St Johns Ravenscourt School - Eagle Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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stem which is anchored into the main floor. The population of this tourist-filled city ranges from the poorest families to the most wealthy. At night you can see the less fortunate part of the population out on the streets. The men in their unbuttoned shirts reveal a filthy undershirt. The women in their ragged dresses and sweaters just walk around. The children wander about in groups, wasting time throughout the night for their parents have left them alone. Gary Jacob 7EW THE GEORGIAN ROOM The Georgian Room is a big restaurant located on the fifth floor of the downtown department store “The Bay”. Leading into the restaurant is a hall with sofas and easy chairs where customers, who do not want to eat right away, may rest their weary feet. In the hall there are also shiny cigarette machines, a counter where you may buy birthday cakes, and a cashier’s desk. Once inside the restaurant itself we see shining wooden tables while along the walls are booths with menus under their glass tabletops. In the center of the room stands a large circular shelf with many varieties of puddings, cakes, pies, cookies, fruit cocktail and melons: both water melon and cantaloupe. You may have all you want for only fifty cents! All over the restaurant there are waitresses taking orders and delivering food (that is, if you are not going to the buffet.) The waitresses wear white aprons over their black uniforms. It is easy to see that the waitresses like their jobs because they always have smiles on their happy faces. Beside the doorway stands a lady who tells customers which table or booth to sit at. She also gives balloons to young children. This lady wears black stockings, high heeled shoes and a black dress. Going out into the hall again to pay our bill we see yet another lady who takes orders for cakes and gives children packs of candy or gum. She is dressed almost the same as the lady at the restaurant door except that her stockings are different. The Georgian Room is a good restaurant to go to after a hard day of shopping. Daniel Woolf Form 5 THE FIRST MEAL An early spring had come and all through the forest, up to the tree tops of the elderly pine, animals and birds were awakening. The early robin sang out, so the whole woods were filled with music. Up in the clouds, the honking of the migration of geese as they flew past could be heard. Two squirrels, playing a game of chase around, stopped intermittently to occupy themselves with the hourly scratch. A mother raccoon, and two small babies shook off their sleepy feelings and wandered about their warren, in the knot of a fallen oak. The warren had been lined with dry grass and it stuck to their hides as though it were part of their fur. The mother, feeling the pangs of hunger under her hide, clambered out of the den to the ground. There, she proceeded to roll around, pushing off all the dry grass she could. Normally raccoons are nocturnal or night prowlers, but the present hunger changed this pattern. Finally after a lengthly session of rolling, she got up and poked around some nearby bushes. Finding only the odd grub or so she walked on. After wandering along, the pond soon came into view. The ice had thawed and ragged lumps of this cold substance could still be seen floating on the crystal water. Pausing after taking a drink, she scrambled into a pile of leaves on an outjuttingrock overlooking the pond. Patiently her small, mask-covered eyes scanned the surface of the transparent mass, waiting for the water fowl. The leaves were cold and damp as the sun had melted the snow which lay on top of them. Scant groups of frogs could be seen in the midst of the water, croaking and submerging. Few ducks had yet come in and others just flew past as if the pond wasn’t there. The ducks which had just landed stayed in the middle of the pond, and were at the moment, too hard to reach. The frog even looked to be tempting morsels of food. At last a small wood duck paddled closer to the rock and the pile of leaves, where the raccoon lay in wait. The raccoon fidgeted, waiting for the wood duck to come closer, The duck slid into shore pushing the water behind her. Silently the raccoon wiggled out of the leaves and set her black flashing eyes on the feathered morsel. Pouncing in front of the duck she clawed at her neck, but missed. The duck unfolded its wings and flapped them at the raccoon trying to scare her off. But she was too smart for that and hissed back repeatedly. Her savage menacing teeth drove far into the duck’s neck. The duck vigorously pecked at the raccoon but all in vain. The duck soon lay limp in the raccoon’s mouth. Following her instincts, the raccoon soused the duck in the water to clean it and carried it home for the first meal of the spring. Wes Christie Form 7EW 79

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THE MOST DANGEROUS FIRE IN THE UNIVERSE We were millions of light-years from our galaxy and our destination was another star system similar to our own. Our ship was exploring the least known sector of the universe and it made one feel lonely and helpless just to stare out at it. We were conquering the last frontier for it was our dream. We were there to fulfil an ultimate goal and if successful, it would be a fantastic achievement. Our tiny ship pushed on relentlessly, day after day, month after month, year after year. Th e monotonous hum of the reactors seemed to put me into deep trance for just the thought of them forced me to produce a sleepy yawn. Even in our experienced captain one could notice a slow down for time began to take its toll. But after a while, I suppose one would become used to the drowsy mood of the environment. Our technology, however, was not advanced enough to construct a spacecraft to overcome the light-barrier and thus the journey would drag through a span of over two hundred years. Each day I gazed through the telescope at our target and wondered what awaited us, another civilian? No one could even attempt to guess, the only thing to do was wait and that wasn’t difficult for I often sat in my quarters staring out through the window at the wonders of the universe, speculating as to what we would find. Soon, however, it became evident that our journey was reaching its completion. Finally after an almost indefinite period of two hundred and thirty-six years, we burst into the outer limits of the galaxy. We analyzed thousands of stars and solar systems, but the one which interested us the most was a tiny, yellow star situated in the outer realms of this island universe and although relatively small it possessed a family of nine planets. It seemed to emit an irresistable attraction for us, as if something strange was awaiting our arrival. So our ship turned toward this peculiar phenomenon with gathering speed. Suddenly we came in visual contact of the first three; they were cold, forbidding worlds, dead and silent. Thus we passed these globes of frozen ice unheadingly, and turned our eyes toward that warm, golden star with its gleaming light ruling this system. Then, unexpectedly, we came across two giant bodies much more inviting than the other three but still possessing unwelcoming qualities. Thus our course remained unchanged as we passed into the inner sector. There we found a tiny blood-red planet. However, the atmosphere readings proved this to be a hostile world as well, and once again we turned inward with the hope of success hanging on a thread. Suddenly, almost out of nowhere a blue-green disc came into view. As we neared this body we noticed great swirling masses of creamy, white clouds embracing this globe and that it was capped by sparkling ice at the poles. This world proved more than interesting and life conditions were ideal, so a landing party was immediately appointed. Once on the surface we discovered something even stranger than clouds. There were cities here, a civilization, but we noticed something else, also. There were giant craters completely covering the land and the huge structures in the cities were severely damaged. But the thing that rea lly impressed us was that there wasn’t a being for miles; it was as if the whole planet was dead. Then I began staring around desperately. Immediately my vision caught sight of something, some markings on a piece of oxidized metal. I picked it up anxiously and fumbled it between my fingers like a child with a new toy, then quickly brushed the dirt off it. There were three distinct markings on it that looked like U.S.A., but I couldn’t make anything out of it. Suddenly, clicks started coming in on the “radiation” meter. Just then the answer to the puzzle of what had occurred here flashed into my mind. It had been staring at me right in the eyes all the time. Nobody in sight, extensive damage, craters, radiation, that was it! This civilization had discovered the most dangerous fire in the universe and like a boy who had been playing with matches, carelessly burnt itself. Frank Jakovac 7EW NIAGARA FALLS Niagara Falls is a city to which every road leads. To the east is magnificent countryside. There are rolling hills past the meeting point of the sky and earth. To the south, across the Niagara River are the United States. To the north is the timber country and the west reveals its most famous area — the Great Lakes. There are many beautiful streets but the most beautiful is the one which runs along the mighty and ever rumbling Niagara River. The south side or side which runs along with the Niagara River is the most beautiful. The indescribable carpet of grass is always glistening from the cool but refreshing spray of water leaping off the top of the falls and plunging to the bottom. There are many magnificent trees along the side of the river as old as the city itself. The other side of the street doesn’t contain as many natural sites as the other side, but instead, it contains many natural substances combined to make man-made edifices. From this road you can see the city’s skyline which has one tall building towering above all the rest; this is the Skylon, a two-story disc shaped building atop a many hundred foot 78

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AN EXCITING ADVENTURE Nobody dreamed that anything as exciting as this would ever happen in the little fishing village of Atticia. But one quiet July day it did happen. A small fishing boat chugged its way into the harbour; out of it stepped a tall, well-dressed foreign looking man who was greeted by our latest town mystery—Mr. Jones. He had driven up to the general store over a week ago asking for Peter Tryggvason. I had replied that there was no such person around here. Since then he had been asking strange questions like “How much money did I make? ” or “How would I like to go to the big city to live? ” I recognized the driver of the fishing boat immediately. It was Joe Zeleski, one of the poorest men of the village. After both men left the boat I asked who his passenger was and where he had picked him up. Joe answered that the foreigner’s name was Pete Kofman and that he came on board from a large fancy-looking schooner called the “Slovak”. For several days nothing much happened until a group of men led by Pete and Jones were seen walking down the street. There were about twelve of them, four of whom were carrying large black suit-cases. I decided to follow them. I followed up to the edge of town where a bus picked them up. I sat down on the back fender of the bus and for about an hour the bus carried me along rough roads to an old house. The foreigners entered the house and sat down at a large table. One of the men, who was evidently hot, opened the window. In order that I could hear their conversation, I sat under the window. Soon I peered through the tinted glass of the window and to my amazement (although I really half-expected it) they were using an old-fashioned printer to make counterfeit money. Mr. Jones, (whose real name was Jim Thompson) appeared to be checking for poor copies. Pete who was the boss of the operation threw a waste basket full of poor prints out of my window. Seizing a few of the bills, I ran off to the nearest R.C.M.P station at Little Kaktovik where I reported all I had seen. Within an hour all the ring were arrested and I received a large reward of $5,000 for my findings. I used the money to help pay for a fishing boat of my own. Ian Henderson Form 6 IS A FRIEND REALLY A FRIEND? The party thrived. It was 12 o’clock and still it had not reached its highest moment. The party itself was being given by the Barr family. All those present were not just acquaintances, they were real friends. Over in the corner was Mr. Johnson. Now there was areal friend. He had once saved Mr. Barr from a rattlesnake. And there was Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham; they were really good friends. The Bars and the Cunninghams were brought up together. And we must never leave out Dr. Brown. Dr. Brown cured Mrs. Barr of scarlet fever, and there were so many more. The radio was on and sweet, soothing music came from it. Suddenly the sweet music changed to the noises of some rowdy, rock and roll group. Almost like a simultaneous response, Mr. Barr switched it off. Then the party went on as if nothing had happened. Why should it stop? There was plenty of food and there was an endless supply of champagne. So it went on. After a while Mr. Barr turned on the radio. A voice boomed out from the speaker, “We interrupt this program to deliver a message of national importance. Please DO not panic. Stay Calm! I repeat, Stay Calm! Two atomic missiles are directed at this city. Please do not panic! All is being done to stop this catastrophe. Stay in your homes. Leave this problem to the army and the police. Stay in your homes! ” Mr. Barr turned it off. All were white-faced. Suddenly Mrs. Cunningham screamed, “We are going to be killed. All of us. There is no hope! We’re all going to die! Dr. Brown simply lit his pipe as Mr. Cunningham tried to calm his wife. “If you’re going to pass away, you’re going to pass away one way or the other,” Dr. Brown said coolly. Mr. and Mrs. Barr were making their way through to the next room. “Wait! ” Mr. Johnson screamed, “That little bomb shelter you have under the other room, John. We may be saved yet! ” He was referring to Mr. Barr. Mr. Barr spoke, “No. It’s too small. It was only made for Julia and me. No, I am afraid you are going to have to find refuge somewhere else.” “I saved you from a rattlesnake and you turn me out when I am in need of shelter. It’s not going to be that way John. No! I am coming in! ” Mr. Barr spoke forceably, “Get away! ” He broke the end of a champagne bottle and wavered it around threateningly. “Get away or I’ll cut you to ribbons! ” They all backed away. Barr and his wife entered then- bomb shelter and locked the door. “Now they can’t get in! Let’s see if there’s anything on the radio.” said Barr. He turned it on. The booming voice said, “This has been the fifth chapter of ‘Atomic War’. Tune in next week at the same time. Will the atomic bombs hit? Only time can tell! ” He turned it off. Chris Dornan 7EW 80