West Fulton High School - Wefuhian Yearbook (Atlanta, GA)

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Evening was falling as I left the salon. The light of the sun shining through the canopy was so diffused that there were no sharp outlines and shadows as on the earth, but everything was pervaded equally with a rose-colored hue until a Stygian darkness slowly took its place. I went to my hotel, and before retiring, ate, and watched a show. The performer was Clyde Eberhardt. He sang, played the saxo- phone, piano, clarinet, and guitar all at the same time Qwell, almost-as he went from one to the other so quickly that he seemed to be playing them at one time.j He was very talented. He was, in his youth, Cto use a hackneyed jokej a band aid, assistant to a band instructor in school. I learned that there were several widely- known entertainers staying at the hotel. George Cloud, drummer, Bobby Satch Hester, and Betty Lou Lacy, clarinetist, had formed an ensemble that featured some sort of ancient music that they called Jazz , these were to perform at the hotel the fol- lowing night. Anna Marie Specht, the gifted soprano, was also at the hotel. was working on a synthetic food, made from sawdust. Phillip I-Iulsey had contrived the idea: Harry Winters was doing the experi- ments, Billy Brackett was the taster, ju Don Baldwin was the laboratory technician who did tests on Brackett to find his re- actionsg and Martha Braswell developed reci- pes from the synthetic food. Some of her Shredded wood Cbreakfast cerealj All of these appetizing delicacies could be At the back of the room was another concoctions were: . Sawdust-stuffed Chicken :::1:::a,. I 3:31:11 Jello and sawdust :' i' M A D 'F' Sawdust under glass I I A A Whole Wood Bread Cr ..-, , , prepared with a wide variety of flavors. A trip to one of the hospitals in the city had been planned for me. I got an early start. I asked the receptionist, Frieda Bell, at the information desk in the lobby of the hotel to tell me where I could find Dr. Ron- nie West. Upon receiving the information, I started down a spotless corridor until I came to the room where Miss Bell had told me to go. I opened the door and found my- self in an amphitheatre. Dr. West was stand- ing below me with all the students that were studying under him. He was conclud- ing his lecture: Now then, are there any questions? A pretty co-ed, Linda Dolan, raised her hand and asked, What should be done if a patient develops an allergy for oxygen in his alveoli? Have him transferred to another hospital immediately. Janice Niver, Sarah Coleman, Jane Elling- ton, Gary Cooper, William Everidge, Diane Davis, and Jo Ann Armstrong, had been working on a project and had come up with a problem. They had been doing psychologi- cal studies on Sharon Pike and had been sending electrical impulses to her hypo- thalamus. The impulses had disrupted the regular mechanisms in the body and Sharon slept with her eyes open and walked about with them closed, she developed chill bumps in heated rooms, and went about exclaiming that the three sides of a triangle didn't equal 180 degrees. They expressed their problem to Dr. West, who was an avid reader of mathematical books. He replied, I suggest that first you read a book on Riemanian Geometry and then . . . uh, have her transferred to another hospital. After the lecture and questioning, I walk- ed down to see Dr. West. He was to carry me around the hospital and point out things of interest. He carried me to a laboratory. The room was rather large and there were at least twenty people in it. He intro- duced me to some of them and explained what they were working on. Jean Chastain, Jerry Boleman, Marilyn Boyd, Jean Painter, Nancy Williams, and Trudy Broome, were working on a new perfume which they called: Noon in Bellwood. Another group group, the largest. They were thrashing out a problem by debate. The problem at hand was that of what emergency actions could be taken if the Speaker of the House in Congress should develop acute leprosy of the larynx. The members of the discussion, Patsy Allen, James Haygood, and Ronnie Bell, were bit- terly opposed to the suggestion by their supervisor, Frank Pitts, for replacing the malignant larynx with a woman's. After seeing the rest of the hospital, I went to lunch. The restaurant where I ate was Hobbs' Hoedownf' A singing group, known as the Pterodactyls . . . or some- thing similar to that, had been hired by Jerry Hobbs and were singing as I entered. Jerry Castleberry, Joe Whitehead, and two others, whom I canlt remember, were singing You Give Me Suspended Animation, Baby. After eating, I rose and started for the door, but I saw Wayne Costley sitting at a table with Jimmy Levy and Frankie Hall, and Went over and spoke to them. As I again at- tempted to leave, my right foot, somehow, found contact with Costley's foot, and I careened off across the floor, stumbling, grabbing at tables, bumping into Waiters, spilling trays, prostrating an old gentleman and his wife, and eventually coming to an abrupt stop beneath a table. I struggled to my feet, there was an imposing silence throughout the restaurant. Blushing and feel- ing very ashamed for my oafishness, I turned my head down and started out quickly. I ran into a post, head-first. Laughter rang out. Everyone was convulsed. With an in- dignant frown on my face I stood and gave all a threatening stare. Once again they all became silent. Then, I turned, with an air, and left. As I stepped onto the sidewalk I heard a spontaneous peal of laughter from within. At the end of the street was the library. I thought that that would be a good place to mend my wounded ego. The library was devoted to French writ- ers,-Guy De Maupassant, Honore De Bal- zac, Gustave Flaubert, Alphonse Daudet. The librarian, Ann Stewart said, French- men are so wonderful. She permitted no books of any other nationality. Her assist- ants, Janice Tapley, Janice Camp, and Claudia Cannon, were guilty of reading Dostoevsky, and Tolstoi, however. Such reading had to be done in secret, of course, or Ann would report them to Glenda Rob- inson, reformist, woman suffrage leader, and the most influential lady in the Ladies' Dis- criminant Order of Selectified Lassies.

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We woke to a mild titillation, produced by a weak electric current that was in- stalled for the purpose of awakening pas- sengers. Our instruments showed that we were ap- proaching the speed of light, and we suffered from no malfunction in any department. We were unaware of motion. The ship glided through the ratified air, penetrating further and further into that infinite continuum. It was a strange and austere world outside the ship. Away from the sun, on the shaded side of the ship, were frigid temperatures far below zero. On the other side was a torrid and scorching deluge of direct sun rays, so that if a person should stand outside, he would be frostbitten on one side and severly burned on the other. Speed was only detect- able by our Doppler screen. The light from the stars changed colors as we increased in speed, due to somewhat of a compression of their waves. We left the atmosphere of the earth far behind and the ship reached for unimaginable distances. Time slowed down . . . almost stopping. ri f jf if I3 ,' if s PA C E R ADAMS E, BAnLEY -ff Jupiter, as opposed to the old idea, was the smallest planet in our solar system. What had been taken for its surface was nothing more than a layer of clouds and other light particles that had not fallen to the planet. It was in a similar state that our planet had gone through. This information I obtained from the learned astrophysicists Harold Har- mon and Lester Duckett. Jupiter, in recent years, had become the center of culture in our known parts of the universe. It had the gay, lighthearted atmos- phere of Montmartre in the ancient city of Paris-art studios, theatres, sidewalk cafes, and basement restaurants-and the erudite atmosphere of the intellectual circles of the Germans. The art studios of Nancy Adams and Patti Bailey had gained world renown. The artists had distinguished themselves with their creation of a new conception in paint- ing. Their profound creations were called paintings of infinite nothingnessf' The can- vasses appeared to be blank, but that was only their ostentatious appearance. They were filled with rich, flowing themes of nothing They had attained the ultimate in The landing on Mars was highly success- ful. Mars was to be the starting point for a study I was to make before starting my novel, Scared Old World. Hester was dis- missed until the next flight. The planet looked interesting and I took up my task with alacrity. The first city I visited was Betenbaugh- ville, named after its founder, Cecil Beten- baugh. It was a pleasant city with streams of mercury running down gently-flowing hills of plutonium storehouses, covered with dirt and made into mounds that approached the size of mountains. abstraction. There were always intellectual discussions and public forums in some part of the city. I attended one. The group was discussing the Feasibility of Finding Further Facts For Fomenting Friendships For Flowery Fe- males. Billy Burger, Editor of the Jupiter- nizm Sun, weekly newspaper, Karen Caswell, secretary of the Judy Kay Bartlett Bureau of Better Beauties, Brenda Bryant, trigono- metric genius, Wayne Allen, noted anthro- pologist, who once thought he had discov- ered the missing link, until Travis Hames came up with his ancestral tree, and Harriet Lee, local school superintendent, were the members of the panel. I left after Terrell The mayor of the town was Willie Ault- man. The city was divided into several pre- cincts, each with its aultman,-ah, alder- man. There was a conflict between the mayor and the aldermen about the price of oxygen for breathing. The aldermen had had a meeting with the mayor's Staff of Secre- taries, which was made up of Diane Pilgrim, Joyce Wright, Janice Austin, Jeri Ann Lan- ford, and Janice Federico. The aldermen, Shelby Sutton, Ronnie Haygood, Lynwood Massey, and Ronnie Hughes and the staff closed their meeting by adopting a resolution which stated: We, the aldermanic board, in conjunction with the mayor's Staff of Secretaries, hereby declare that we shall al- ways hold the opinion that the Earth moon is more romantic from this side. Bearden and his rescue squad was called in to untie everyone's tongue. I walked out with Richard Womack. He told me that he was an oil painter and that some of his works were on exhibition near- by. We walked to the gallery, which was just down the street. On display there were the sculptures of Marilyn Norton and Joan Putnam, mosaics of Ellen Holder and Mar- tha Ann Holley, and the ceramics of Myrna Thomas and Sue Wages. Next door to the gallery were the display rooms of the fashion designers, Betty Sue Horton, Faye Thackston, and June Sailors. Their creations set the vogue on the periph- ery of the solar system. I left the Civic Center, I wanted to meander about the city and study its indi- viduals. In my conversations I learned of one person, James Davis, who walked about with a leash as if a dog was attached to it, and he habitully uttered affectionate words fas one does to dogsj as he strolled along. I approached him and inquired on the matter. He replied: Lies-false, malicious, deleterious, sland- ering, caustic lies. Besides, it's a cat, he said as he leaned over and picked up his chimerical feline and caressed it fondly. I departed for Jupiter immediately. Because of the incasement of the canopy of clouds, the climate of Jupiter was tropi- cal. Walking around the city had drained me of energy, and as I was leaving the studios I noticed a reducing salon where I supposed one could get a cold bath and a rub down. The owner of the salon was Richard Cash whose remedy for obese Jupi- ternians was hardly more than laborious work. The owner and his assistants, Marvin Williams and Richard Cole, always told their customers about one person who had lost twenty-five pounds in one day. Kenneth Holder had exercised strenuously all day with weights, and when he stepped upon the scales, he registered forty pounds more than when he had started. fHe had been so anx- ious to see how much he had lost that he unknowingly stepped upon the scales with twenty pound weights in each hand.J His Weight loss was attributed to shock.

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I spent an hour in the library. I left, not only because I was ready to go, but because I was asked to leave by the librarian after she asked me who my favorite writer was and I replied that he wasn't a Frenchman. Desiring some diversion, I took a heli- copter and went to the sports arena. The city had been reviving the game of football. No original equipment could be found, sc the players were wearing space helmets and magnetic shoes. The first thing that attracted my eyes as I came through the gate was one player hanging head-down from the goal post. His feet had attracted the metal of the post. It was Pat McCallum. The game had begun, and there was quite a bit of commotion on the field. It seems that Equen Smith was filing a complaint to the referee, Gerald McCravy. He claimed that Joe Maxwell had disconnected his oxy- gen supply tube during a tackle. Billy Bur- dett came up to the referee and said that Smith had caught his tube on the antenna of Roy Burdett's helmet. The argument was then settled and the game resumed, but not for long, for shortly thereafter, Elizabeth Echols ran on the field and tackled one of the opposition, and enabled the home team to score. Because the sports commissioner, Gene Boggs, couldn't remember any rules that applied to such a situation, the game was called a tie. The home team spectators thought that they had won because they were so busy waving pennants and shouting. As I was leaving, the clamor, the sten- torian eulogies to the heroes, and the gen- eral cacophony roared on. Walking out with me were Julian Ransom, Paul Bowling, Larry Harris, Max Pruitt, Larry Boatright, Louie Williams, Ralph Thompson, and Larry Tum- lin. They were complaining about the game being so short, and muttered something When we walked into about six years By the next morning I felt my visitation to Jupiter had been long enough, so I de- parted for Saturn. There was one place on Saturn that I wanted to visit. It was a colony of women. The colony had been es- tablished to see if women could even rule themselves. The colony was highly organ- ized, theoretically. I journeyed overland for a day before reaching the colony. I could have flown, but I wanted to observe the terrain. My guides, Everett Southern, and Dan King, and my companion for the visit, Tommy Hill, made the journey very informative through their thorough knowledge of the planet. the village, we were quite startled. In the midst of the vil- lage square was evidently the burning effigy of some woman. The women had set up bar- ricades with flour bags and were throwing biscuits at one another. The whole village seemed to be in turmoil. The president, Dianne Ivie, had issued an ultimatum that all the women were to wear the fashions designed by Peggy Higgins. The village re- volted violently. Tongues were wagging, feet were trodding, telephones were ringing, and biscuits were flying. The leaders in the revolution were Gay Nell Richardson, Char- lotte Parks, Wanda Morgan, Marilyn Hef- ner, Barbara Hodgins, and Betty Jo Town- A..,J F J 1 I CWLE O send. The advocates of the Ivie Party had solicited the mercenary services of the no- torious tongue-waggers, Pat Goldston, Suel- len Martin, Charlotte Mitchell, Helen Hu- man, and Mary Lee Redd. The devastating war raged on and on. There were summit meetings, cease-fire meetings, truce meetings, gossip meetings, and bridge meetings. Finally a committee composed of Marie Pittard, Doris Smith, Pat Argo, Jean Ashcraft, Margene Sinard, and their chairwoman, Peggy Morrison, sent a communique to the president that expressed their anticipation of the proclamation of a Declaration of Emancipation, for the women folk of Peaceful Paradise, fthe name of the colony.j The president called a special session of her cabinet, Patsy Bearden, Pat Cowan, Joyce Blaylock, Diane Davis, LaNell Coker, Carolyn Brown, and Clara Carson. The minutes of the meeting read some- thing like this: Date: July 4, 1974 Meeting: Special Session of the President's Cabinet The President of Peaceful Paradise called a meeting of her cabinet, resulting from a communique from the rebel forces. The communique demanded immediate ac- tion by the President in retracting the ultimatum requiring uniform obeisance to designated fashions. Failure to comply with said demands will result in. total an- nihilation of the President and her forces. The President after recapitulating on the animosity and antagonism that had arisen as a result of her plan for fashion control, proposed a renunciation of the ultimatum with one stipulation.: All women, no matter what their political preferences, must wear chartreuse hair. Peace fusing somewhat of a warped mean- ing of the wordj settled on the fair village of Peaceful Paradise. The continuous gossip- ing and calumniating continued. The major problems, of whom to ostracize next week and whom to accept, were taken up again. I left the village with a bolstered confi- dence in man. The ship glided on and on as if it was being pulled through the boundless universe by some great magnetic field. We passed on through our solar system, and floated for days and weeks through a cosmic sea, pass- ing meteors, asteroids, and planets, and being awed by the brilliant blazes of comets, whose streaming tails were strung along our path for hundreds of thousands of miles. We moved from our galaxy into a great void and into another galaxy. We chose a planet and landed. It was a barren and eerie land of purple shadows, arrid deserts and towering peaks, which were outlined by a somber grey sky that glowed with a pale red aurora along its horizon. We had hardly any expectation of finding life on the planet, and even less so after we realized that it was necessary to wear oxygen helmets. Before we would leave, however, we intended to survey the land thoroughly.