Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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Thin Man frothed at the mouth and shrieked in short accents that he thought that all the Fat Men should work and all the Thin Men should live in Luxury. All the Thin Men in the mob cheered madly and most of the judges opened the other eye and sat up. Now it was Rhea's turn. The mob calmed down and the judges listened expectantly as she spoke. I think the Very Fat Man and the Extremely Thin Man have arguments- BUT-wliy doesn't everybody work? At- this the mob screamed its approval and after thirty seconds deliberation, the judges not only accepted Rhea's motion, but unanimously elected her head of the New-Government-In-VV.hich-Everyone-Works. Everybody immediately began working. However, that night, The Very Fat Man, disguised as The Extremely Thin Man, crept into the palace when Rhea was asleep and assassinated her. Imme- diately confusion broke out, with all the Fat Men slaying all the Thin Men land vice-versa?-and by the week-end there was not a single person in The Big City left alive. - Moral: Little girls shouldn't meddle in politics. ITlCid6Tlt Punta Baia MICHAEL MOUNTJOX' Two hundred miles south of the American border, where the finger of Punta Baja thrusts out into the Pacific, the coast of Lower California drops suddenly and steeply down to where the rocks are red and wet, and the long combers that roll four thousand miles across the blue Pacific smash in columns of white and subside in puddles of bubbly foam and froth among the rocks. And all along that desolate and barren coast, the only sounds are the ceaseless rush of the wind and the crash of the surf and the cries of the effortless white gulls end- lessly cruising the air currents thrown up from the backs of the cresting waves and the high wind-scoured rocks. Sometimes a little desert fox comes and stands with wind-whipped tail and quivering nose, and regards the alien blue horizon, or trots along at sliver of sand among the rocks, nimbly avoiding the rush and spent backwash of the sea. A moment after he passes, the sea destroys his delicate footprints. And under the sea in a green half-light world, ten thousand creatures lead fierce and unthinking lives among the pinnacles and chasms of the creamy coral, and the unending motion of the sea makes the sea jungle, the beds of Twenty

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went up to one of the guards and asked to be admitted-saying las all big girls in fairy tales sayj that she had come to marry the prince. 'fOhl said the guardg I can admit you to The Big City, but, I am afraid you can't marry the prince. You see, he, his father, and all his father's court have been banished for being too voluptuous, there, if you look over by the west gate, you can see them going. Rhea looked over by the west gate, and sure enough-there, with their crowns still on their heads, and their scepters in their hands, went the king, the prince, and all the banished court, looking very voluptuous indeed. However, in spite of her wish to marry the prince, she realized that her duty to seek her fortune must come first, so she decided to enter the city. Please, Mr. Guard, she said, open the gatefl Of course, said the guard. The great bronze gates swung open, disclosing a huge crowd, milling this way and that way, all shrieking at the tops of their voices. Rhea was very frightened, but of course, not knowing the ways of The Big City, she decided to ask some person what to do. So she touched one kindly old man by the sleeve. VVhat is causing all the uproar? she asked timidly, and - - - But before she could say anything more, the old gentleman replied: You see, my dear, as the king and all his voluptuous court have been banished from The Big City, we are now trying to find the 'ideal form of governmentl. One of our citizens thought of a brilliant idea. He thought that everyone should give his own idea on how the city should be run-and have a board of judges select the bestf Over there is the platform, and if you line up, you may give your concept of government. But Rhea was already in the line and found herself being pushed slowly towards the platform, from where she could hear Large, Small, Fat. Thin. Young, and Old-all haranguing the judges and mob about their concepts of government. From what she could make out, the general ideas were, more holidays, higher incomes, and lower prices. The judges were fast asleep, but their snoring was drowned by the mob's bellowing their approval or disapproval. Soon it would be Rhea's turn, for there were only two men in front of her-a Very Fat Man and an Extremely Thin Man. Rhea listened closely to what they said. The Very Fat Man spoke at great length, to the effect that all the Thin Men should work and all the Fat Men should live in Luxury. All the Fat Men in the mob cheered lustily and most of the judges opened one eye. The Extremely .NviIl!3fl'I'Il

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purple and red sponge, and the oozy inky kelp oscillate for ever and without rest. Here live the squid and sea bass and grouper, and an occasional venture- some chalk-bellied shark, turning in the shafts of ocean-filtered sunlight, sends them darting. ,Sometimes the fog rolls in and binds the whole coast in gray and stills the beat of the surf and the tolling of the black bell buoy moored off the point. Down that coast and through such a fog the ship came, feeling her' way close in and looking for the black bell-buoy. An old ship, her schooner hull still graceful but her masts cut off short, she easily rode over and down the languid swells, her muttering Diesel barely giving her way. In her bows, crouching, his elbows on his knees, and staring at his folded hands, was the lookout. His hair held droplets of water and his shirt and pants hung damp about his folded body. Once in a while he would raise his head and gaze into the fog, straining for the loom of the land, and then would turn his head sideways listening for the tolling of the black bell buoy. A n In the Wheelhouse was the helmsman, his feet wide apart, leaning forward with his weight on the spokes of the wheel. He swayed gently with the even roll of the ship and looked forward at the wet deck, the black wet canvas that covered the hatches, and he quickly studied the symmetrical arcs the tip of the ship's foremast cut in the fog. Then he glanced at the compass, shifted his weight back and gave the wheel a half a turn, let it go and when it had spun back to its original position, again settled his hands on the spokes. He leaned forward. his eyes rose and fixed themselves on the curved back of the lookout forewardin, the bow. He listened for the melancholy sound of the bell buoy. On the wing of the bridge the mate leaned his elbows on the cracked and blistered paint of the rail. His ears, tuned for the distant note of the bell buoy. heard only the sound of the water close overside and the myriad creakings of the ship's timbers, waxing and waning with the vessel's measured roll and the mutter of the Diesel. The stowaway sat on the high sill of the cabin door, his knees drawn up under his chin. He looked out at the fog through the bars of the rail, at the patches of foam sliding easily past, and at the indefinable point where the gray fog and gray sea merged. The Captain sat behind the stowaway, in the cabin, and looked at the lad's back. He took a can of snuff from his pocket, where it had worn a round white ring in the blue cloth, and put a pinch under his lip. Then he put the can back. He listened for the melancholy note of the black bell buoy. When he heard it he asked the boy, as if the sound had been a signal, f'Can you swim? - The Twenty-one