South Side High School - Optimist Yearbook (Newark, NJ)

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Friends By Isadore Mar£ YRON HARPER was a small man. and becoming a little stout around the middle. His large, black overcoat made him seem round and puffy. He walked on the hard, slippery glaze of the snow, and occa sionally he broke through. His oily face began to sweat, and the frost turned the tiny globules into ice. He walked in a blank, white loneli ness; empty lots on either side of the street, a towering skyline of office buildings in the background. The snow had sifted in over his rubbers, and caked a cold wetness on his socks. His house was half a mile from the office, and in fair weather he often walked the distance, glad of the exercise. Today he had expected to take the car, but Evelyn had wanted it for a drive to the mountains. She was to go skiing with a friend. He thought—the same friend, or is it another one? Gigolos must be cheap nowadays. But he said nothing, kissed her dutifully, and marched off to work. He had been busy that day; there were two cases to be studied, and all the petty, unfinished details that accumulate towards the end the month in a lawyer's office. But after he had done his chores there was the pleasant little task of counting up the monthly receipts. After deducting expenses, and dividing with his partner, he found himself with a total of about six hundred dollars. He was surprised and elated. Of course, the Rexford fee had been unusually large—yes, that accounted for it. So here he was with six hundred dollars, and a mind free to plan. He had been thinking of a vacation for some time; ever since the thermometer had begun to fall, and the snow and frost had kept it down about the freezing point. He would enjoy a vacation; he hadn't really had one since his marriage some eight years ago. He was still comparatively young, and in the very prime of his life. Yes, a vacation was the thing, now that he had the money; and he could easily leave the office to his partner for a month or so. Now he was thinking of it, letting the thoughts filter into his mind as he walked along. Thoughts of the sunny South; of Florida; the leisure, the warmth, and the laziness of a vacation on the beach. Days of lounging in the warm, laving water; of dozing in a long deck chair, under an awning, to protect him from the sun From the sun! He smiled sarcastically, and stared into a grey luminescent dome that bounded the earth. No sign of a sun to be protected from, not even a single ray; just a heavy, grayish shroud, suggesting . . . he shuddered. But the mood passed quickly. He thought again of the South. Yes, it would be Florida; the papers all said so, and Evelyn would enjoy it. She was still beautiful; even though eight years had blunted the enthusiasm of the rising young lawyer, and shown him a little more of the world than he would have wanted to see. He was no longer handsome; nor had he ever been. He wondered again why Evelyn had married him; and again he answered himself—for money. But he had loved her. He still loved her, SENIOR

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SHELTER OPTIMIST

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In Wyoming : OPTIMIST