North Quincy High School - Manet Yearbook (North Quincy, MA)

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IVIANET I5 but suddenly the eternal feminine in me came to the fore. I could not meet anyone, dressed as I was in sailcloth slacks and sweater. But Larry is one of those people who brusinis all objections aside. Now or never,'t he said, and hnstled me into the double-ender tied to the lobster car. I fairly palpitated with ex- citement all the way out to the strange boat. And Larry wouldn't tell me anything, just grinned one-sidedly when I would beg: Please, Larry- But at last we bumped ge11tly against the port side of the big cabin cruiser, and Larry yelled to no one in particular: Ahoy therell' A man leaned over the rail and looked at us, or rather beamed at us from a round chubby face. He looked like an oldish baby in need of a shave. Hi, Charley I said Larry noisily. 'fBrought you a visitor, ol' sock I Charley removed his pipe and smiled upon me like an overgrown cherub. Dee-lighted, dee-lighted! he bellowed in a voice that was much out of keeping with his a.ppearance, being very deep and stentorian. He hauled me aboard and Larry followed. Now you just explore by yourself, Charley boomed at me, patting my should-er benevo- lently. Larry and me are goin' to talk a spell.'i That was a hint, pure and simple- mostly simple-so I wandered aft, and saw nothing but an ordinary cockpit. There was an open hatch but I thought it would be too snoopy of me to explore below, so I ambled forward in search of a rum-runner who would be more true to type than Charley. In front of the chart house I tripped over something with red hair that said in distinctly disagreeable tones: Blankety blank blank blank why in blank don't you look where you're going' blankety blank. Only he didn't say exactly Blankety blank, but if you have a good imagination you can figure that out for yourself. I sat back on my heels and stared at him. Say it again, I didn 't get you, I said, with no malice aforethought. The Redhead. a tanned and wiry person wearing dingy flannels and a yachting cap, was reclining against the chart house and seemed to be rather put. out at my appearance. He squinted at me, then said: A woman! in a very dramatic voice. Thanks, I said. Red stopped squinting' and stared, rudely. VVhat in blank, he inquired with cold in- solence, Hare you doing here? Larry Hazen brought me, I said, giving him stare for stare. VVe must have looked like a couple of cats on the backyard fence. HOII, he did I said my friend nastily. NVQ-ll, fly away home, kiddie, Mama wants you! 'l'hat's what YOU thinkll' I remarked. an-d departed. It was too bad he was so sour-he was not a bad-looking youth, having very blue eyes and a nice nose, but I knew where I was not wanted. I drifted into the chart house. Iiarry and Charley were talking and smoking, but they hushed up when I came in. 'fW'l1y don 't you go for'ard and talk to R-ed? suggested. Charley with his perennial grin. KJ- U f KT ,MM ff V25 NSN 'T lf!'gfg's f -8, j 2 I : ll tllqlltrl lx l I I I 4 f ZZI I , O , X. tif I , ' -D3 2 V - it 4?' 'I :En if EI if if 'Z'-T X, 53 l 5157 v -1 -V -3 .gy i I ..,.,.i1.. 1' Nl: h bu.. 1 T' TI l' 'M-T . ' . -Lf 1 I 1 I I 1 Oh, I've talked to him, I said.. f'He told me to scram, so I scrannned. Charley and Larry roared, so I went aft and found me a. sunny Place to lie down in. I thought about lots of things for a while, then the gentle mo- tion of the boat as the breeze swung her around made me go to sleep, I guess. I dreamed that the Redhead and I were having a fist fight in front of the chart house, with the briny deep yawning on all sides, and the cruiser ripping along at an unholy speed. .lust as the Redhead was about to kayo me, as they say in the prize ring, I woke up. The first thing I noticed was a deep, rhythmic throbbing that came from somewhere below. It sounded like an engine. I lay there a while and listened to it, or rather felt it through the deck, and wondered dopily what it- could be. But it wasn't long before the truth penetrated my befogged brain. XVe were moving, and not so slowly, either! I said my own private cuss word and scrambled up. lVith my own eyes I beheld the Nor-east. point of the fair isle of

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14 MAN ET prodigal son and show 'em. VVell, son, I'm sorry, but that's all the questions I can. answer now. He smiled at me and was gone. I turned somewhat dazed to the doorman who had come up behind ine and said, Gee, what a swell fellahf' 'tYes sir, he answered, Hthey don't come any better than George Cohan. Yes sir, I agreed. Hthere 's only one George M. Cohan and they certainly don't come any better. l' 'hunk 131111, Elarrg! ELISABETH OGILVIE, P. G. How did I get to know Kevin Faraday? VVell, it a long story and one that you proba- bly won't believe, but I'll swear o11 a stack of Bibles that it actually happened. I was just seventeen when I inet Kevin, and the friend- ship we began was a lasting one, as we are very good friends today, you can see for your- self. It was all on account of a highly romantic episode in which I participated. willy-nilly. Larry Hazen, a fisherman in the village at Brigport, was the promoter of the affair. Larry and I were good friends. He was slim and dark, with a witty tongue. His wife was tough, and his children were little terrors, but tney were a happy family. It was rumored around in our crowd that Larry had been, at one time, a rum-runner. It was also said that he had acquired' his limp when shot by reve- nuers. A great many other stories, all very colorful, were told about him, and all in all he seemed to be surrounded by an aura of mystery and romance, at least as far as I was concerned. So while I joked and argued with Larry, I dreamed and imagined about him until he ac- cused me of wool-gathering. It was on an August morning that at last I got up enough courage to inquire, timidly, if everything I had heard about him was true. I came along and found Larry among his nets on the stone stoop of the old store. He was whistling to himself as he worked, so I knew he was in a good mood. I dropped down beside him and watched his fingers, and passed the time of day with him. After a lot of beating around the bush I said: 'tLarry, did you used to be a rum-runner? Then I quaked. It was rather an awful thing to say. Larry didn 't look at me, but when I looked at him I saw the corner of his mouth was tucked up as if he were amused. For a moment I wondered if it had all been lies. Then he said quite casually: Now who could have told you that, Sister? He always called me Sister, and it made me feel as if I were about six years old. Well, I said vaguely, some of the kids. He went on Working and smiling, Well, now, I wouldn't say it wasn't true, he began. I was actually overjoyed. Tell me about it, I begged. No, said Larry modestly. Your mother wouldn't like it. 'tI'm not my 1110i-llP1',H I said. Hliut you're her daughter, answered Larry, and that ended the conversation, which could hardly be called a coherent one. At that minute one of my admirers, an angelic child of sixteen, saunte1'ed by and looked at me long- ingly, so I bid Larry a fond farewell. VVhat do you see in him? inquired the lad a trifle petulantly. You wouldnlt understand, I replied with supreme indifference. all rl? Not until two weeks later were rum-runners mentioned. The next time occurred on one afternoon. I was sitting on the fence outside the store with some of the gang, namely my brother Ronnie who was pretending he didn't know me, and Raoul Trudeau. Larry Hazen came along, and grinned at all of us with that grin that makes him seem more like a school- boy than an ex-racketeer. Then he said to me, Come along to the wharf, Sister, I want to show you something. Ronnie said in a tired voice, t'Wl1at is there between you two? But I am used to Ronnie, and never pay any attention to him. I, hopped down and tucked my arm in Larryls, and we went down to the wharf. t'Now, my dear, said Larry in the paternal tone he reserves for special occasions, I am about to incur your mother 's wrath. But you asked for it, so don't. blame me if there are any complications. The old brain was taxed for a minute to get his meaning. I must have looked dense, be- cause Larry said directly, No questions, pleasef' By that time we were on the wharf, and the Hrst thing I saw was a strange boat lying at the mouth of the harbor. At first sight she was a rackety, dingy thing, but the longer I looked the better I liked her. She had long rakish lines and was low in the water. HIS that what you wanted to show me, Larry? I said. 'tYou bet, said Larry. She belongs to friends of mine. I'm going to take you aboard -if you want. Anybody could' see she was no ordinary craft. She was built for speed. I began to see the light. Pirates, rum-runners, Larry Hazen, friends of his. My heart began to beat faster,

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16 MAN ET Iii-igport. IVe must have passed it about ten minutes ago. I tore frantically into the chart house. Charley, pipe in mouth, was at the wheel. He stared at me with his eyes and mouth like O's. Then he smiled radiantly. XVell now, he roared, it must have been you that Larry forgot li' I was so furious that if anyone had dropped any water on me it would have sizzled. All I could manage was a vapid Huh? Charley elucidated. t'Larry got into his double-ender to go back. and he says to me, he savsg 'Charley, I got a feeling I forgot some- thingf And I says to him. 'Larry. to my knowledge you ain't forgot nothin'.' So he went ashore. So it must'a been you. I It must. have been. l agreed weakly. Charley returned to his eoinpass. and left me standing there. The cruiser continued in a nor- easterly direction. IYell. I said after some tiine, 4'aren't you going to take me back? Charley looked surprised. Gosh no, he said. XYe got a schedule to keep to. We'll drop you off some place where we stop, but we can't turn around now. He didn 't seem to want to talk any more, so I left the chart house and leaned on the rail to think. Drop me oif some place! The islands in that part of the Atlantic are so few and far between that I would be totally lost. on any of them except Brigport and its twin Raeketash. And we were far beyond either of them now. Or maybe Charley intended to drop me overboard so I eould swim home. Mingled with these inco- herent thoughts were epithets applicable to one Larry Hazen, ex-rum-runner. Another idea struck me-ideas were coming in full force. A schedule, Charley said. That meant a consignment of smuggled goods or liquor to deliver. How delightful! For the iirst time in my young life I was a party to a crime. and I didn 't. know whether the prospect appealed to me or not.. VVell. I thought philo- sophically, it. will be something to tell about when I get home-IF I get home. I went aft again, and saw once more the open hatch. So I went down it. I had to amuse my- self somehow. Maybe I could find out where they kept the liquor, or whatever it was they smuggled. The hatch led to a cabin with nar- row bunks along the sides and a folding table. There were lockers under the bunks, but noth- ing else. There was also a small door beyond and I tried it, but it was locked. I sat down on a bunk and considered my plight, as they say in books. The cabin was lighted by portholes, so I stood on the bunk and looked out. There was not a speck of land in sight, only open sea. What an adventure! I sat down again. The Redhead bounced down thc hatch, and I prepared myself for the fray. He pushed back his yachting cap and scowled at me. A stowaway, huh?,' he said wiltingly, Stowaway my eye. I replied rudely. I was shanghaied, that's what. That's YOUR story, he said. He went in the galley and began to rattle things around. lVe eat in shifts when we 're in a hurry, hc said over his shoulder. You and I, then I take the wheel and Charley eats. I couldn't think of a come-back, so I said: Then poor Charley has to eat alonef' Well, you can eat with him, if you want, said the Redhead. l'll stay with you. I told him. HI.1ll not particular. He was coming out to put some things on the folding table and when l said that, he half- grinned. Then he said, You know all the answers, don 't you ? I' I said, I ought to, I wrote the book.'7 NVe had hamburger a11d fried potatoes and canned corn for dinner. finishing off with can- ned peaches and some really good coffee. I forgot. my predicament long enough to eat a good part of what the Redhead put on the table. You eat like a. blank blank gannetf' he re- marked once in a disinterested voice. Only he didn 't say Hblankf' I thought it best to ignore that, so I said, IYhere are we going? He didn't look up and that gave me a chance to notice that his hair was wavy. We're going up the coast a bit. he said vaguely. The fewer questions you ask the better it 'll be for you. Oh, I said, feeling squelched. There was something squelching about him. After a few minutes of awkward silence, he told me, very coldly, to go up and tell Charley to come down. and to hold the wheel until he came up. So I did. and when I told Charley, he said, rather anxiously I thought: How are you and Red getting along? '4Oh, swell, I told him. Just a couple of lovebirds. He twinkled at me like a pleased child and went out of the chart house. I rather enjoyed having the wheel to myself. The cruiser was tearing along at a good rate, the water piling back from the bow, even though it was sunny and warm it was rather choppy, especially as far out as we were. Cabin cruisers were new to me, I was used to open fishing boats, and this cruiser had more gadgets than you could count and was absolutely fascinating. I went exploring-still hanging onto the wheel-and found the accelerator, or whatever you call it on a boat. In about a second I had us going at a devilish speed, that scared me. The engines