Walker High School - Pepper Pot Yearbook (Simsbury, CT)

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The PaTricia Wood ShorT STory Prize Awarded To DIANA HILL OUT OF THE CROWD ATREMENDOUS wreaTh oT holly almosT concealed by an even larger scarleT bow decked The high walls aT one end oT The greaT Terminal. while beneaTh people surged wiTh dogged persisTence To Their various desTinaTions. So large is New York's Grand CenTraI STaTion ThaT The hundreds oT people who are consTanTly moving Through iT make no more noise Than an unbroken murmur, a drone, which Though soTT, is alive and inTense. BuT This day The sooThing Tones oT an organ rose above The murmur To echo among The ornamenTed raTTers oT The disTanT and hazy rooT. The driTTing humaniTy below did noT pause To lisTen and absorb and wonder aT The immensiTy oT IiTe and The beauTy and meaning in living which These carols sang TorTh. lnsTead each liTTle selT-cenTered auTomaTon scurried abouT, compleTeIy absorbed in his own Trivial peT- Tiness and concerned wiTh Those abouT him only in so Tar as They could be oT use. Coming down The huge sTone sTaircase To The swarming level below, I became one of The many milling Taces. so diTTerenT in conTour buT so iden+icaI as To expression. I Took my place in one oT The lines aT The checking counTer and, slighTly irriTaTed aT The delay, awaiTed my Turn, while glancing wiTh passive inTeresT aT Those abouT me. My aTTenTion was caughT by a slighT girl in a raTher unaTTracTive-colored brown coaT. She was haTless and her neck seemed Too long and Thin To supporT her large head wiTh iTs TluTTy mop oT curly Tan hair. So pale and Thin was her Tace and so almosT yellow her cheeks ThaT her Thick brows and brilIianT brown eyes sTood ouT in alarming conTrasT. OT all her TeaTures her eyes were whaT I saw. and iT was noT Their size nor Their green gIinTs ThaT held me spellbound. buT The manner in which They looked aT people and seemed To see sTraighT Through every mask To whaT was really There. One by one The surrounding people Tell under her piercing gaze. and when she had ascerTained whaT she wanTed, she would move on To The nexT. RiveTing her eyes To my Tace, she seemed noT aT all perTurbed ThaT I was looking aT her, buT sTripped all preTense and covering from me, peered inTo my soul and Then dismissed me wiTh no apology or expIanaTion. WiTh burning Tace and hoT embarrassmenT I Tried To conceal my annoyance aT This mere slip oT a girl who, wiTh compleTe indiTTerence, had upseT my poise and leTT me blushing and Turious. WhaT had she seen when she looked aT me like ThaT? ThaT'II be a dime. sir. and I haven'T goT all day. The words oT The aTTendanT aroused me To every-day realiTy. and beckoning To a red-cap, I hurried away. A TirsT day in New York aTTer an absence oT Two weeks never Tails To be a bedlam oT business conTerences, hurried greeTings, and a hosT oT unexpecTed Turns and TwisTs in The rouTine we leTT so Tirmly esTabIished behind us. In a mood oT ThoughTTul pre- occupaTion wiTh my business problems, I Tried To relax on my way To a Triend's house Tor dinner. when my chauTTeur sTopped aT a lighT on The corner oT FiTTy-SevenTh STreeT in The dusk oT The same aTTernoon. I glimpsed Through The halT misTy window a 93

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familiar brown-coafed figure, sfaring up aT The building on The windswepf corner. In The busfle of The day I had quife forgoTTen abouT This young lady wiTh The piercing brown eyes. buT now as I saw and recognized her Thin back and mop of Tan hair, I feIT an overwhelming rush of refurned curiosiTy. Turning from her survey of The build- ing. she sTood aT The curb for a minufe, while The wind slapped her wiTh icy fingers, and a few sfray snowflakes chased by. Through The swiffly forming misT on The window I saw a humble, begging expression in her eyes, as Though her whole soul were praying To God for help and proTecTion. The IighT changed, and my car wenT on wiTh The Traffic, buf I could nof remove from before my eyes The impression of The Thin neck supporfing The blowing mop of hair and Those humble, fearful eyes. Poor kid, she was probably hungry and cold and didn'T have any friends or any place To go! On a sudden impulse I direcfed The chauffeur To go back. wiTh noT The slighTesT idea as To whaf I infended To do. Buf The wind swepT around an empTy corner. The weeks driffed slowly by, and I found my ThoughTs forever Turning To The sfrange girl. I began To lose my sense of values, and my curiosify grew ouT of all proporfion. I Tried To Tell myself aT firsf Thaf iT was profound sympaThy for her which so Tormenfed me, buf in my hearT I knew iT was a disease of curiosiTy. I had To know why she looked aT people The way she did, and whaT she saw when she looked aT Them Thaf way. To whaT use did she puf her sfrange informaTion, and why did she look The way she had ThaT afTernoon on The sTreeT corner? Thaf prayer in her eyes had been a prayer for far more Than physical comforf and securify. BuT above all, I iusf had To know why she looked aT people like Thafl I am a New Yorker and a cos- mopoIi+an. I am nearer forfy Than I'd like fo admiT, and Thaf such a Thing should upsef my well planned bachelor scheme of life is beyond all reason. I Toyed wiTh The possibilify ThaT perhaps I was in love wiTh The girl, buf I knew This wasn'T True. I had no desire To see her again excepT in so far as by doing so if would enable me To comprehend her. I realized ThaT if someone else could saTisfacTorily explain her and fhaT chilling look, I would again have peace. BuT now iT was 'as if I had a disease, I had To find oufl Some monfhs Iafer as I was sfanding on The hoT and noisy corner of Fiffy-Sevenfh STreeT, The once windswepf corner where I had seen her for The second and Ias+ Time, I decided To enfer The building she had been sTudying so inTenTIy and perhaps find some Trace of her There. Climbing The sfone sTeps, The realizaTion came upon me ThaT here was The ArT STudenTs' League. Thaf famous and naTionaIIy recognized arf school. Was she an arT sTudenT? Did she sfudy here? In Thaf case iT oughf To be a reasonably simple maTTer To IocaTe her, buT whaT I would do or say if I finally did, I did noT know. All I wanfed was peace and release from This unresf of spirif and Tormenfing curiosify ThaT held me. In a daze I climbed some sTairs and wandered Through a large Iighf room crowded wiTh people and easels and almosf sickening wiTh fhe smell of painf. In The cenfer a model in a crazy purple haT and a long crimson feaTher posed meficulously on The edge of a green pool Table. The small noises of people aT work were broken only occasionally by The muTTered crificisms and conTempTuous humphs of The Teacher as he paused before various canvases of his sTruggling sTudenTs. I wandered on and found myself in a smaller less crowded room, 94