Walt Whitman Junior High School - Pioneer Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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INVENTION IS THE MQTHER OE NECESSITY NBertram, stop throwing rocks at me,N shouted Linda irritably as she ducked another missile aimed at her head. Linda was in the un- fortunate position of living next door to Bertram, the baby-sitter's nightmare. UI've got more important mat- ters to worry about than Bertram,H Linda thought to herself. She des- perately needed money for a new white formal for the njunior Hopn next week. Her father was not in a very charitable mood after she had stepped on and crushed his new twelve dollar pipe - accidentally- the other day. How could she raise seventggn dollars in one week now that her'al1owance was being cut off for a month to pay for the pipe? ,.,-, ,, ,...--- .Y - ...----- - - --f f ---'Y v Normally she would not resort to 34 1 Ia n ff' Juni Gel9Wf such drastic measures, but she was desperate and was willing to do anything for the money. The answer: UBertram3H Bertram's parents had been looking for a baby-sitter for months Call the others never retur- ned after one night with Bertraml, The harrassed parents were willing to pay anything for a baby-sitter now. So, Linda summoned up her cour- age, went next door, and rang the bell. when she told Mrs.Byer that she wanted to baby-sit for her, Mrs.Byer almost fainted, but re- covered quickly before Linda could get away. Thus it was arranged that Linda would baby-sit for three nights at six dollars a night, rather ex- pensive for the Byers, but Bertram was an exceptional case. However, Mrs.Byer stressed that once Linda started she couldn't give up after one night and take six dollars, she had to go through three com- plete nights before she would be paid. Linda meekly agreed. The first night, Linda was due to report at 8 P.M. She bravely walked over, rang the bell, was wished good luck, and then was left alone for a treacherous night with Bertram, The evening started off very calmly since Bertram was engrossed in T.V. Westerns until nine o'clock She knew something would happen, but said firmly, UBertram you have to go to bed now.H

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SURPRISE Lorraine looked up. She hadbeen sipping an ice-cream soda at the hangout and Jimmy Newton had walk- ed in and sat down at the counter. Lorraine occupied a booth with Hal, Sammy, and Sue and they had been talking about Jimmy. Sammy said, nJimmy refused to play baseball with Hal and me.W Sue said, HJimmy won't even buy a ticket to the Super-Summer Dance! All Lorraine's friends had some- thing resentful to say about Jimmy -- all, but Lorraine. Jimmy to her was just another lonely boy. The gang went home in Sammy's car. All the way Sue kept taking Jimmy over the coals. She said, nThat Jimmy is impoSsib1e.U As they pulled into Sammy's driveway, Hal began to sneeze: Lorraine didn't think much of it, until the next day when Sue came to her house. Sue told Lorraine that Hal was sick and couldn't go to the dance. Lorraine was in a fix: no one to take her to the dance-- no one but Jimmy, nJimmy won't buy a ticket from you if he won't buy one from me,H said Sue. UI'1l bet you a dollar he willf' said Lorraine. Sue agreed to take the bet. That afternoon Lorraine went to the railroad track where Jimmy had the 3:00 to 6:00 shift in his job of keeping young children and animals off the track. when Lor- raine saw Jimmy, she said, NHi, I heard you don't have a ticket to the dance, I'm here to sell you one.H 1 0 , 'I' J 26 . gfv V 5 - .R HGet outa here,U shouted Jimmy annoyed. Uwho wants a ticket to that dumb dance?H UIt is not a dumb dance,N said Lorraine, nAnd most of the money goes to the building of the new town hospital.n Lorraine continued talking about how wonderful the dance would be. Jimmy got angry and pushed her away, but he forgot his own strength and pushed her so hard that she fell into the grass next to the track. There she lay uncon- scious and to frightened Jim y she looked dead! Jimmy could picture himself in the electric chair at Sing Sing or spending his life in prison, He was also inwardly annoyed at him- self for being so fresh to Lorraine and her friends. His thoughts came to a quick halt when Lorraine came to and said, NI guess I had better leave.N HY- You - m- mean y- you're not dead?n queried Jimmy. WBy any chance did you want to kill me?H asked Lorraine. nOh, noin replied Jimmy. UI do want to buy a ticket to the dance. As a matter of fact I want two tickets if you'll be my date.H UI surely will be,N exclaimed Lorraine. The next night Jimmy and Lorraine went to the dance. Besides Lorraine's winning her wager,Jimmy had a good time. Eleanor Gppenheimer 33 J

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At this he turned and snorted, n0h yeah?U nYeah,H Linda mimicked. Uwell, you have to catch me firstln This started a tiring chase for Linda CBertram never seemed to'tir6 all over the house: under the ta- ble, over the couch, around the piano, through the cellar, upstairs downstairs, until Linda flopped down on the couch ready to surren- der. Finally, never giving in, she caught him at eleven o'clock P.M. and had to tie him to his bed be- fore he settled down. The next night she figured he needed something to interest him in order to keep him preoccupied After rummaging through her old toys, she came up with a bubble gum machine in which toy money is placed and out of which bubble gum comes. This fascinated Bertram. Linda happily went into the kit- chen to fix herself a snack feeling that her problems were solved. Bvi dently she was wrong. When she re- turned to the living room, she found bubble gum stuck to every- thing: rug, chairs, lamps, every- thing of any possible value. After another shorter but just as lively chase as the previous night, she got Bertram to bed, only to settle down to a busy night cleaning the gum from the living room. By the next night Linda knew all the angles. She mentioned casually as she came in, UBertram, let's play a nice quiet game like cow- boys and Indians tonight.n uOkay2n he agreed. As Bertram turned to get his guns and cowboy hat, Linda picked up a rope Cone of his many playthings scattered about the floor! and grabbed him. Catching him off guard, she tied him to a chair and gagged his mouth. This may not have been the most admirable treatment of an imagin- ative child but it did the trick. After an hour and a half without T.V. or destruction, Bertrahxchangei GTA J-'If' . ' fx ., . 1 ,,, fi .Nw X fix I XX N, . fy ez W 1' his l X ,-gfKln ,!1 .1 Q P K '65 ','v. V' 5 'T :Mp Q 1-A M--. v-Q-4 6223! Z.,-2 Q g X his attitude towards Linda com- P1efe1Y. Now he was afraid of her and behaved nicely when she was around. His parents were amazed at this miracle and gave Linda a steady job as his keeper Cso to speakj, q SO, Linda got her new'forma1f She was very proud of herself and felt very happy as Saturda i ht and the Njunior Hopn drew Keir? . She was the belle of the ball d owed it all to Bertram, an Maureen Nolan 35