Polytechnic High School - Caerulea Yearbook (Long Beach, CA)

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umm A mx A It IX IN IN A mm 0170017llflilfllllililll Cqptgp - Outside the house he stopped and looked up at the b1'illiantly lighted win- dows and debated. There was no Way ,gi he could withdraw, so he marched up lgiifigiifpii to the door. As he entered he felt -Q very self-conscious. His starched col- . eq e 5 lar lmrt his neck and his tight shoes ' -2V4i'4 pinched his feet, but he still Walked ,.4i lis I faithfully in. His ehum VVilly Barker sauntered ,irfi over to meet him. VVilly felt very i I mueh at ease, so he grinned good- naturedly. Hello, VVilly. How are you getting along with radiof, HPunk! Have you seen tl1e new girl that moved in last month K Noi Have you got your new set yet!'7 'LNo! She'll be here tonightf, ' Is that iso? Gee, you're luekyf' 'Tll sayf, You ought to have a gay old time with her. Sure thingf' 'gShe's got navy dials and Bakelite panels, hasnlt she! g'VVhat? I was talking about the girl. Stephen turned away disgusted. Even VVilily was worse girl- struek than ever. He would have to get a girl for the danee soon. How his shoes squeaked. Here goes! Stephen drew near the crowd of girlsg then stopped to get his nerve. He walked up to a girl who seemed to he alone and asked her for the dance. She looked up and Stephen almost fainted. She was not a powde1'ed, primped, giggly, hysterical girl hut she looked almost human. VVell, l donit believe I want to dance. XVon't you sit down and talk a while?

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' mmm at CDI'I! 1 I I0 E'GI12L5. A 1 Tl+1PHEN sighed wistfuiiy. He didn,t want to go to that dance i, ,Af - tonight but a socially inclined mother puts any boyis excuses aside. Uh, if he could only stay home and listen in. And that wasn't all. He would have to dance with some giggly, hysterical specimen of the weaker sex. Oh, girls were senseless things. They were always talking about some crazy new dress, or some fellow, but never l about anything interesting like radio. He would have to go to the monthly 'gdansanti' ofthe Young l'eople,s Club. How he hated to go though, for he wanted to stay home and listen in to the unknown radio tele- phone that he heard. The operator of that radio must be a wonder- ful operator. Uh, why did they invent dancing? Stephen sullenly jerked on a pair of socks. Then he stopped to think. He had only one pair of silk socks. If those were lost he couldn't go. He quickly stuffed the offending socks down the rain pipe outside the window, then tiptoed downstairs to tell his mother. As he went by the buffet he stopped in dismay. There were three new pairs of blue silk socks. And how he hated blue. Stephen went upstairs, retrieved the missing socks and then very slowly dressed for the dance. YVhen he was ready he meande1'ed aimlessly downstairs into the dining room. Ile slumped into his chair and peeked nervously at his food. He iidgeted and pulled at his napkin. VVould dinner never end? Finally, however, he was tl11'Ollg'l1, .so he pushed back his chair and went out to the garage to get the automobile. As he backed the machine out, his radio set beckoned enticingly, but he resolutely tu1'ned down the street towards the dance.

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13 CAERI JLEA '22 IIIIIIlllIIIIIIlIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlIIIlIIIllIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllIIllIIHIIIIIIIIIIIlIIIIlIlllIIIIIHllIlIIIIlIIIIIIIIIIlIIIllIIIIIIIIIIlIIIIIIIIIIlIIIllIIllIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllllllllllllllllllllll Stephen looked stunned. A girl who didn't want to dance? That was one point in her favor anyway. Did he want to talik to her? He did. So he convoyed her out to the front porch, got a chair for her, then sat down. The girl started the conversation, so Ste- phen leaned back and tried to analyze his reasons for liking her. She had dark, fluffy, bobbed hair. His was dark also, so what was the difference? She had blue eyes. His were black, but hers weren't a vamping, staring, baby blue. She certainly had a companionable grin. She wasn't quite as tall as he was. Oh rats! What was he thinking of ? He was getting almost as bad as Willy. Well, anyway, she was the nicest girl he had met in a long time. He felt kind of foolish though. She wasn't talking about new dresses or feljlows. She was very much at ease and was chatting most intelligently about automobiles. Well, she seemed to know something about them, but even then any one could pick up a few technical terms and get away with it. Huh! Just imagine any girl knowing anything about radio. He'd like to see any girl who could really operate a set. Take that radiophone operator for instance. Even though Stephen didn't know who he was or the least thing about him he was sure that he was a perfect girl hater. But even then some girls were all right. This girl was prob- ably nice and she certainly was good looking. Not powdered and painted but very welll dressed. She seemed to be awfully nice and seemed to get along with him pretty well, too. What? The music stopped already?,' Stephen stood up. He thought for a moment and then decided he wanted to dance. Yes, for the first time in his life he really wanted to dance. He walked into the house with her. He turned and was just going to ask her when VVilly Barker slid in front of him and asked her for a dance. She assented and they glided out to the floor. Stephen looked chagrinned and walked over to the row of girls against the wall. They were all poor dancers, so Stephen went