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

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e 99 THE TERMINAL together in oneness and in happiness and that in itself is a lesson which some people require a lifetime to learn. I only wish the entire world could benefit from our experience. If there were a bigger award for citizenship, especially in the community, it would be M’liss Clark who would deserve it. The hall was silent for a moment then filled with the rousing ovation of the crowd as Betty-Lou handed M’liss her award. Roberta Smith, 11-28 HONORABLE MENTION SMITH ' S ALARM Walking through the rolling mist, customary of London in November, Mrs. Smith whispered to her husbnad. John, it ' s just the night for burglars - did you leave the back door open? My dear, you worry too much: do I look capable of forgetting the back door? Mrs. Smith shrugged, doubting very much her husband’s capability. Ear all about itt Robbers in Kens-ingtonl Read all about itt ' Ere guv’ buy a paper. Mr. Smith dropped a penny into the paper boy’s box and held the newsheet under a dim street-light. Hmmmm, seems they had a big haul this time..... He was interrupted by an anguished cry of Oh, Aunt Emily’s candlesticksl and a yank on the arm fr om his wife. Arriving home John began to wonder about the back door, surely that was a flashlight in the window? John, you were so certain you’d locked upl So sure you’d locked the back doorl I’ve never met anyone so stupid, so - John extended his hand and closed it over Ethe1’s mouth. Shut up you old bagl Do you want them to kill us? The shock of John’s audacity curbed Ethel’s temper while he quietly slipped into the house. Ins.ide, John took hold of his mother-in-lav;’ s sturdy umbrella from the stand, and crept towards the living-room door. Having just seen Alan Ladd’s latest gangster movie, John stood back against the door and turned the knob, Ladd couldn’t have turned the lenob more quietly. The door was open, nothing could have been simpler, bangl bangl two shots, and police sirens. John, what’s going on? Are Aunt Emily’s candlesticks all right? —John, what in heaven ' s name are you doing? Unable to curb her curiosity, Ethel had run into the living-room to encounter her spouse lying on the settee, helpless with laughter. It seems that every Tuesday night thereafter the Smith’s stayed home to watch ’Dragnet’ on T.V. Gladys Perkins, 11-30

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| THE TERMINAL .. ...... ...’.Page .... truck did to Tippy, how it crushed and disfigured his little body. You pick him up j and carry him home and bury him, beneath his favorite spot, where the sun beats down the warmest, and you hope he can feel the warm rays for all eternity. You are wishing one more thing as you shovel the dirt into the little grave. You are wish¬ ing, amid the blinding tears, that Tippy will forgive you for driving the truck that killed him. Ron Huck, 11-30 HONORABLE MENTION REWARD M’liss Clark lived in the small town of River Forks, Arkansaw. She was a striking girl, tall and willowy with long, black, shiny hair and wide-set brown eyes. Her family had lived in River Forks for seven years now and everyone knew and liked them, everyone that is, except the Carter family. Betty-Lou Carter, who was in M liss’s class at River Forks High School, thought that she would rather die than associate with M’liss. The Clarks, in her opinion, had no place in River Forks or any other city in America because they were Negroes. Betty-Lou had been brought up to believe that she was superior to Negroes and not to associate with them, but in a small town like River Forks they were bound to be thrown together. Such was the situation on the Saturday that the junior class decided to go on a riding party. The sun was shining brightly as the young people started on the ' ir way and before long they were racing across the countryside, their merry laughter filling the air. Suddenly Betty-Lou s horse stumbled and before the astonished eyes of her class-mates she was thrown violently to the ground, her horse on top of her. The frightened horse got up and galloped away but Betty-Lou was still. Quick , cried one of the girls, go to the nearest house and phone for the ambulance. We won’t j move her until they get here. To M’liss and her friends it seemed like an eternity before the screaming sirens of the ambulance could be heard. The car lurched to a sudden stop and the attend¬ ants got out. What happened? one of then asked, and while M ' liss explained, the other two carefully lifted the injured girl and placed her on a stretcher. The day was spoiled and- the dispondent students rode home thinking of the accident. On Monday the entire town knew that Betty-Lou Carter would be crippled for life. Betty-Lou had many visitors} some came from duty, some from curiosity and some were genuinely interested in her well-being. M’liss was one of the latter. At first Betty-Lou resented M’less visiting her - , but, as the months wore on, although most of her friends stopped coming, M’liss remained faithful. When at last Betty-Lou was able to go out, it was M’liss who wheeled her around, who helped her with her homework, who kept her posted on activities in the school. Gradually the Carter household realized how much they depended on this quiet Negro girl and as they did their prejudices began to disappear. The months sped by quickly and it was time for graduation exercises. Students were being presented with awards and M’liss was one of them. As her turn cane Mr. Brown, principal of the school said, To M ' liss Clark for her work both in the school | and community goes the citizenship award-and we have here tonight a young lady who wishes to say a few words about it. Everyone clapped as Betty-Lou was wheeled out on the stage. I have just a few words I would like to say. Last fall, at the time of my ' accident try family and I had an absurd idea that the White race was much superior to any other race. It has taken this accident-to show us that we were wrong, very wrong. I think you all know what I mean. We have found that Negroes and Whites can live

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THE TERMINAL Page 100 ESSAYS FIRST PRIZI REINCARNATION You look out, for the first time, at n. the whitecapped waves struggling free of y 1 the ocean, and you think for a split - s second that you have witnessed this be- v U fore. You look down from a mountain top j -— |! j for the first time in your life and you j [j | feel you have done this before. You J I silently absorb the cold brilliance of j a star-lit night and you forget who you X are. You begin to wonder what you | were. . . lj ! You were the drop of moisture on a I leaf, a plummeting raindrop, a perfectly- . w--[ ' moulded snowflake. You were a minute ■ , s t- - 5 v splotch of moisture in the dirt. V You were the tall, marvellous oak, j (y. Vr the petite exquisite bloom, a tiny forget- me-not in the sunlit meadow. You were the -41 2 - ancient fern, the wayward weed in the swamp. You were most things without life, a worthless clump of clay, a precious gem, a fine sword of steel. You were gunpowder, poison on a dart, the feather on an arrow -- evil forces. You were a harmless smooth pebble in someone’s palm. You were earth, air, fire and water and more still. You were most things animate, a -----—-prehistoric monster, a mammal. You were deer, bison, elephant you were lion, puma, cheetah and you were fox, hare ,chipmunk, . s v possum and beaver. You were the hunter y and sometimes the hunted. J n In your supreme moments you were man. ! You were the peddlar, the butcher, the V „athlete, the invalid, the criminal, the j ' genius, the ignorant peasant. You were r -r ' the baker and the candlestick maker. You ' •—x were a prince, a duke, a count, a court ' jester, a merlin, a witch doctor. You 4 [ T- were president, vice-president, secretary, Y T Nr—treasurer and janitor. You were all types) I | jT j - of man; the strong, the weak — the shorty I j j I I the tall — the fat, the thin. I l ' ll i And what will be in your endless ) II 1 j I tomorrow? A kernel of popcorn, a gum 11 j i j j wrapper, a paper clip, ink, a shoelace, I j j j j 1 an eraser, the lead of a pencil? Will you) I 1 j j i be a broken sliver of glass, a little —J—1—- —l -i-i—1—I—!——i-- boy’s marble, lipstick, a two-cent stamp, j