George Washington High School - Hatchet Yearbook (New York, NY)

Page 16 text:

I' f E SAT down on what was left of the back porch starrs and watched the vromen hurry rng to and fro He was funny that way Even when he had been lrttle he had always been quret and he had developed a habrt of watchrng hrs mother from the back porch steps never speakrng but merely frxrng hrs eyes on her and lettrng hrs mrnd wander where rt mrght Nobody had ever drsturbed hrm Well hardly ever occasronally Scamps the cat would come over to clarm hrs share of atten tron but that was drfferent Odd how he was always calm when others were hurrred or frrghtened Maybe rt was rust hrs nature Maybe rt was rnherrted from Mom That had al ways been her way There was that day rn the up to smrle at hrm srttrng on the back porch and had suddenly heard a norse behrnd her whrch be rng a Westerner she had recognrzed rmmedrately She had merely called rn her natural vorce Brll fetch me the broom handle by the steps and slowly turned around Then wrthout another word she krlled the rattler and they called Pop to see Frrst he had looked at all rts erght feet then at Mom and then he had taken rt away to skrn rt Mom had gone rrght on workrng rn the pumpkrn patch her son Brll had gone rrght on watchrng her from the back porch steps And now he began to hum just the way he had when hed been a lrttle krd watchrng the clouds rn the blue sky and the way the pumpkrns reflected the suns blrndrng gold He would follow hrs thoughts wrth hrs tune makrng rt up as he went X along never rememberrng rt long enough to be able to repeat rt Mom had always lrked hrs songs even though he had never been able to tell rn words lust what they meant But then of course she could have read hrs thoughts wrthout hearrng the song Somehow though rt had seemed rmpor tant to tell the rest of the world Scamps the corn the brrds the pumpkrns So he had sung and they had understood too He drdn t even jump when rt fell Back home he had heard norses just as loud as thrs For rnstance the trme the lrghtnrng had struck the rrght srde of the house and rt had burst rnto roarrng flames A nerghbor had taken hrm by the hand and had bye to Mom and Pop And the thunder had been terrrfyrng rt had made the whole earth seem to shake The frre too thrs trme rt was loud and angry no relatron to the soft cracklrng flames he had known rn the lrvrng room fireplace After rt was all over he had begun to cry but Mom had merely laughed prcked hrm up and sard she d al ways meant to do that srde of the house over agarn anyway He wasn t cold but suddenly he shuddered One of the women rushrng by stopped to tap hrs shoulder Buck up young fellow It ll soon be over Funny she should say that to hrm Mom had once sard the very same words the trme hrs ear had parned hrm and the doctor had sard he had a mastord They had taken hrm to the hosprtal and K y Z ' N1 1 , ' ' . ' , 5 ' 7 I ' 7 ! 2 A J ' 1 : I I ' i Y l 7 7 ' Y . , : , , , , - 7 ' - ' 9 n - , . I . . . pumpkin patch, for instance, when she had looked led him away, but not before he had waved good- 3 7 ' , - : a ' ' a I 5 9 7 r - , , Q ' 1 7 7 ' a 9 ' 9 . V . . , , . , . , . Q . . . , ' ll , ' U .YY , . . . . , . I ' 7

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'IVHIE RUHLIES Ulf TIHIIE QAMXIE ANIE turned over and yawned lazrlv as the lrt tle alarm at her srde went off XVrth one arm she slammed the knob down whrle wrth the other she began automatrcally to pull the bobby prns out of the curls she had so patrently put up the nrght before Suddenly she remembered rt was Saturday and settled back for forty more wrnks Saturday' anre leaped out of bed wrth a whoop Today Dave was comrng home In just three hours and forty five mrnutes he would be walkrng back rnto the house next door whrch he left three years before anre remembered that day well She had been a gawky thrrteen I-Iangrng on the front gate wrth adoratron rn her eye she had watched Dave as he left for Yale She must have been a mess That was the year she wore those awful braces and had bumps all over her face After krssrng hrs folks goodbye he had sud denly leaped the front fence swung anre up rn hrs arms and krssed her qurckly on the forehead Bye squrrt Ill expect you to be grown up and beautrful when I get back That was three years ago but Janre had cher rshed those words ever srnce anre couldnt re member when she hadnt loved Dave The only fly rn her orntment had been that she was always so much more conscrous of hrm than he was of her Today he was comrng home at last Summers he had worked out west so thrs was hrs first vrsrt ack He was due for a surprrse Wrth the help of her sororrty srsters who knew all the trrcks for trap prng a male janre had learned a set of rules and everyone was convrnced that rf janre followed the rules she would have smooth sarlrng ahead At eleven frfteen anre heard a car pull up next door At two she slrpped rnto a whrte sharkskrn sport dress Rule number one men lrked srmple clothes wrth srmple lrnes As she applred her glamour red lrpstrck james courage began to leave her So wrth her heart rn her freshly polrshed saddle shoes she walked across the back yard and rn through the back door of Daves house She twrsted the knrttrng rn her hand and made her way toward the norse rn the lrvrng room Hullo Anybody home? anre called out Im here Come on rn shouted back Dave janre entered the room and there he was just the same as ever but to her amazement there were two of hrm No the dream on the sofa was defi nrtely drfferent Remember me? I m anre She smrled at Dave anre' You re so drfferent Dave gaped rn amazement When he could find words he sard Darlrng I want you to meet my roommate Pete The dream on the sofa took her hand and smrled rnto her pretty brown eyes Rule number two let hrm know you re glad to see hrm Davre went on unheeded Pete thrs rs the grrl I told you about anre smothered a chuckle I drdnt mean to break rn I was lookrng for your mother She prom rsed to help me wrth my Red Cross sweater She s out but we re rn sard Pete wrth a smrle Come oyer krtten and show me what you re knrttrn He pulled her down on the couch and Dave sat on her other srde strll pretty much overcome The afternoon passed qurckly for janre remem bered rule number three and let the boys talk about themselves Thrs vamprng role was easy The boys finally slowed down a lrttle and sug gested gorng some place for a drrnk anre was relreved because she was a lrttle doubtful as to how long she could play her part She led them to the Bent Straw It was wonderful to have the gang all see her walk rn wrth two college men rn tow Janne thought back to the days when she d seen Dave take other grrls there She had hoped 7 . . . . I . ' 7 . . . , r , . . Y . . . . . 4 -1 HJ - v - 1. r - ny . . , . ' 2 I I - , , r ' l r I - . . , - . V y . Q . . . 1, ' -Q H I J - H - - - HJ - s - H - . . . V 1 . 9 A ' J 9 .. - . . , , H , . . , . . . . . , . 1 r - J I - . . . . ,, . . . 7 ' 7 7 ff - n H r , . . - H . H ' I f V J , . ' , ' - f i r . s y ' - , J . , . . ,, v .. . - - H - - - r . , , . ' f .. X - 1 I v f r r 1 y - - - - 1 U - ,, . - 1 7 J ' b . , - V . , ' 9 , ' . . 7 , ' 7 . - - . . rf nv ' ' ' - 1. 1, - 1 at ,, . . . , . , .