North Scott High School - Silver Shield Yearbook (Eldridge, IA)

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TERROR IN THE PARKING LOT Never, never in all of Tony's states of paranoia had she ever imagined such a terrible thing could happen to her. lt was 8:45 p.m. and Tony was still shopping, shopping for the perfect present for brother's birthday tomorrow. She had been looking since 6:00 pm. The store was closing in fifteen min- utes. She had to hurry! Suddenly, Tony saw it, the perfect present for her brother. lt was a knife - a long silver blade, cold and fierce, attached to a hard wooden handle. Her brother had been wanting a hunting knife like that for years. She really didn't know why. lt was barbaric. Hunt- ing was the cruel killing of unsuspecting crea- tures. How could he tolerate watching the life and color slowly drain from them? Tony bought the knife and put it in her purse. It was 9:00 p.m. now and the store was closing its doors behind her as she left. Tony stood on the sidewalk and peered into the darkness for her car. lt seemed funny to her that earlier she had searched for a parking place in the crowded parking lot. She had had to drive for about ten minutes just looking for one. But now, her car stood alone, deserted, peacefully waiting for her return. Tony buttoned her coat a little higher. Her toes were cold in their open- toed sandals. She walked swiftly toward the oth- er end of the parking lot. Tony reached her car and began fumbling in her purse for her keys. lt was dark out and she couIdn't see very well. She continued to fumble around, looking for her keys. Where had she put them? Tony, a little worried, fearing she had lost them, searched frantically. Suddenly a thick gloved hand was clasped over her mouth. Terror rushed through Tony's body. Still having both arms free, she thrust her el- bows into the body. The body doubled over in pain, the hand dropping from her mouth. Hyste- ria rapidly overcame Tony as she ran, crazed, unsteadily, occasionaly tripping over her high heeled sandals. What was she going to do? Fear and terror had their grips on her as she heard heavy footsteps chasing her. Closer and closer they came. Tony ran for the street. She saw the headlights of a car. Stop! she screamed, but the car drove past, not even slowing. If only she had something to protect herself. Mace, a gun, something, anything! Then she re- membered, suddenly as if she had been struck by lightning. The knife! Her brother's knife! But, was there time? She ran on, but she was tiring. The heavy footsteps were getting closer. She pulled the knife from her purse as she ran stead- ily onward. Ready, she thought, l am ready. So Tony stopped, she pretended to stumble, and once again the heavy heavy-gloved hand clasped itself over her mouth. But this time in- stead of her elbow, it was the knife that Tony thrust into the body. She ran a few yards further and turned around. She watched the body fold up in pain and then become stiff. Tony felt relief sweet over her as the flashing red lights of a policeman on patrol pulled up beside her. What in God's name happened here? he asked. The sudden realization of the events overcame Tony, She tainted and fell to the ground in shock. AMY NORTON He knew his life hung in the balance as he struggled to light the match with gelid and red fingers. Finally the match lit, and Douglas set fire to the small pile of kindling on the floor of the cave. The warmth of the fire was feeble, but he coveted it as it began to breath new life into his frigid toes and fingers. After he had the fire going well enough and he had eaten, he began to reflect on the events of the day and the reason why he was hiding in a small cave in northern China. Jim Douglas was a major in the U.S. Air Force, and he was assigned to fly the border patrol between Russia and China. lt had been a bright, clear and perfect day for flying, and he wasn't prepared for any problems, but some were to arrive sooner than he expected. As he rolled his F-104 over for his return leg, he was three trucks on a road below him. He assumed that they were trucks from a local vil- lage, but he had a strange feeling so he went down to take a closer look. As he dived to look at them, the trucks began to speed up and had for the woods. Douglas came in low, and it was only then that he saw that the trucks were Rus- sian armored personnel carriers and that they were loaded with troops. Douglas turned around and came back in low- er and at a far slower speed to get a better look. He was further shocked when, through a clearing in the trees, he saw row upon row of Russian T- 72 tanks, artillery, and troops. The Russians were at the border preparing for an invasion of DETENTE lt was then that a strange thing happened, Douglas felt the plane lurch, and then felt the engines start to give out. He had either hit the top of a tree or the Russians were taking shots at him. Whatever it was, he knew he wasn't going to make it back to base. He fought the plane to a high enough altitude where he could eject safely. He made the prep- arations, pulled the ring, watched the canopy pop off, and then felt the blast of incredibly cold air take his breath away. As he floated down on the silky white canopy above him, he watch his plane explode into a fireball about two kilometers away. He knew he would have to get back to base as fast as possi- ble to report this. He also knew that the Russians had seen him come down and would send a group of experts to silence him. That was how he had arrived here, in a small cave, five kilometers from base, and on the run from the Russians. He wondered how much longer he could keep up this cat-and-mouse game before succumbing to exhaustion or the cold. It was then that he heard the voices outside - the sharp, clipped, guttural sounds of Russian voices. He then realized that the light of the fire was giving away his position, He quickly extin- guished the fire, went to the entrance of the cave, and peered out. He made out the figure of a Russian soldier about 500 meeters away. He knew that if he stayed here he would be caught. He took one more look, then he quickly and silently made his way from the cave. It was the last quarter of the moon, and he knew it would be easy to follow his tracks. The Russians almost didn't need to because at that moment he heard a loud and authoritative voice order him to stop. He quickly ran on. All ofa sudden the calm of the night was broken by the harsh barking sound of a Russian semi-automatic. As he ran he could see the bark of the trees flying off as the bullets impacted into the trees. Douglas jumped into a shallow ravine and ran China! along the bottom of it until he couldn't hear the voices anymore. He was no more than three kilometers from baseg he knew he had to press on, He knew that he had to warn the world of the Russian invasion, but he had to rest for a few minutes. When he stopped he could see the elongnated shadows of the tall, statuesque pine trees cast on the sparkling winter landscape. The moon was a soft, brilliant half-disk high in the sky. The tall, majestic mountains were nothing but silhou- ettes in the background. All these sights took his breath away, but he remembered he was run- ning, so he took one last look and continued on. About an hour later Douglas was walking along a high ridge, no more than one-half kilo- meter from base. When, at that moment, a shot rang out through the stillness of the night, he could feel a burning sensation in his left shoulder. The impact from the bullet spun him around and he fell from the ridge. and started tumbling down the slope. When he finally came to a stop, the snow around his left shoulder was stained a brilliant red color. He could hear his pursuers again, so he stood up and started to run through the trees. His left shoulder started to throb worse and worse with each beat of his heart. The voices were getting louder, and he began to feel fraint from the loss of blood. He knew he had to cross one more clearing before he reached the base. As he started across the clearing, he could hear the sound of the Russians in hot pursuit. His only thought was that he had to get back to warn the world of the pending invasion. About half- way across the clearing, he felt the hot sting of a bullet rip into his back and pass through his body, The blood came rushing out uncontrolla- bly, and everything began to spin faster and faster. His last sight before losing consciousness was that of his blood staining the bright new snow a deep crimson red: his last thought was that he had failed. JOHN FEYEN LORI SIMKINS ORIGINAL WORKS

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lleftli Scott Student Home lee SPONSORED BY SQQTT QQMIMUNITY SQHQQLS MU, THE GREATQR DAVEWFQRT BQALRQ QF REALTURS gy 55 . Maw-ww. f All THE FLOOD OF '06 There aren't many left that can remember the big flood of '06, and among those few that can remember it and will talk about it is Uvv Jjones. As a matter of fact, Uvv fpronounced of j loves to talk about it, you can't stop him once you get him started on the subject. One time I stopped to chat with ol' Uvv and happened to mention something about the big flood and Uvv was off and running. I had heard the story about three hundred times before, but this time I was in luckg I was returning home from the supermarket at the time and had a sack full of rutabagas with me. About the only thing Uvv loved more than telling his story about the big flood was a rutaba- ga. I waited until ol' Uvv was about half way through the story and then whipped out a ruta- baga. A veil of silence fell over Uvv, a strange smile appeared on his face and like a nesting hen pounching on a June Bug, he grabbed the ruta- baga and started to consume it, which gave me enough time to make my get-away. The first time that I heard the story was quite an experience. l was walking down 3rd Street when I heard a voice call out. Hey, Sonny! I didn't pay any attention and just kept walking, again, Hey, Sonny! , I just kept walking, Hey stupid!! You Deef??'? I turned around just as ol' Uvv grabbed me by the arm and said, l'm going to tell yaastory, so just shut up and listen. lwas going to ingore the old man, but the shotgun in his hand convinced me I should sit down and listen to his story. Uvv sat down under a big elm tree and motioned me to sit, which I did immedi- ately! The old man spat the wad of chewing tobacco out of his mouth, scratched his gray whiskers and began the story. It was a warm day in late April back in 1906 when the whole thing started. Seems there were four big tow boats and each one of them was pushing at least fifteen barges. They were all carrying kerosene and all four of them was trying to make it to the lock and dam first, so it was about 900 people and the total sum of the popu- lation was lined up on the river bank to see that race. Just think of it!! 6,000,000 gallons of kero- sene reaching for that lock. As I recollect, it was the John Flamm that reached the lock first, full boor, boy what a sight! Things would have worked out all right if it hadn't been for the Gale Swift ramming into the John Flamml That started it, all right! I had closed one eye while the old man was telling the story and he promptly hit me on the foot with his shotgun: that got my attention. Before ya knew what was happening the oth- er two tow boats were all tangled up in the mess, all four of them piled up right at the gate to the lock. Then all heck broke loose, the lock gate broke and all sixty of these barges began to turn and twist and roll. They all broke loose at the same time and all the kerosene came spilling out all over the Mississippi. It was a kerosene flood! Millions of gallons of kerosene came gushing down the river. Before we knew it we were all up to our hip pockets in kerosene, boy what a mess! Then it happened, the kerosene must have dri- ven the carp crazy, they just went mad, they started attacking the people that were watching the race, and ya know, a carp don't have any teeth, so what they did is latch onto your legs with their lips. You should have seen it, killer carp running rampid, putting hickies on everyone's legs! Poor Sally Spivett, she got it the worst, Sally was the Button I-lole Grinders daughter ya know, pretty little gal she was, anyway, one of those carp, must have weighed sixty pounds or more got a hold of her kneecap .,.. poor girl never was the same after that happened. Then the worst possible thing that could happen did. Crazy ol' Andy Stotter walked down to the river to see what all the excitement was about, took out a cigar and pulled out his matches . .. I looked over at ol' Uvv and he was fast asleep with a big smile on his face, I tried to wake him so I could hear the end of the story, but to no use. Uvv was fast asleep somewhere back in '06. Funny thing, Uvv has started that story about three hundred times and when he gets to the part about the matches he just falls asleep with a big smile on his face. Someday I'm going to make him finish that story, or I'll just quit giving him rutabagas. DEAN RICKERTSEN WE BUILT A HOUSE While some might not consider building a house very original, it is a monumental task, and a real ac- complishment when completed. lt is an example to the community of the many things made by North Scott Lancers. Front Flow: Joe Loussaert, Andy Harry, Brian Seghers, Mike Browne, and Browne, and Tim Carter. Standing: Brent Pumphrey, Tom Nagle, Bill Monaghan, Chris Ewoldt, Matt Fleming, Dave Mad- den, Ed Drummond, Brian Hill and in- structor Dennis Olson. INTERLUDE A photographic study of Robb Medd and his trumpet by AI Gol- dis. ORIGINAL WORKS

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-.. 1- THE REUNION , j, It was an unusually nice October day, warm, yet a chill of Autumn was in the air. It was a Sunday afternoon and I had nothing better to do but throw stones in the small lake that was in the center of Miller's Park. I was just sitting there at the edge of the lake minding my own business, daydreaming, when I heard a familiar call. Hey Sonny, my first thought was to jump into the lake and hide, but I was too late. I closed my eyes and pretended that I was asleep. I could hear the leaves crunching under Uvvs' feet as he walked up to me and tapped me on the arm and said, Open your eyes, Sonny, so ya kin see where yur throwin' the rocks. When I opened my eyes it was a sight to behold: there was Uvv Jjones dressed like he had just stepped out of a 1910 Sears 81 Roebuck catalog. Where in the heck did you get that suit? I asked Uvv. From Sears St Floebuck back in 1910, whad da ya think of it? Pretty sharp, I replied. 'iYou must be going to something pretty special, huh? i'Yep, said Uvv, in his more than usually proud voice. Going to my class reunion and see all my ol' friends. I thought to myself, there can't be more like him around . Uvv shined one of his shoes on the back of his pants and asked me Wanna come along? Beats throwin' stones in the lake? Sure, why not!! I can stand some cookies and punch and chat with you old folks for a while. Uvv got a big grin on his face and began to chuckle to himself ...... The reunion was being held at a meeting hall that was on the edge of Miller's Park. When we reached the meeting hall there was already a fair sized group of older people standing around ex- amining one another like it was the first, or was going to be the last time they saw each other. Uvv walked into the middle of the group and there was a flurry of hand shakes and back- patting. Uvv introduced me to all his old friends as we made our way to a table at the far end of the meeting hall. We sat down at the table and Uvv started peering around the room looking for all his old school chums. What year reunion is this one Uvv?? I can't really remember Sonny, seventy-five or eighty there-abouts, look, look! Uvv pointed across the room. There's Sally Sprivattll, she's the Button Hole Grinder's daughter ya know! Humm, was my only reply. Sally and me were high school sweethearts. Did I ever tell ya about the time . . . ? I knew the story was coming. Sally and me went together the whole time we were at Lower High. We spent hours together planning our futures. After graduation we were going to apply to Butcher's Oollegeg Sally was going to the hogs and I was going to study chickens. I graduated E Pluribus Unum,' but poor Sally got a case of third degree heat rash and missed the last two months of high school and never got to graduate. After that we decided to get married, but three days before the wed- ding, the South fired on Ft. Sumter and I was drafted. Sally was real broke up!! She took up with a Bongo player and beat her way to the Gallopagouse Islands and the last time I heard from her she was riding a giant lizzard in a cir- cus. Oh ohll, hang on, here comes Mary Pea- body. She used to be a hostess on the Hinden- berg! Mary came over to our table and gave Uvv a kiss on the cheek. Uvv introduced us, and Mary sat down. Mary wasn't much of a talker: all she kept saying was . . . lt is hot in here? or is it just me? Uvv pointed to a large punch bowl sitting on the bar and said, Let's get something to drink! All three of us got up and walked over to where the punch bowl was. Well, l'Il be .., if it isn't Guzzel McGlubI! Uvv was shaking hands with the man that was serving the punch. Uvv turned and whispered in my ear, Guzzel used to be a bartender on the Titanic. O'I Guzzel did a half pivot and half stagger and yelled back to the kitchen, lnce! we need more incl! We each got a glass of punch and returned to our table and sat down again. Uvv was having the time of his life talking to all his old school chums and I do mean OLD! school chums from Lower High. All the while Mary just sat there and complained how hot it was. Uvv was finished with his drink and Mary was half way through hers when I took the first drink of mine. I thought for a second that I had swallowed a blow torch. My whole life flashed before my eyes. When I caught my breath I squeaked, Wow!! What inthe heck is in this drink?? The punch tasted like a mixture of turpentine and grape Koolaid and looked as it it wulld stain your fingers if you were dumb enough to get any of it on them. I didn't say anymore about the drink, because it didn't seem to be bothering anyone else at the reunion. Uvv, Uvv, they're playing our favorite song, said Mary, Let's dance just the way we did when we were at Lower HighI and before Uvv could answer, Mary was dragging Uvv off to the middle of the dance floor. It was beyond me how they could dance to music like that. I didn't think it was possible to Waltz to the Stars and Stripes Forever . When the song was over, Uvv and Mary returned to the table, carrying fresh drinks for themselves and one for me. They sat the drink down in front of me, and I just stared at it. I felt sure it was staring back. Mary pointed across the room, Look!, there's Walter Potts with his girlfriend. Mary went on, Walter is 102 and she's only sixteen and they're going to get mar- ried as soon as she gets out of school, but I hear that Walter's mother thinks it will be too tough on the kids . . . Walter collects Aardvark hides and travels a lot, I don't think the marriage will last. Mary went on and I did the only thing that a person could do in a situation like that. .drank my drink!! By the time the drink hit bottom, Mary's voice had tapered off to a droan. The band was wound up and playing at a fever pitch and as I looked around the meeting, I couldn't figure out why they had made the tables so tall ..., then it came to me ..., Iwas on my hands and knees! It all made sense then. I pulled myself back up to the table and got back in my chair, just as Uvv shoved another glass of punch in my hand. By this time I was seeing double, or else there were two Uvv Jonesg I elected to be- lieve my first though. There was a crowd gather- ing across the room and I cranked my weary head around to see what was going on. Uvv shouted, Look!!, there's Sally, she's going to do it!! There was a crowd around a table next to the band and in the middle of it, just as if she were on center stage, Sally Spivett was doing the Bump and Grind to the music the band was playing. With a kick of her leg, SaIIy's shoe went sailing across the meeting hall. The crowd yelled, More, more! Sally begain to tug at her Sup- hose until she freed the one on her left leg. I could plainly see a big purple mark on her knee cap, where a Killer Carp had attacked her years before. Everyone was having a great time watching Sally on the table. Then Guzzel McGlubb lifted his head out ofthe punch bowl and yelled, Put it on, put it all back on. The whole thing was getting out of hand and I was beginning to won- der where it was all going to end. Just about that time the answer to my thought showed up. The doors to the meeting hall opened and six uniformed policemen came bounding into the room. I though to myself ... l'm saved!! Uvv just grunted, Those guys always spoil our reunions! The police began herding the old folks out to waiting paddy wagons. Everyone went along peacefully singing, Hail to Lower l-ligh. The officers came over to our table and said Com'on, Iet's goI Uvv grabbed me by the arm and said, lt's our turn, Sonny. We get to ride inthe paddy wagon. Uvv made it sound like it was some kind of big treat and I just kept wondering where I was going to get replacement parts for my head the next morningl? f, ' 4 ,-- ' Ts I, if fl rr la 1 X ix in A 'l X' J IKM 4' ff If V f fr, 5-,k i -I..f.Qit1i'rt 5ri NN ffm tg wlf .2 ffm' A fflf' . 'IX fl, .I , I l l 5 , I 'I' . I , ' X Ili!! I' I I I I I ' I I ll 'f , gt , iv , jj. fl ff f A 1 fly! X V I l ,ji M t, K I Nfl ' 111 I I ggi Jil at X XNXNW fl 2 f tj Q ' ff xxx 'I N r . I, lx -,i ' , I r . v' I, -. I xl, X gl lI f ' .. I . ,..j xx, A Morlock from HG. Well's The Time Machine Don Farber The next morning I awoke in my apartment in my own bed. It wasn't really clear in my mind what all had happened the night before. I looked over at my nightstand and there was a note from Uvv on it. I picked it up and through my sore red eyes I read . .. Sorry your missed all the lun last night, Sonny, but you tell asleep and the nice po- lice officers dropped you oll at your apart- ment. l carried you in and put you to bed. The police told us they were going to lake all ot us out to crazy ol' Andy Stotter's barn where we would party all night and not dis- turb anyone. They even said they would go back and bring the band out ..... I gotta go, the next time get some sleep before ya go to a party. Uvv. I was already two hours late for work and didn't know what l was going to use for an ex- cuse but you can bet that I would not mention The Reunion. Dean Rickertsen 'til ORIGINAL WORKS