Viscount Bennett Junior High School - Terminal Yearbook (Calgary, Alberta Canada)

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LITERARY A Brush With Fate (Continued) • « Kim ' s eyes flew open in-.sudden fear. Why not? she whispered hoarsely. . Oh, it ' s nothing to worry about, - Mrs. Shannon said quickly. Just a temporary fracture. But you won ' t ever be able to walk if you haven ' t got the will to do so. So you see, Kim She paused at the tortured look on Kim ' s face. Her eyes were screwed shut as if to push the-pain aw y. . .... . rr , Mom, Kim said through tight lips. Mom, I can ' t move my legs. They won ' t movel I know Kim. They won ' t be able to move for a while. I told you that. . But Kim was too frightened to listen. She opened her mouth to scream. Kim-l Mrs. Shannon shouted frantically. Listen to me! You will be able to .walk. I promise you tl Now, honey, take this pill and go to sleep. Kim did as she was told and angrily watched her mother departi It ' s the horse ' s fault, she whispered fiercely as the door closed. If it were not for.Fleet Unable to continue, she stopped and broke into hysterical, uncon¬ trolled sobs. If I can ' t walk again, qr ride again - I ' ll-diel I ' ll just;diel She thought for a moment.and decided that praying might help the situation. • God, please make me well. Don ' t let-my legs be....paralized,.,.for the rest of my life. Please! .. At the end of two weeks- ' time the doctor returned. Well, Kim, how are you? he greeted her with a cheerful smile, I ' m O.K. she replied. But you might as well know, I can ' t walk. The doctor threw back his head and laughed. ' ' You ' ve certainly got yourself convinced, haven ' t you? Don ' t talk such nonsense. Of course you can. Just use-as much strength - and willpower - as you possibly can and you ' ll be able to. r; - -■ Kim shook her head. I can ' t. It hurts too much,-- nearly kills me half the time. • ! - A t ....... , So you ' re afraid of a little pain? . Dr. Weathers said contemptuously. LITTLE pain! - Kim repeated increduously. If you only knew... Look, you put your arm around me and I ' ll help you, the doctor said. Kim hoisted herself up and stood on the floor. Now I ' ll let you go alone. • „ . ..i .... No, don ' t, she protested, teetering back and forth hesitantly. The feeling of being on her own two feet again overwhelmed:her- and she collapsed in a heap, cursing under,her breath. She looked up at the doctor. . See, I told you I couldn ' t walk,, she. said with conviction. Now,you listen to me, young lady, Dr. Heathers said in exasperation. ' , ' You knov as well as I do hov; utterly ridiculous you ' re being. You can walk if you ' ll only try. I ' ve tried, but... You haven ' t tried hami enough. Now I have to go on another call, so I want you to keep trying. Do it for r.e, O.K.? Anything you say. - When Dr., ' feathers had gone, Kim-timidly put one foot on the floor. But the... moment she tried to stand, the effort exhausted her. I ' ll do it later, she mumbled sleepily. I ' ll just sleep a minute and then I ' ll try, .I ' ve got lots of -time ' ... do it. . .later, r .. , She slept much longer than she had, intended,for when she .awoke it was dark. The house seemed to be empty, so Kim decided that the .family must be down the road visiting ■the Killers. Something had awakened her. But what? She listened intently. The noise came distinctly. It was Fleet, neighing; He sounded,as if he were in great pain and ' im felt herself cringe instinctively. Horseman that that she was, she realized that there was definitely something wrong with the horse. . ' i ' I didnlt know he was sick, she said, puzzled.: i No one told me. What on earth can be the matter with him?

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LITERARY And now for some short stories. In the four selections which follow, one has a surprise ending, one is about creatures unknown to man, one will keep you chuckling for hourd and one is a matter of life and death. Quite an interesting batch of reading. SUCCESS OR FAILURE ? He stood there in the shadows, tense, nervous, poised for action. Not long, now. His unseeing eyes-stared at the people who hurried back and forth; they were noisy but he didn ' t hear them. Soon...-.soon.... How many years had he waited for this moment? Ten? Fifteen? Ever since he was a kidl Shaking fingers scratched a match, lit the cigarette which dangled from his twitching lips, then almost as quickly stubbed it out. A few minutes and he would know. A lifetime of dreaming and working and training - an eternity of watching and waiting and listening - a few minutes and his career would rise or fall. Would something go wrong? Would there be a hitch, a hesitation? Would he be a success or failure? Readyl He choked ' down a deep gulp of air, pulled up his mask and ran his finger¬ tips over the cold metallic smoothness of the object in his pocket. Now! He blinked and walked into the room which was bright and familiar to him. Over in a corner a mousy-looking cashier counted wads of money - beautiful money. A crisp brunette beamed brilliantly at a housewife who stood before the teller ' s wicket. Two old women gossiped with a shabby army veteran. The cheerful bustle gagged and became a deadly hush as they■caught sight of him. He heard his own voice, miraculously without a tremor, giving the commands re¬ hearsed so often. The brunette stopped beaming and with darting little glances at the revolver, began to put the money into his tattered suitcase. One of the old women tittered hysterically and the old soldier opened his mouth to protest but a wave of the weapon sent them cowering against the wall, A warm glow settled over him. He was master; they were eating out of his hand and the entire world lay at his feet. He was a t amer, taming his lions, Nero casting captives to the beasts, Alexander, terrible in battle and Judas jingling thirty pieces of silver in his pocket. ■ ' He leaned over to pick up the-suitcase. From the corner of his eye he saw a form lunge. Wheeling, he fired once - twice. The figure folded and crumpled like a balloon relieved of its airi Suddenly a terrible sickness, a choking nausea was sticking in his throat; his whirling, twisting stomach became a pit of crunching ice. His knees melted away..... The curtain dropped. ' With one accord the audience rose to roar a standing ovation. Later, critics dashed to typewriters to assure the public that a great new young actor had begun his climb to glory --to success. Ruth Coe, 10-30 A BRUSH WITH FME A flash of lightning; a bolt of thunder; rain pouring down torrent upon raging torrent - and the horse which Kim Shannon rode neighed in undenied terror, ns the thunder clashed again Fleet reared. ■ u hoal Kim yelled desperately above the roar of the storm. It was of no avail. Fleet was panic stricken and began- to tear across the- field on a dead run. Just ahead, Kim saw a low-hanging branch and tried to duck. She was quick - but not quick enough. The ground seemed to rise to meet her and she struck it with a terrific impact. Black¬ ness swept over her with nauseating sickness as she lapsed into unconsciousness. After that she knew nothing until the next morning when the voice of her mother awakened her, How do you feel, honey? - Mom...I...I think I fell, didn ' t I? When I was riding. I know, sweetie. But you ' ll be O.K.- Doc ' feathers says so. Only - he says you won ' t be able to walk for a couple of wreeks.

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A Brush With Fate (Continued) LITERARY Again and again Fleet cried loudly and Kim knew that if the vet didn ' t come soon, he was in danger of death. She swung herself around resolutely and threw off the covers. Gathering all her strength, she pulled herself up. I can ' t do it, she cried helplessly. Oh, please, God! Please let me be able to walk! She gritted her teeth and broke out into a cold sweat. Perspiration poured down her face as she struggled to take the first step. The chair supported her, then she, bureau, the doorknob -•and finally she reached the top of the stairs. She counted them. There were fifteen. Fifteen stairs to go down by herself. She could do it she knew she could. She started : ddwn slowly, leaning heavily on the bannister. Eight, nine..ten..eleven - and she tripped! The carpet broke he ' r fall and she lay there with clenched fists, her eyes full of tears. Fleet ' s persistant neighing urged her on. If only he would stop! With tremendous effort she rose to her feet, reached for the phone and picked up the receiver. Hello, operator? Get me the vet. Emergency. • The vet said he would come right over. Ten minutes later he rushed into the barn to find Kim holding her horse ' s head in her lap. •In a voice barely audible to him she said, You ' re too late, Doc. Her face was streaked with tears and she-buried it in Fleet ' s mane to hide it. I ' m sorry, Kim, the vet said. I knew he wouldn ' t pull through when he .got pneumonia that night in the storm. Everyone was so worried about you that they forgot to rub him down. I ' m... truly sorry. It doesn ' t do much good to be sorry... but - thanks. The vet left quietly, leaving Kim with the most sorrowful burden ever to be present in her young life. . She had regained the use of her legs, but had lost the life of her horse, who had meant more to her.than all the legs in the world. Jonene Pettit, 9-6. MY FIRST PLAIJE RIDE Every tine I have to travel on a plane, I get cold feet. You may class this as hysteria, or as an ungenerous criticism of a system of transportation that has established itself as the fastest, safest and most convenient ever invented, but that ' 3 the way..it is with ' -me, ' The first thing I do-when I get on the bus for the air terraihal is to look at the other passengers to see if they are the type of people ’with whom I would bfe content to die. By the time we reach the airport, I have sweated off at least a pound of weight,- , At.the airport I try to fall into conversation with the pilot of the plane on which I am to fly, and also with some of the members of its cfew. I have a number of questions to ask Which are apparently quite casual but which in reality go to the heart of the matter. I wish to ask the pilot: Are the very best of mechanics checking every inch of the plane? Have you, or any members of your family, ever been subject to giddiness, loss of memory or nervous attacks? Will you fly the plane very fast? Will it be necessary to travel at more than fifty feet above the ground? To the radio operator I say, Can you understand the Worse Code even if it is sent very fast? and Wonderful sets they have nowadays. Do they ever break down? Finally I talk to the air hostess and make a little request that if anything goes wrong, that.’I be informed of it some time in advance of the other passengers. Re-assured about these matters, I pluck up enough courage to stagger into the plane. I cannot usually decide whether it is better to sit in the front and bear the full brunt of the impact, or to sit in the back and run the risk of being carried away if the tail unit should fall off. I usually choose a central position, where I can look out of the windows and see if the propellors are turning properly.