Mattoon High School - Riddle Yearbook (Mattoon, IL)

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THE RIDDLE 23 two at time, and arrived at the top breathless. Why, what 's the matter, James? Oh, he moaned, piteously, It hurts. Where are you sick? What hurts you?' She queried. Jimmy placed one tender hand on his back and covered his forehead with the other. Oh, here in here, 'n here, he wailed, designating a dozen different locations on his anatomy. First throwing a blanket over a rocking chair, Mrs' Miller picked up the stricken youth and set him in it, which process was ac- companied by a series of ohs, and ouches. Jimmy had already decided that his par- ticular brand of sickness should not be one which would bar him from eating, so, when his mother brought up a well filled tray, a little later, he ate every bit of it, a fact which his mother noted with a return of the vague misgiving of the night before. As she took the tray downstairs, she called, I'll have to help Tom and Milly get ready for school. If you want anything call me. Hope rose high in artful James' cardiac organ. Nothing had been said about his feeling like going to school. Things were going quite beautifully, but Jimmy had not reckoned on that odd little ability of mothers to be misled up to a certain point and then to see right through the whole plan, though it has been so faultlessly constructed and enacted. The book was his Waterloo. When his mother came up half an hour later to ask if there was anything he wanted he guessed there wasn't unless it was his book,-if he couldn't go to school he might as well read- If Mrs. Miller had not just then had her back to her son, he would have sensed that the conspiracy was suspected and could have beaten a hasty retreat. As it was, he was only bliss- fully content when his mother obediently brought the book from under the bed, and handed it to him. Returning from the kitchen sometime late, she carried four white cloths with a yellow pasty material between them. These, she explained, are mustard plasters. They are bound to help you. 1 Will they hurt me? demanded Jimmy. That was one phase of the question that he had not thought about. Oh, no, said his wily mother- At least not as much as those terrible pains. Well, thought Jimmy complacently, I'm sure sittin' purty. It seemed he must get in bed and allow the plasters to be adjusted to his various aches and pains. Oh, gosh, Mom, they're cold, he cried, wriggling. Yes, she assented. But they'll get warm. Truer thing was never said, as Jimmy soon found out. The plasters warmed remark- ably fast and Jimmy warmed up with them. At last he called desperately, Mom, are you sure this is the right medicine for my sickness? Yes, dear, she answered- Are they getting warm? Silence. Then, Mom, the pain's all gone, can I take 'em off? No, dearg the pains might come back. Another interval of silence ensued, and finally the maltreated youth called out, in the anguished voice of one who is about to undergo cremation, Mom, they're burnin' me up. Kin Itake 'em off?'l At this, his mother came up stairs and standing in the doorway watched her tortured son. But the pains? she said, half in assent half in questioning. Oh, fer gosh sake, Mom, taken 'em off. There never wuz any pains, anyway! he burst out. Never were any pains? repeated his mother in feigned surprise- But there are' now, he blurted, grimly. In defense of Mrs. Miller's action it might be said that it gave her almost as much pain to watch Jimmy carry himself about as though he were one big blister as it did to the actual suf- ferer, but James Miller has never missed a day of school for sickness except the time when he had the measles, and then he stayed quietly only on assurance that that particular disease was never doctored with mustard plasters. DOROTHY HOVIOUS

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22 THE RIDOLE respondants des mes amies americines ou anglaises et j'en suis tres contente car mes amies vous felicite de loin d'avoir si bien appris le francais en si peu de temps. Je vous enverrai une carte de mon de- partment- I must conclude my letter with my love to yourself and my kind regards to your family, DENISE THE PATIENT James, put that book up and go to bed, right this minute now. Not a word:-.MrS. Miller had. expected Jimmy to beg, as usual for just two minutes more, Mom. When no sound issued from the bedroom, she turned back to her work with a vague sense of mis- giving. Jimmy obediently, but unwillingly, slid the book under the bed, not however, until he had carefully noted the page where he had been so harshly interrupted. He pushed one experimenting foot out of the covers prepara- tory to turning off the light, but hastily drew it back into the warm shelter his own body had created. And it was then that the great IDEA was born. Just like that it came from no- where-a divine inspiration, a voice from the clouds- Snuggling down in the covers, Jimmy held his nose tightly with his thumb and fore- finger and blew for all he was worth. Tear traces on his pain-wracked face, -ah, that was the proper thing. Jimmy had read that in a book and liked the sound of it. Yes, indeed, he knew all about how people acted when stricken with a great sickness. But, blow hard as he could, tears wouldn't come. And then a new thought gripped him. With what dire malady should he be afflicted? Silas Marner had had epilepsy, he remembered, but Jimmy soon decided he wouldnlt like that, you had to do such funny things and-no, he was sure that wouldn't do. Neuralgia,-.that was what Mrs. Trott had had when her jaw swelled up so funny- But one's jaw doesn't swell up to order, so, of course, he had to pass that by. Hay fever was impossible, because al- though he could sneeze as high as five times in succession by looking at the sun, still, what would he do when the sun went down? All the complaints and diseases he had ever heard of passed through his mind, but all were rejected in turn for some inability to fill the bill, and then for a second time that even- ing he was favored with a happy thought. Why not invent a new disease? He felt his cool face with a little dis- satisfaction. He ought to have fever, by all means, but it couldn't be managed. Nerves and pains here, and here,'n, herem. Sooth- ing sleep came at last and obliterated all traces of suffering from his pain-wracked brain. Sometime later his mother happened to glance up the stairway, and saw the light still burning in his room. James, this is the last time I'm going to speak to you. Put that book up, and turn out that light this instantg if I have to come up there, you'll wish I hadn't- But the usually efficacious threat brought no return. Stepping out to the kitchen, Ma unhooked Pop's razor strap, and folding it up, placed it in her apron pocket. She advanced up the stairway with the martial air of one about to go into combat, and paused at the door of the sleeping cherub. Blank amaze- ment, unbelievable surprise, and finally tender- ness played across her face. Asleep! and he had brought the new book home only this evening. An unheard of occurrence-he must have finished it though, she thought, dubiously. She'd have to speak to him about leaving the light on, too. It must have been the great idea which waked Jimmy at exactly a quarter to six as he had never been known to wake before his mother had called at least four times. Then he screwed his face up into a tragic copy of a man whom he had seen in the movies- He thought he'd like to see how it looked in the mirror, but he cou1dn't bring his courage up to the point of stepping out on the cold flocr. He lay very still for a few minutes practising, putting his face off and on, until he heard his mother call, James, oh James. Then sitting up in bed, he clasped both arms around his knees, began rocking back and forth, and at the same time moaning in a heart- rending tone. His mother ran up the steps

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