Newtown High School - Newtowner Yearbook (Elmhurst, NY)

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a girl with long red braids, smiling up at him. And he was carrying her books, looking a. bit embarrassed. A slow smile crept across J anie's face. She stopped at the corner and called sweetly across the street, Hello-o-o Bobbie ! He stopped, recognizing the tone in his sister's voice, and his face turned a. slow, painful red, The boys on the team--if they ever found out! They were the town's acclaimed women-haters and he was the ringleader! The smile left J anie's face and she stared across the street into Bobbie's eyes. Neither of them said a word, but they knew that in that moment a silent pact had been made. Janie turned down the block. The swing in her skirts reappeared and a weight fell from her shoulders. A sisterly smile flitted across her face. He was sort of a cute little fellow . . . her brother. MARY STERLING Kn.sUs The Miracle THE BUS pulled out of New York, headed for Chicago. All the people aboard were laughing and chatting gaily with one another. At the first stop, a woman and a child got on and took their seats. Next a man got on, and because it was the only seat left, he sat down directly opposite the woman and child. The people in the bus were quiet now, for this man was not like the other men on the bus. His clothes were patched and he was badly in need of a shave. Sensing that something was wrong, the man became very uncomfortable. Then the child spoke, Do you think it will rain tomorrow, mister? she said. I hope it won't,,' replied the man, and before long both man and child were engrossed in conversation. Slowly the people began talking and laugh- ing again and once again the bus was full of laughing and joyous noise. In a suburb of Chicago the bus stopped and a woman and a child got off, but before she left the child turned to the man seated across from her and said, You know mister, I like you. No rags did the child see, but a human being with a heart like herself. , When the bus pulled into Chicago and a man left it, with head high, everybody on the bus knew it was because of a child's words-I like you-I like you- BERNARD J. MCSHANE 22

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THE PACT IT WAS a picture that would have delighted Norman Rockwell's eye. The frilly feminine dressing table had never been in such disarrangement -its drawers open revealing very personal things of all different colors which must have been a mystery to the small dirty nine-year-old boy who was perched on the satin-covered stool, his legs twisted little-boy like around the rungs. But what was he so absorbed in . . . his face wreathed in delighted smiles? A little pink book, bulging, and spilling letters . . . oh-h-h a diary! The picture was suddenly charged with actiong a glimpse of long' blond hair, swing skirt and flashing eyes. A math and a French book went flying across the room-and J anie's voice, shrill with fury, Bobbie l After the dirty little boy had dashed from the room-dropping every- thing as he went, Janie sat down on the bed and forgetting her dignified sixteen-year-old front began to cry in angry sobs. She stared at all her secret dreams so nakedly revealed as they lay on the floor. Suddenly some- thing caught her eye, and she gasped. Jumping off the bed, she picked up a photograph and stared at it although she knew very well that it was a very bad shot, taken into the sun, of a boy in a football helmet, with freckles and a grin. Oh, he wouldn't-he wouldnft tell ! Janie whispered in anguish. Then she thought of the mischievous glint that Bobbie wore in his blue eyes, and to what lengths he would go to get the attention of his football hero. The look on J anie's face then, I will not attempt to describe. Bobbie had never grinned so engagingly across his plate at his sister before. His parents looked suspicious, and silently decided that something was a-brew. But Janie ate her supper in lumps that night, her heart sink- ing lower and lower. ' Her plaid skirt lacked some of its usual swing, the next day, as she turned away from the group of boys clustered about the steps of South Side High. Gosh, how they'd tease if they knew . . . knew that a silly little sopho- more has a lot of secret dreams about a football hero-a senior, too-who could have the cream of the crop. She looked down, not seeing the scuffed toes of her saddles, but seeing only her carefully built-up front cracking, smashed to bits. - Suddenly she stopped, staring across the street in unbelieving amaze- ment. She shaded her eyes against the sung sure enough, there was her brother walking with his usual swagger. But at his side was a small mite of 21

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ADRIFT THE SMALL, battered raft floated on the torpid, green sea. A white bird flew over it, and the sun's rays were hot and blinding. A miserable, half-starved figure sat on the raft. I was that figure. At the time, I was thinking of a strawberry sundae. It was so hot. I tempted myself with the thought of eating the sundae, and of the ice cream sliding, cool and delicious, down my throat. Then I began to pray. I pleaded with, and made promises to God, if only He would deliver me from this horrible situation. I was hungry from the soles of my feet to the roots of my hair. I wondered how my shoelaces would taste. Stretching out on the raft, I began to think of my past life. What a life! I thought of my little sister, and wished that I hadn't pushed her off the roof in a fit of temper. I hoped, that when I was dead, she would forgive me for all the things that I had done to her. Especially the time I put her head in the rain barrel, and she almost drowned. I remembered the time that I went to my first date. It was with a gawky, red headed boy with too many teeth, a million freckles and an annoying way of stuttering. His name was Bertram. Poor Bertram. He took me to a dance and introduced me to his best friend, Tom-I went home with Tom. Then, after two weeks and three days of an ardent courtship from Tom CI was thirteen years oldj, I fell madly in love with his older brother, Jim. Jim was twenty-four and was going with a girl his own age, but I was daunt- less. I hounded him day and night, never letting his weary eyes rest from the sight of me. I didn't get any place, so I changed my tactics and avoided him entirely. fln wars they always change their tactics to confuse the enemy.j I guess he missed me, because a weary week later he came over to my house. He was really delivering my mother's groceries, but I never doubted that he had come just to see ,fx EE l me. He left in a hurry, but I - ' , 'fi felt that it was from bashful- If fif . W f il ffffwg, j ness. All boys in love are H ,HQI utuyh ff- bashful. 3Zi5i57i'i ...Rx x ...M After two months of ,,,.,..e, - M . worry and work, I finally wx tricked him into asking me out. ...ig , QF' - . We went to the movies. It was ' 7 -:I N iiirfw so romantic. I went steady Ik fo 4'wiQW fQXfX'4kfw 0 ' with him for twelve days and Q? 2 JAM 533, then tired of his company. P7 if Ah, fickle youth! 23