Franklin High School - Molecule Yearbook (Franklin, VT)

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STORIES 3 A TERRIFYING NIGHT One day in April, a new family moved into the town of Willmar. Their names were Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Hanna. Mr. Hanna worked in a real estste office. They had only one child whose name was Jimmie. He was only eight years old. The Hannas were always having company and going out in the evening to dances end dinner parties, leaving little Jimmie at home alone. They never hired 8 baby sitter, as they thought it foolish. Jimmie was a lonesome boy, who never had any fun with his folks. His father was gone all day at the office. His mother worked afternoons as a waitress in a drug store. Jimmie didn't like the idea of being left alone at night. Ko was scared of the dark and wjp afraid to tell his folks as they would Wninlc him a coward. The Hannas, one particular night, were invited to a dinner party about thirty-five miles out of town. They were to leave a e 6:00 P. M. da arp. It happened that they w re suoposed to teke another couple with them. They invited their next door neighbors. This left Jimmie alone without any nearby neigh'’ors. The nearest lived about hclf a mile away. As the Hannas and their invited guests left, the wind began to Mow. Jimmie had been told by hi3 folks that they would be homo no later than 11:30 P.M. Jimmie decided to read o while until his favorite program came on television. As time passed on Jimmie begen to realize it was getting nearly 11:14-5 P.M. and the wind was blowing even herder now. It had already done some damage to the house and if it continued to blow harder it would do even more. Jimmie knew he should stay up to wait for his folks, but if he did he would be punished for staying up so late. He knew it wasn't safe to go upstairs to bed when the wind was blowing so hard, but he did anyway. It was about 12:30 A.M. when the smoko woke Jimmie up. Ho opened his bedroom door and saw the flames coming up the hall. He quickly shut his door. He w-s terrified! There was no way to escape. He kept thinking if only his mother snd

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9 father wore there If only they would come. It was past tho time they said they would be home. He tried to think of a way to escape. There was none except to jump from his bedroom window. He was afraid to do this because he know ho would certainly get hurt. But, if he stayed in his room he would get burned to death. Which was best? He decided he would have to make his mind up quickly. Finally he decided that ho must jump - to safety, maybe 1 His folks,upon returning home,found their house in flames and began searching for little Jimmie. They found him lying unconscious below his bedroom window. Without taking time to call the fire department they rushed Jimmie to the hospital where the doctors discovered that he had a broken back. His father and mother vowed then, that if he pulled through, they would never again leave little Jimmie at home alone. They had learned th ir lesson the hard way with the loss of their house and tfimmio in the hospital with a broken back. Dorcas Riley 56 THE WORST THING THnT EVER HAPPENED TO ME I was crusing along at 150 miles per hour and enjoying the Vermont scenery from the air. On oith r side of me tho silver wings if my new airplane stretched out in the breeze. I sat there daydreaming and then thump I Something struck my windshiold. There was a largo cr ck in the windshield and the plane began to shudder violently. Then, in a moment of intense fear, I realized that tho worst experience that qould happen to n pilot had happened to me i The propeller had shattered and v ould soon shake tho ship apart if I didn't do something. If I had brought a parachute I could have jumped, but I had to sit tight and ride this one out. I pulled back on the throttle and the ship settled down a little, but I had to set it down somewhere. I.scanned the horizon and I could see only trees all around. The.propeller began to fly apart and I had to shut off the motor. Now I had to set the plane down. There was no hope of getting out of this crash. I togan losing altitude and the ground loomed up before me» I hit tho ground with a crash and blacked out.