Mountain View Union High School - Blue and Gray Yearbook (Mountain View, CA)

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FOR TH' SAI' WAS RUNNING 27 the same table he begged off for the afternoon, determined to sleep until his brain was clearer. Bing was searching his memory for Casey's advice. Hang it! For some reason his memory wasn't just as it should be-it was-well, he couldn't just say--rusty-no, not that. He felt dull-heavy- headed. Something seemed to press at his head-something that he couldn't exactly understand. A glass of water had no effect. In fact the pressing grew to be irregular, sometimes slight, then suddenly it would grow heavy-seemed to poimd rather than press. I-Ie could hear it. The pounding was regular now-it jarred his whole being. Between beats he winced for the next dull, dreaded thud. The last throb was the hardest yet. Then the awful soul scorch- ing truth dawned upon his distracted brain-IT-the spot! He felt that those terrific throbs were Nature 's warning, but too late. He'd neglected his hair. Now he must pay the penalty. He was seized with a wild desire to run, to enshroud IT with his napkin-anything to conceal the awful truth from Miss Rose. Then Casey 's words came to him-a word for each steady, nerve racking thump-L'If ye'll win a Kitten, be ct Zion. He'd try it. Hcicl be a Lion. But try as he would, the role in which he was to be, fierce, rapacious and to assume an Haspect noble seemed to bear little weight with Miss Rose. Instead of acting as becomes a kitten she was inclined to be a lioness. And all the while Bing was certain that his head would break the next moment. musically, Tinker, if we are to be at work by one o'clock we must e going. - Bing agreed. Little Artie swung around in his chair. Not feeling well, Mr. Tinker? No Sir, I have a headachefl f'Then certainly you may go. Headache, eh? Country air is what you need. Better take your vacation after all. H I-I believe I will, Mr. Arthur. 'Ks S? is S6 156 Did yez say ye was lavinl us, Misther Tinker? Yes, for two weeks. I wuz ov a' tellin' yez ye had it-the Faverf' h Bing felt of his temples. UNO, it's not the fever, it 's merely head- ac e. iigiezxplayed the LION, did yez? - es. i'Th1n a dollar to a pink poker chip I know what's wrongf, 'I don 't believe you do. Shure an' oi. do. The KITTEN SCRATCHED.' For the first time in nine years H. Cornelius Tinker lost his tem- per. HDAMN!! swore he, grabbing his suit cases. Casey skillfully spat on the honeing stone before he spoke. He addressed the bootblack. The dirty piker! He skipped out and didn 't pay me th' pink poker chip. '73 fi? 3? if Q? 'Tis a saying as old as the mother-in-law joke, yet nevertheless

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26 BLUE AND GRAY President Arthur beamed pleasantly upon the boy, extremely self-conscious as he stood awkwardly before big Little Artie. I 'fIt'll mean live dollars extra for you if you can do it. HDO what, sir? Harry, l want you to thoroughly convince Mr. Tinker that a vacation would he beneficial to his health. I want him to go by to- morrow. There 's five in it if you persuade him to go-I cant. That is all. ' The boy grew bolder. t'May I have a half out of the five nowilll HWhat! Take part of your reward now? What redress will I have if you fail? HI ain't gonna fail, MGood. Here ls a dollar. But llm afraid you'll not bribe him with that. VVhat on earth do you need with- I need it to buy dynamite. The President suppressed his mirth. He turned his back .and leaned over his desk. Better buy nitro-glycerine, grinned he, Hif you intend to budge Tinker. i For nine years Bing Tinker had carried on all his business com- munications with the stenographer through the office boy. Today he went to Miss Rose himself. 'fEr-Miss-Rose-, it is now luncheon time. Could we er-could you-er-can't we lunch together today, Miss Rose? Miss Rose was typing. She hit the shift key in place of en, You-you were addressing meill' Er-No mam-that is-I mean yes. We can lunch at er-the Peacock? . I shall be delighted, Mr. Tinker. , A Miss Rose pinched herself as he put on her things. Two tellers stared open niouthed. Bing had forgot his stick and gloves. Miss Rose and Bing went to the Peacock+the first time he had company for lunch since he sipped soda from the same glass with a girl schoolmate. ' Well, 'I'll be d--d. It was Little Artie. Y Gosh, exclaimed the boy. I thot the Boob would forget his derby. Gee-if he 71 ad I'da lost the fivef' '4What has that to do with your winning the reward, Harry?'l HDO? it has mfwyflztng to do. That's where I put the Dynamite. The boy handed a small paper pamphlet to the President. Hercules Dynamite, for Farmers. CAUTION: While Hercules Dynamite is not at all offensive to the smell, it is wise to avoid inhaling either the odor from the Dyna- mite itself or the fumes produced by an explosion, as it often leads to a strong throbbing at the temples and terrific headache. A-And you put it in his derby? 'fYeh-under the sweat bandfl ' 4 Here 's your reward. But-Mr. Arthur-Yuh made a-yuh gave me more than-l' Little Artie was grinning as he disappeared into his office. How awkward of me I At first sight of them Henri, the Peacock 's oldest employee, has- tened to the kitchen where he gulped down a Bromo seltzer. But when he saw Bing Tinker and Miss Rose actually sit down together at

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28 BLUE AND GRAY 'tis true, that of all nerve racking grievances, bestowed upon man- kind by those Who are supposedly at the services of the public, are those given by the modern brakeman on the average S. P. railroads. Watch him beat you to helping your best girl up the steps of the day coach while he leaves you to labor with your prospective mother-in-law, and you immediately learn that he is quite deserving of a kick. Watch him haggle with the woman just ahead of you and you learn that he is crabbed. Watch him as he pokes his head thru the car door and swears a few sentences in Chinese, and you learn that he chews plug tobacco, that he has porcelain teeth and is a misanthrope. But you are dumbfounded when you learn that, in that brief moment, he is calling the name of the next station. Little wonder then, that Cornelius Tinker was still riding, his station twenty miles behind. But Bing was utterly at a loss to think up descriptive adjectives which would fit the brakeman, for all his forceful language had already become trite by his incessant use of it in describing the engineer. Why in thunder couldnit he instruct the fireman to add more fuel, or to diminish it-anything to make the monstrous throbs of the engine simul- taneous with those within his head. Bing reasoned that if such a thing could be made to occur he could easily imagine that the throbs were all due to the engine. But hang it! The fool engineer seemed to take delight in making his engine throb at exactly one-half a second after that huge mallet hit his temples. O curse the Derby! He'd be hanged if he'd wear it any longer. He'd throw it away. The brakeman opened the door and called. That settled it. Bing left the train. He was thru with trains and trainmen for all time. He breathed a series of modified condemnations as, with a shrieking, ear-splitting blast, the train took its choo-choo- ing departure-each vibrating f'choo occurring one-half second after the mallet landed. H. Cornelius Tinker hurled the oifending derby far up the tracks into the obscurity of the rapidly approaching night. He looked up at the sign on the station. Well, he'd be jiggered! He was in MOUN- TAIN VIEW. 56 SF Sl' it St A meadow lark, its soul deluged with songs of Spring, was vainly endeavoring to share its joy with the world, almost bursting his throat with his gigantic efforts. The morning sun, its radiance flittered to a soft, eye-comforting glow by the vines at his window, gently soothed Bing's tired, over-wrought being and put new life into his heavy, drooping eyelids. Bing looked at his watch. It had stopped-for the first time in nine years. He remarked that he had not overslept for- O hang it! He didn 't care if he had overslept. He felt fine-he'd take a morning shower-which he had been omitting for-C damn! He resolved not to think of those nine years again. After bathing and breakfasting Bing began to think that spinster aunts, who lived in the country, were not so bad after all, In fact, Aunty May displayed her skill in the art of cookery in the breakfast she had prepared for him. And the flowers in her garden were as pretty as- asjwell, he couldn't say. But anyway, he knew that there wasn't a florist who could have blended the different colors together as prettily