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

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WITHIN THB RBALM OF POSSIBILITY c1ence ic ion ory , ,ff The fifth ice age is descending on earth. Unlike the past ice ages, this one does not stop in the tem- Pefate zones. Miami, Rome, and Peiping in the northern hemisphere are under one mile of ice while Shi HEY and Rio de Janeiro are in the same situation. Ice sheets, one from the North Pole, one from the the South Pole, are engulfing the earth ln a freezing strangle-hold. Civilization, too, has gone back in time because of a stalemate between two of its most powerful nations. The human brain, too, has slowed down. A thousand years pass and now only a twenty mile temperate belt is left around the earth. The cli- mate is that of Norway or nothern 38 ,VW Canada. It is summer, but the ice is moving steadily. People terror- ized by the cold flee the rivers of descending ice. Frantically they seek shelter from the chilly air. One by one the ice seals the caves where families seek refuge. Isola- ted groups push towards the equator. The last of the survivors make camp on a ledge overlooking the only river that hasn't iced up. The head of the family and his son make a quick exploratory trip to see where the river leads. Soon they find a pit that will serve as man's last stand. Here they set up house. Years go by. The survivors, three hundred in number, subsist on herbs and roots. The descending ice is within an arrow's range of the hida ed into the 1 4,f,Af' X' 4

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Engulfed by a deep wilderness, I was aware only of the darkness of the night. Not even the bright moon and the twinkling stars could soothe my troubled feelings. Showered in self-pity, I was suddenly startled by a thumping noise. Peering cautiously to the right and then to the left, I spot- ted no one. Not daring to turn around, I broke into a run and head ed south. None-the-less it seemed as though the Uthumpn was right be- hind me like a shadow in the sun. The harsh winds seemed to say run---run! But with every step the thumping increased. Lacking cour- age, I knew I was never to turn around, thus never to know my fol- lower. nltn had run me directly into a cabin filled with gay, bright- hearted people who gave me no sympathy. I insisted the Nthumpn was real, they made it clear I was hearing things. Convinced of their madness, I pushed on. As the cold bit and nipped at me, I knew I must get away ---- away from the thump, thump -------- the thump, thump ----- and now I knew---the thump of my beating heart. Evelyn Brooks , eqshgrr THE MONSTER It happened on a cold wintry night. The smoke-filled restaurant seemed cozy with its Chinese tap- estries and idols. All of a sudden a shrill scream pierced the air. It seemed to be coming from my booth. Before I knew it, there was a maze of faces surrounding me, all trying to see what had happened. At that moment, another shriek arose and broke into wild song. By then I knew! It was the Monster! Somehow or other he had escaped from the house and followed me. I had to get him out of the restau- rant unseen before he did any more damage or before he hurt anyone. The last time he ruined a restau- rant and bit some small children before I could capture him. As an- other shrill blasted, the manager came forward defiantly. I did the only thing I could do under the circumstances: I dragged my kid brother out from under the table and took him home where he belonged Iris Merker 37

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,fsff narrowed the on the earth. Aram, the leader, de- cides that the three hundred must go underground. They dig, a matter of life and death, and find safety in a shallow pit protected by a cave. eband The men, women, and children experience their most anxious momems as ice crunches overhead. The ice has completely encircled the earth. ln the pit, to the surprise of the imprisoned multitude, there seems to be plenty of oxygen. A crack in the ice miraculously feeds an air supply. Now men, women, and children ex- plore the pit. They discover a huge cavern, miles long. The cavern is an underground utopia where animals, plants, rivers, and good soil for Xxx Thousands of years go by and the descendants of these people thrive in the cavern. They have developed a remarkable civilization. One day the cavern shudders with earthquakes. A volcano pushes its wav through the surface. Flowing lava kills the underground inhabi- tants. A young man and woman alone survive. They climb to a summit to save themselves as the lava flows into the cavern. Before them lie the rocks, the sea,and a blue sky. Now they walk through still meadows and lovely orchards. They do not know that future generations will call the place they have discovered The Garden' of Eden , and will re- member them as NAdamN and UEveN. Elliot Norse raising crops abound. 39