John Adams High School - Clipper Yearbook (Ozone Park, NY)

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OPERATION SACRIFICE BONNIE HURRIED into the house, his house, and successfully finished his struggle to shut the door. He removed his rainsoaked coat and hat and hung them up. He brought his valise into the living room, set it down, and eagerly went about building a fire in the fire- place, iust as he had pictured him- self doing so many times before in his imagination. After the fire caught on, he stayed to warm up a bit and then walked quickly to the front door, pulled it open, and peered outside into the heavy rain. It had been raining stead- ily all day and Ronnie was worried that the rain would keep his father from coming to the house. Today would be the first time that he would see his father in five years and he didn't want anything to go wrong. He shut the door again and decided that now would be a perfect time for him to go through the house which had sheltered him since infancy. Ronnie climbed the Sixteen Lillian Crannas stairs and as he reached the top floor cz flood of memories came over him. The sight of the long hall with the many doors leading to the various rooms acted as a stimulus to him and he could vividly remember the happy days of his childhood. Familiar scenes came rushing back to him and he was tempted to slide down the bannister once again with the reckless abandon of a young boy who had just seen the new, shorter, exciting route down- stairs. As he walked through the long hall, he hesitated before a large oaken door, walked on, and with a short oath at himself for being so frightened, returned to the door, and giving the door a vicious turn he entered the room. Standing there in the center of the room, which was exactly as it had been on that fateful day five years ago. a cold sweat broke out on Ronnie's forehead and his first impulse was to

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turn around and run from the room back to the warmth and cheerful safety of the living room. Fighting down his desire to flee, he forced himself to sit down cmd as he did so, the whole horrible nightmare became a reality again, and he relived it as his thoughts raced back with the speed of terror to that day. He could see, once again, his friend's face, distorted with rage and envy, as he threw Rormie's prize cut glass vase upon the floor smash- ing it to smithereens. Two of these tiny pieces of glass pierced Ronnie's corneas and he became totally blind. He could remember his father's patience, solicitude and great desire to help to restore his son' sight. Ronnie had gone to doctor after doctor, pray- ing for and seeking help. However, he was finally convinced that there was no chance for him to regain his sight. Ronnie and his father plunged into the very depths of misery, but so great was their love for each other that, they tried desperately not to show their unhappiness during the days and months that followed. Two years went by thus, until one of the world's best known eye doctors said that there was a chance for Ronnie to see again if he would consent to an operation which would consist of transplanting donated cornea on his eyes. Ronnie and his father had a hasty meeting and both gave their consent. The operation was performed and was suc- cessful. After a period of convalesence and readjustment Ronnie had wired his father, who was unfortunately away on a business trip, and arranged this meeting. Ronnie was shaken from his stupor by the sound of a car. He rose from his seat, flew wildly down the stairs, tore open the door and leaned against it as a new wave of misery swept over him. There in the driveway was his father, eyes swathed in bandages, leaning on the arm of a young com- panion. I-ls Ronnie stood there, he real- ized that his father had been the an- onymous cornea donator and that he had been in the hospital and not on a business trip, when the operation had been performed. Shutting the door softly, Ronnie ran into the living room and sobs began to tear his body while tears streamed from his eyes, his father's eyes. His mind was in a tur- moil of emotion, compassion and love for his father, contempt for himself for his having whined so frequently during the past years, and bitter hatred for his friend, who had been so shallow and unstable as to have become vio- lent and hateful because Ronnie, and he, had won the most coveted first prize in an international art con- and who had since disappeared Ronnie's life. Then, amidst his heart breaking sobs he heard the tip- tap of a blind man's cane and rising from his seat he flew into his father's arms and vowed that he, both as a son and a person who had gone through the agony of sudden blind- ness.would do his best, as little as it was, to try to repay his father for his supreme and voluntary sacrifice. not test from Seventeen