Strathcona Tweedsmuir School - Paidia Yearbook (Okotoks, Alberta Canada)

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LIFE WITH JOSEPH We're not as quick as we used to be. As a matter of fact, we're not quick at all, Joseph and I. To do justice badly needed to both of us, I should say with combined efforts we are in great shape, considering age and that Joseph drools, and can't hear as well as he used to. I'm not a complainer nor do I squibble about comfort, but I am getting on, and if someone is going to make a habit of drooling on me, I'd prefer it to be myself. lOf course I don't droolj and no one else, and if, I ask for a bedpan, I don't want a banana, and most of the time, I don't want to listen to Joseph describe in detail his episode with the Indians way back when. Ah, but really Joseph is my best friend-my only friend. We love to reminisce, telling our jokes and saying with smiles on our faces. Ah, those were the days. But I've heard all Joseph's stories and jokes and none of my own. That is why I need a listener so that I may tell my side ofthe story. When I first met Joseph, I was a mere boy just coming to my senses, that point in life when I found out I was alive. We were very good friends from the beginning. We were inseparable. I remember people frequently mistaking me for Jo- seph since we were always together. I thought I recognised it as a common human error. We went to the same schools together, received the same grade, and liked and disliked the same things-it was an almost perfect friendship. Although we had a very unique relationship, we did have our conflicts-rare but deadly. Joseph could be so careless and irresponsible at times and how he got me into trouble! Once I remember at the age of 11, we ventured off to the candy store to satisfy a sweet tooth. While I was milling over the little delights, Joseph whispered in my ear, Steal some . I was shocked at this suggestion and told him certainly not, but he insisted and tried to show me how. I guess the frantic whispering caught the proprietor's attention who was just in time to see Joseph stuffing candy into his pockets. When I looked around, a very big man was heading for Joseph-and I was scared.Being of quick mind and forgiving soul I jumped in front of Joseph and told the proprietorthat it was I who was to blame and that Joseph was innocent. He grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and booted me into a small closet without a word. I was lost without Joseph and the room was small, dark, and hot, and I couldnt understand why Joe didn't help me. I cried myself to sleep. After the store closed, a burst of light hit me and I couldn't open my eyes-it was horrible. Joseph was there and the shaking that had started since I was brutally shoved into the closet, stopped. Father whipped me good and hard that night even though I told him over and over ll hate to squeal, but ... lJoseph did it and I covered for him. He didn't understand and I decided right then and there I would never speak to Father again. As we grew, women folk took a big part in our lives. Our efforts never went unrewarded even if all it was was a peck on the cheek. ln normal circumstances, the girl of our fancy, who was obliging to go to a show, never would oblige again. We thought it was just that we were too much. Getting on inthe years, we never married and our friendship was therefore never preoccupied with someone else. Oh, it wasn't as if we weren't suitable, we were, on the contrary, a handsome pair to say the least. lt's just that Joseph and I never desired companionship from anyone else. So here we are, together since childhood, encountering the same experiences. Infact ldon't remember a situation where we both weren't in- volved. Why, the reason why I am lwith Josephj in this white hospital is due to his hip injury resulting from a fall just last week. As Joseph and I were walking to our apartment from the grocery store, our feet gave way on the ice and we ended up helpless on the sidewalk. My doctor here calls me Joseph and he hardly knows us. I don't understand him but I'm too tired to argue. Fatigue sets in rather fast these days. As a matter of fact, I can't go into everlasting sleep now for Joseph wants to live and without me he is nothing but a vegetable so to speak. And now I must regretfully say good-bye for the doctor is going to take me and call me by that name and ruin everything. Hello Joseph, and how are we this morning? Oh, I see by your chart that you've been refusing the pills. Not good, not good, the intern remarked as he held Joseph Weber's wrist. Nancy Gammell Grade 12 Winner, short story SHORT STORY

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LOCKE CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST POETRY TO A COLLECTOR He shut the cage door On the last addition To his private zoo And proudly, Smiled As he gazed around at the Once wild and Once free Most beautiful creations Of nature. Once again He had proven himself Superior To the lesser beasts, And he was swelled with pride, But this brave, courageous, and great man Was too blind to see That without realizing, He had created A perfectly False world That was a Mirror image, Of his own life of captivity. Gerald Maguire, I AM ALWAYS TOO FAR FROM YOUR WORLD Dreams drifting by Were suddenly parted Were suddenly high Above my head lwatched them drift by Like clouds in the sky Oh so incredibly high As though they could fly l wondered lon my bedl If I should rise But l stayed instead l reached for the skies Grade 12 September doth come and the leaves turn yellow October doth come and the birds fly south November doth come 1 x is s N Qxx it mmiw -1 fm ' . . . , ' W - AT .4 I ggi 5 , .f dx 5 - .xx BobGammeIl MJ' X x-im ,VQN 1 l IIQFX-xxx' In 1 . i I 1 I J' Grade 12 Winner, Poetry Section shakespeare revisited ..., the quality of mercy is not strained it droppeth as a gentle rain from heaven upon the chevrolet below and rises through the smug faces of the masses in the form of reflections from the puddles that lie in the parking lots of your mind. Nicholas Graham Grade 12 and the people fly south December doth come and the snows do appear. January doth come and why didn't I fly south? Andrew Craine Grade 12 Gerald Maguire the dog sat next to me on the road to the city i waited for him to speak but he wouldn't i threw a rock to the pond. the silence was broken the sun came out a car drove by i smiled at the woman in the front seat it started to rain. now look what you've done said the dog. Nicholas Graham Grade 12

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THE FUGITIVE It was a cool morning and a thin coating of frost covered the scattered patches of yellow-green grass. Lying in a clump of dead bushes was a man. His name was Harold Simms. He was 6' 2 , had short black hair and cold grey eyes. He was 23V2 years old but looked much older. Slowly Harold rose to his feet and stretched. He was wearing a pair of red and white joggers, a dark black suit and tie and a tight- fitting green squall jacket. He shouldered his canvas knapsack and jogged to the edge of the meadow. After clambering over three fences he reached the woods and slowed his pace to a walk. As he entered the cool woods he be- gan contemplating the past few days. Harold remembered clearly the bare features of his barred cell and wondered why he had re- ceived such a fate. After all, he was only 23Vz and wanted for kil- ling a policeman. If caught, he would hang for sure. He was to hang on the 29th. at 5:00, but through an ingenious plan he had made, he was able to escape. Now, on the 29th. he found him- self walking through a leafy wood instead of by a row of barred cells to a room with no exit. Anyway, he had escaped and that was all that mattered right now. Harold tripped over a load of fallen trees and then he realized that the cool breeze had become a stiff wind. Oh well, he had only four hours to go before he reach- ed the border and crossed to a new beginning. He sat down to rest. When he resumed his jour- ney, he noted that it was 1:00. He travelled for three hours and then ate a small lunch of bread and ham. After he had finished, he doggedly trudged along against the fierce wind. Dark clouds gath- ered overhead and the sky grew black. lt was 4:45 and Simms had only half a mile to go when the wind became gale force. The trees bent over and it became very hard to see. The wind chilled him right to the bone. Harold walked a little bit to his right and found himself beside a well-greased railroad track and he knew the border was not far off. Suddenly he heard a train whistle and realized a train was coming down the tracks. He tried to move away from the tracks, but the wind was too strong. As the train came speeding down the tracks and passed by Harold, his tie was whipped out by the wind and was jammed in one of the freight cars. He was dragged the 200 yards to the border. When the guards found Har- old, his face was purple and dis- torted and his eyes were glassy and filled with horror. They mut- tered, He didn't have a chance! Harold was dead as a doornail and, strangely, enough, the hands on his watch said exactly 5:00. Sara Goldstein Grade 7 THE FLU EPIDEMIC Recently there has been much talk about the flu. Epidemiologists say there will be a flu epidemic in the fall of 1976 as deadly as the one in 1918. As everyone seemed so concerned about this flu I decided to find a little more information about the 1918 epidemic. There were several names given to the flu but the most popular one was the Spanish Lady because everyone had reason to believe that it all started in Madrid, Spain. The flu couldn't have come at a worse time because the war was on, there was a shortage in food and already many lives had been lost in the war. The flu hit suddenly and without warning. Men and women walking down streets suddenly stopped as if stabbed, clutching the nearest post or person they could find and slowly fell to the ground un- consious. People became panicky and worried that they would all be wiped out. The flu affected men, women and children. Even animals were affected, especially pigs. Altogether they estimated that over 21 million people died and over a billion people were affected in the short period of 3 months. In Ottawa, as elsewhere in Canada, there were so many cases of the flu that schools were closed down and buildings were used as centres to care for the people who were unable to get into the over- crowded hospitals. When they didn't have enough hot water bags, they used hot bricks wrapped in news- papers to keep the patients' feet warm. Nearly every home was hit by the disease. People left food and hot drinks on their flu-stricken neighbors' doorsteps being afraid to enter. Volunteers opened up soup kit- chens but in some families there wasn't even one member well enough to go and pick it up. Doctors and nurses worked night and day and many of them got the flu. People wore medicated masks that were changed every two hours to protect themselves. Private cars, delivery vans were also used as am- bulances and they ran a non-stop shuttle service. There were many deaths and the dead were buried immediately and often without a ceremony. There were no antibiotics in those days so patients were treated with the fruit and water diet and lots of fresh air. I think we're very fortunate to have all the modern medicines so that if the flu should strike again we will be well prepared. David Thakker Grade 7 1 lfvgdx,