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

Page 20 text:

ANDY ANI HHS DOC HERE was nothrng peculrar or mysterrous about Andy Somehow though the rest of the crowd never knew hrm yery well XVe lrked what we drd know how ever he was our be t prng pong player and there w as always a gayer atmosphere when he was around And hrs dog Pudgy was our mascot a pup wrth an oyersr7ed tarl that created a cyclone whenever he w as near Andy There was always a smrle for that parr one couldnt help lrkrng Andy Odd though whrle he w as so grfted and amusrng the rest of us often got the feelrng that part of hrm w as lrvrng a drfferent exrstence one that had nothrng rn common wrth ours Qurte a few trmes when the fun was at rts hrghest at the prng pong table or Juke box I d catch a glrmpse of Andy wrth a worrred hunted expressron as rf he d suddenly realrzed where he w as and couldn t ngure out how hed got there I remember one trme when we were down at the drugstore drncrng to the yukc box and when we d run out of nrckels the rrdro Rrght rn the rnterrupted to grye the lrtest news from france Some of the others began to grumble that therr dancrng had bcen stopped and they asked Andy who w as nearest the radro to frnd mother dance program At once Andy snapped off the news and faced them You can stand there grrprng he exclarm d and at thrs exact moment the Germans are march rng on Boulogne turnrng thousands out of therr homes shootrng the French soldrers rn the stom ach so they ll dre only after hours of torture and then bombrng therr crtres' You don t see that thrs rs a sample of what Hrtler wants to grve us Oh well skrp rt' C ome on Pudgy let s go for a walk He turned on the jazz and went out Pudgy fol lowrng hrs tarl rn a drstressed curve near hrs legs Some of us were sobered some grggled but I guess none of us have srnce forgotten that out burst For the next event that evenrng was the scream of the srren on Dr McDonald s car and just as I returned home a telephone call from Andys mother sayrng that Andy had fallen from a ledge on Stony Hrll and had fractured hrs leg rn two places He was rn a cast for the best part of that sum mer and he kept lrmprng for a year after that It must haye been a grrm yacatron for hrm and now that I look back I see how small mrnded the rest of us were neglectrng hrm as we drd Now and then we d drop rn but never to stay long He was proud and I guess our prtyrng looks hurt hrm as much as any of the parns hrs leg gave hrm We were too selfish to grve up our pleasures Even though he re entered school rn the fall thrngs seemed drfferent Hrs lameness kept hrm out of the athletrcs he d been so good at the year be fore we boys forgot hrm as the football season neared and the grrls wouldnt look at hrm be cause he was unable to dance w ell Only Pudgy walks w rrtrng prtrently durrng school hours untrl Andy was free to play wrth hrm H rx rng no sports to hll up hrs sprre hours Andy studrcd harder and when summer crme around rgarn he took extra work so that he could graduate rn September That helped us to drrft strll further apart He would hare to study when the rest of us were hayrng fun and when he graduated and became an assrstant to Dr McDonald he seemed so much older that we thought rt rmpossrble to rnclude hrm rn our games of prng pong and our square dances Then one Sunday afternoon when wed been rce skatrng and had stopped at the drug store for some hot chocolate and musrc the program was suddenly rnterrupted and the announcer read al bulletrn about the attack on Pearl Harbor After the frrst shock and the next day s excrte ment as we lrstened to the broadcasts at school aifarrs gradually got back to normal We organ Y' ya 7 ' J 1 1 U 1 7 ' 1, 1 I 3 - , 7 1 1 ' ' 1 1 ' ' y 1 1 . . ' , 1 ' 1 ' - I , , . 1 1. ' 1 7 ' I I 1 . , ' , ' . ' 1 I 1 ' ' ' 7 9 ' 9 9 Y 7 ' 1 7 ' 7 5 ' V . 3 . , . . . g Y : 1 ' 7 I I I I - . Y V Q 7 A , A V 2 V ' ' A ' ' , , f 1 1 ' 1 - middle of Tommy Dorseysprogram the announcer remained faithful, accompanying hrm on his short ' wr 1 2 1 4 . 1 , 12 ' ' Z ' I1 ' p7 N ' ' 71 ' r 1 1A ' D 2 1' y l g A 3 1, I 2 Q I' A-1 1 ' , 11 I 1 ' , 2 - 1 -2 i y1 ' , , ' 1 1 ' f f I .. . . ,H Vx . e , V y , Y , . A Y ' 1 A I 1' 1 7 , 1 ' a 7 ' I 5 1' ' ' 1' ' - ' . 7 7 I 1 1 , , I .H I 'Ia L H l a ' 5 I R 1 I . S I - , ' , , 1' - ' I I 9