Miss Halls School - Hallmark Yearbook (Pittsfield, MA)

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'W' f135fTf'I .Lf c w, .EI ,, In .,, RIDE IN THE MIST I MUDDIED HOOF BEATS . . . RAIN-BLACKENED BOLES OF PIN OAKS WAITING IN THE MOCKING MIST. SEEMLLIKE REARING COBRAS WITH MALEVOLENT INTENTIONS TOV MY COMPANION. UNDER MY SADDLE SHE FALTERS -- THEN RESUMES HER STRIDE. SOUNDS OF STRAINING LEATHER HIT THE WALLS OF DAMP SILENCE AND REBOUND. STEAM RISES FROM A POND OF SLUSH. LOSING ITSELF IN THE GREY MIST. LOSING US IN THE GREY MIST. ANN LAUER. I956 BALLET I THOUSANDS OF TINY LEAVES. PLATED IN GOLD, . PUPPET BALLERINAS OF THE VANISHING SUN, I DANCED TO THE TUNE OF A BRISK AUTUMN BREEZE, AGAINST A BACK DROP OF STEEL-GREY CLOUDS. THE SILVERY BIRCHES , REFLECTED ON THEIR POLISHED LIMBS I THE SOMBER SHADOWS OF THE WOODS. LYING IN THE MEADOW IN THE DRY WEEDSAAND CRAB-GRASS. I GAZED AT THE CRISP BEAUTY OF 'TI-IIS TERRACED PERFORMANCE AND ENTRANCED, FORGOT THE APPROACHING STORM. CAROLYNSRICHMOND, IQSS 33

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because I knew ThaT he was home. Every day ThaT April I used To go To see him and bring him odd Things from The ravine because he was lonely and could noT go ouT. And Then my parenTs Told me ThaT we were moving away. Somebody was go- ing To buy The house. I could noT cry. I could noT even speak. Didn'T They see ThaT They were Taking away my whole world? I wenT down To The ravine and saT for a long Time hunched up on a fIaT rock beneafh The bridge. I remember The fungus and The pale ferns along The bank, and The moss hanging from The eaves of The bridge. My face wavered in The rippling waTer. When I heard someone scrambling down The ravine. I knew iT was Billy. WiThouT a word he climbed onTo The rock opposiTe me. Alix. he said, I know ThaT you are going away. And I ThoughT-well. you know, I kind of wanfed-er-To give you This. Here! The lasT words came ouT wiTh a rush. And very carefully he puT a liTTle red plasTic chicken ring on my finger. and looking aT my dirTy hand. added. I wanT you To marry me. I So Billy and I were married. My aunT invifed us To her house in Rosemonf which was very grand and impressive. My moTher gave me a whiTe saTin slip and her own wedding veil. Bryan. my cousin. wiTh a flower in his buTTon-hole. gave me away. Flossy Morison and her liTTle sisTer were bridesmaids. Their moTher gave us a liTTle cake and a whole case of ginger-ale-for champagne. My broTher was The'minisTer in a cassock made of my cousin I'IaroId's black airplane Targef. A friend of Bryan's was supposed To play The organ Ian accordianl buT, because he wanfed To go To The movies. he was very uncooperaTive. and squeaked The organ loudly behind The cur- Tain. Finally infrigued by popping The corks in The boTTIes. he sprayed ginger-ale all over my aunT's rug. When everyone laughed. The service was Thrown inTo momenTary confusion. I was so angry ThaT I hiT The horrid boy wiTh my saTin slipper. Excepf for ThaT flaw iT was a beaufiful wedding. The nexT affernoon Billy and I wenT on a Two-hour honeymoon. We followed The ravine sfream unTiI we came ouT in a liTTle clearing by a spring. IT was one of Those genfle April days. The waTer looked dappled in The brighT sun. The grass was new and sofT. and sandy-smelling rocks proTecTed us from The wind. If you squinfed your eyes. you could see on The opposiTe bank yellow buTTer-cups and Queen Anne's lace riofing in The skipping wind. We leaned againsT The rock and aTe The delicious lunch which had been packed in my plasTic Tea seT. The IiT+le ring looked brighT on my finger-round and perfecf. Then we moved away and Billy and I grew up. And we puT away Those days of our childhood. One day in December abouT Ten years IaTer I ran inTo him on MarkeT STreeT in Philadelphia. He was handsome and Tall as he sTood There looking down aT me. IT seemed like a happening in a second-raTe novel excepf ThaT There was no excifed Tingle running down my back. iusf a whiff of surprise and a warm feeling. ThaT is all There was To iT. If he had been sfaying in Philadelphia longer. we mighT have meT again, buT he was on his way To Canada. As I wenT home ThaT day. I ThoughT abouT The Tall boy. The erecT figure. The ocld eyebrows ThaT meT over The bridge of his nose. and The deep voice. I wondered if I could ever again be aTTracTed To This sTranger who had been so much a parT of my childhood. A few weeks IaTer when I was clean- ing ouT my jewelry case, I came upon a small whiTe box Tucked away in The back. I opened iT and There was The liTTle red ring. Amused, I puT iT on my finger for a momenf. Then dropped iT inTo The wasTebaskeT. The following summer I read in a newspaper ThaT he had been one of Three persons killed in an aufomobile accidenf in Canada. The prinfed page blurred fuzzily. I saw The broad shoulders and The handsome face as he sTood looking clown aT me on The windy sTreeT. Then The sTreeT Turned To a field of yellow buTTer-cups. and The The ring on my finger was firsT a red plasTic ring and Then a diamond ring-and Then no ring aT all. I heard iT Tinkle as iT Tell. Alix Hegeler, I955 Page 32

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34 LOST PARADISE Q THE TORRID SUN SPREADS FIERY HEAT A . , h OVER THE BURNISHED SANDS. . 51 Y , A THE AIR HANGS HEAVY AND STAONANT. .. ff! TTY A PALE, RAO-THREADED TUMBLEWEED STAYS MOTIONLESS. 3 . A PAIR OF OREEN, CALLOUSED. DEVIL-HORNED TOADS S V ' A 'L S SLITHER OLEEEULLV OVER THE SAND, LOVING THE HEAT. Q! ' I STTA' ' Q A R,TT f w LOVING THE EURNACE-HEAT OF THE DESERT. BLACK-SMOKED CLOUDS HOVER OVER THE LAND. A WIND SUDDENLY STIRS, RUSTLES THROUGH THE TUMBLEWEED AND SWOOPS UP THE SAND. GIANT RAIN-DROPS PLOP ANGRILY. THE PAIR OF GREEN, CALLOUSED, DEVIL-HORNED TOADS HURRY FOR SHELTER. FROM UNDER A STONE BEADED EYES BLINK AND PEER. LOOKING FOR THEIR LOST PARADISE. NANCY SPOHN, 1956 VALENTINE CANDY RICH-CRIMSON BOX ABOUNDING IN DELIGHTS OF CHOCOLATE SPLENDOR. SCARLET RIBBONS ON A HEART-SHAPED SHELL, -- DAINTY, PERT, PRETTY. CLUMSY FINGERS GROPE HUNGRILY IN THE HEART'S DEPTHS AS FRAGILE BONBONS OF AFFECTION EVADE THEIR FRUSTRATED CLUTCHINGS. MIMI BROOKS, I956