Aren ' t you ready to go yet? You ' re not practicing. Come on, pleaded Allison, unbending from her position at the side of the pool. She smoothed her hand over her shorts, straightening out the creases. Come on out, she said. 14