Etna Union High School - Nugget Yearbook (Etna, CA)

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som-4 l CARL Lonemzo JANE SHIRLEY l FRANK I PAUL LA VERNE OPAL MIKE This page sponsored by: YREKA ENGINEERING AND MACHINE WORKS DEPENDABLE CLEANERS Experimental and Designing Scott Valley Pickup and Delivery Service Oberlin Road Yreka, California Yreka California

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THERESA HERB MARY i i BOB ' i ANN ALBERTA i i LILLIAN DORRIS ALAN DONNA This page sponsored hy: MAGUIRE AND GREENE CHURCHILL INSURANCE, INC. Prescription Druggisfs Insurance Agency f- -I 111 c,-...QL ll.,-.A..,,., VML, fglifnrni,

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FIRST PRIZE SHORT STORY: IELIEVEN YIEAIRS OLID by FRANK BLACK-Senior Sam Bolen was as much a part of my life as my father or mother, I thought. Sam was a migrant worker, and every year about May 1, regular as clockwork, he would walk into our ranch just looking around as he said. Dad would mention that he needed a man to help him with the haying, and wouldn't Sam like a job. Sam would oblige, and then l'd be the happiest boy in the world! Some people might have called Sam a bum, but not Ig he was my idol-the biggest, handsomest, finest fellow I had ever seen-and he was too. He was a big tall Irishman, standing over six feet tall, and weighing more than two-hundred pounds. He had a handsome face and dark eyes that always had a laugh in them. Because he was continually teasing me, or playing practical jokes, or making over me in the way hired men have, I knew he was my friend. I-Ie was one of the family, too. Dad always said Sam was the best worker he had ever seen, and when it came to some odd job--like mending harness, Sam always knew how. Mother liked him because he was always clean and cheerful, and, unlike some, he never complained about the cooking. You might wonder why a fellow with as many virtues as this wasn't settled down in some more per- manent position, but Sam said he just couldn't. For one thing, he had the wanderlustg and for another, he had an affinity for liquor that had sent him away from his home as a boy and kept him moving ever since. He had kept on the wagon pretty well since he had been working for us and he hoped he had cured the habit. This year the first of May rolled around but Sam didn't come with it, and we worried around for a week wondering if he was coming. Finally he arrived, but you only had to take one look at him to tell that something was wrong. His eyes were bloodshot, his face unshaven, and his clothing dirty. His hand shook and he showed unhappiness and shame when he greeted us and said he sure was glad to get back. We all knew that the only thing that could have gone wrong was that Sam was drinking again. Pa de- cided to keep Sam on and thought he would stop drinking as soon as he settled down. Pa was willing to give our old friend every chance in the worldg but it was no use-for Sam had liquor somewhere and managed to keep pretty well under the weather. You could tell he didn't want to drink, but he was just so unhappy over something that he had fallen into a bad deep rut. He was a changed man too, he would never say a word about his problem. In fact he never said much at allg he just sat looking forlorn with downcast eyes. It seemed to me that he had turned into a dit- ferent person, and I didn't like it. Having my friend so unhappy made me unhappy too. Things had to come to a turning point very soon, and when Sam came clown from the bunk house the third day drunker than ever, I knew that today some- thing would happen. Sam couldn't work, but, like an old horse, it was the only thing he knew, so he tried anyway. To watch him trying was pitiful. Sam and Dad were stacking hay into the barn and I was driving derrick horse. After two or three hours of slow work Dad stopped things-and I,knew the inevitable had come. Next I heard him telling Sam in a funny sort of tone that he would give Sam the rest of the day to get sobered up, or, if Sam didn't think he could quit drinking, he would just have to let him go. Sam just looked at the ground and never said a word. When Dad hnished talking, Sam turned around and headed off toward town. If it weren't for Dad's being there, I would have cried as I watched the best friend I ever had, walk out of my life! Dad and I got in another load that morning and then went in to lunch. Ma saw us come in without Sam and gave my father a lookg then she went on setting the table. Nobody said much at dinner that day. This page sponsored by: ELECTRIC SUPPLY COMPANY Everything Electrical Yreka California PEDERSEN'S MEN'S SHOP Style and Quality 202 W. Miner St. Phone 206 Yreka, Calif.