Glass High School - Crest Yearbook (Lynchburg, VA)

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company. The leaves of a bush rustled and out stepped a creature which appeared to be half -human. His hair and beard were long and unkempt, and his apparel was dirty and tattered. His eyes were like deep caverns and in each was a bright red flame dancing about madly, and in his hand was a small hatchet. They were overcome with fear as they watched him slowly raise the lethal weapon. The glitter of steel in the moonlight, a splatter of red, a scream of anguish piercing the silent night, and it was done. The sound of footsteps could be heard running along the ground, the footsteps of the two young lovers who vowed to never again enter the old stone gate which they now hastened to reach. As his life ebbed away, he realized that his venture had been success- ful, and that soon he would find the peace and darkness he had sought for so long. the intruder T T HE story which follows concerns -two people, a brother and sister, faced with an unusual household crisis. Before assuming the reason- ably impersonal role of the Author I wish to explain that this story is generally true and that its characters, the human ones that is, are close relatives and some of my favorites. They operate a very modern dairy farm and in spite of industrial ad- vances, they work hard. I have tried to portray them so that the variance from reality is only in names. I should also like to add that this story has neither a plot nor a moral. It is not intended to be humorous, although it might be called whimsical. 18 BILL DESMOND, '64 It is merely a recounting of an occur- rence with nothing to commend it except that I enjoyed writing it. When the alarm sounded, Annie gr 0 a n e d and rolled out of bed. CFarmers don't awaken to Chanti- cleer's call any moreg they rely on alarm clocks like everyone else.j She stepped into her bedroom slip- pers, slipped on -her bathrobe, and went down the hall to awaken ther brother, Mike, sleeping at the op- posite end of the ponderous old house. As every morning, he would dress and go to meet the men at the barn for milking and she would dress and descend to the kitchen and begin to prepare breakfast for Mike and THE CRITIC

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.13 14:5 Na 'v . li pw? --,ff I e'4vx47 f- J . . - ef., ' P 'fr ' e -If -fvf 4 s . , wx: Vt. 4, , u,,.y ,livin . s ,. N ' .- r ,gmc ' ilfjv' .,' . -,ff 1 ' 'p ,..F3 , ' '-axis,-,'3,f,' ,, 3, EJ Ay GENE MooN, '64 S a lad he had been strangely fascinated by the park, a fascination which stemmed from the loneliness and dreariness that blanketed it each night, converting it from a playground filled with laughing children, into a coffin-like chamber which echoed only the haunting sounds of the darkness. Even the trees changed, becoming huge inhuman hands, sway- ing to and fro in hopes of grasping something warm and fleshy and feel- ing for the hot gusts of night's breath. With each passing year the old park became more and more deterior- ated. Weeds overran the once beautiful and well-kept gardens, the 'creeks and ponds ran dry, their beds becoming parched and cracked, the lawn forever needed mowing and raking and the sound of a child's laughter was heard no more. But still one mortal remained loyal, and late each night he would come, like a shadow, silently, being careful not to make any noise for fear of awakening some secret demon of the night. - Every night for over three decades he came, but one night he found himself confronted with a young couple sitting on one of the old, dilapi- dated benches. At first he was filled with fear and anger, but being of a somewhat sound mind he overcame his fear by realizing that they were only two young people, seeking to be alone and enjoy the night together, and he reasoned that there was no sound basis for his anger. There would be room for the three of them in such a place. . ' But they came back. Each night for two weeks they returned, and each night, a resentment of their intrusion grew stronger within him. The atmosphere of the park had proven to be too weak to keep them away, so it was up to him to see that they never again trespassed on his domain. He would cause such a fear and dread to rise up within them that they would feel death's icy chill creep throughout their bodies whenever they would think back upon what they were soon to see. i They sat alone, watching the stars and each enjoying the other's 'rms CRITIC 17

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the men. The others might sleep later, but Annie and Mike were al- ways up at dawn. Her mission completed, she return- ed to her room and began to dress, but upon entering the bathroom she made an unusual, if not shocking dis- covery: there was a mouse in the bathtub. Few women, I'm inclined to believe, really scream at the sight of such a rodent, and Annie was not the screaming type. In fact, the mouse was rather pitiful as he scratched and scraped, trying to mount the smooth sides of the tub. How he got in there she couldn't imagine, but now the perplexing question was what to do with him. Like most farm people Annie loved animals. No stray dog had ever been turned away from her door. In fact, most had gotten past the door and found themselves com- fortable spots near the television set. Although her legion of cats that lived in the barn were supposed to hold down the mice population there, their great numbers made them more of a nuisance than the mice would ever have been. This particular fellow must have been a field inhabitant for the cats outnumbered the mice in the barn by at least two to one. At length, Annie decided to take a neutral stand. She would tell Mike and let him handle -the situation. She concluded her washing and, with a last glance at the bathtub and its small prisoner she left the room and went downstairs. It so happened that in preparing THE CRITIC breakfast, Annie used the last slice of a loaf of bread and noticed at the bottom of the cellophane wrapper, some bread crumbs. I won't involve the reader in the thoughts which flashed through her mind, but in a very few minutes she was ,tiptoeing back down the stairs with an empty cellophane bag in her hand and in the bathtub, the mouse was content- edly munching the bread crumbs. After breakfast, Mike, as usual, sat over his coffee and read the news- paper. At last, Annie decided to tell him about the intruder in the bath- room. Okay, I'll take care of it was all he said and went back to his newspaper. After a while, he put down the paper and started up the stairs. In the bathtub, you say? That's rightf' I'll take care of it. Annie went down to- the smaller barn to feed the calves. She mixed the grain carefully, poured the mix- ture into the trough and headed back up toward the house. She met Mike at the door. ' Did you take care of him ? Yep. You know, he wasn't noth- ing but a little mousef' I know. Wouldn't a done any harm. I know. What did you do with him ? By now she knew as well what was coming as the reader does. I let him go. . 12