Westbrook High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Westbrook, ME)

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i Vlbb The Blue fa- White 12 GROWING PAINS The word pains, used in connection with growing, proved to be quite a joke in my case, for I not only have enjoyed growing but now receive a great deal of satisfaction from know- ing that at last I am taller than my brother. My desire to grow came to me three years ago when I was brought to the realization that my brother, who at that time had just come home from college, was still taller than I. This knowledge horrified me, and I began to eat viciously. The word viciously may seem to you a rather strong adverb to use in describ- ing the manner of my eating, but I can assure you that it is entirely fitting. At each meal I would eat to my fullest capacity, after which I would be forced to remain seated at the table for a considerable length of time before I could actually' walk away. VVhether this had anything to do with it or not, I soon realized that I was growing quite rapidly. It was, how- ever, several months before anyone noticed this change that was taking place in my size or at least before anyone made any comment on this fact. It was about this time that my brother came home on another vacation. I lost notirne in having our mother place a book across our heads as we stood back to back. Upon follow- ing my instructions she exclaimed that I was as tall as my brother, if not just a bit taller. I spent the remainder of that day in coining new names for him such as Shrimp and Runt. All during that vacation, whenever we had any company, I would purposely pass by my brother as near to him as possible and, of course, with my neck stretched to its fullest extent, so that our guests could see just how much I had grown. After I had arrived at this stage in our little growing contest, I had little difficulty in main- taining my lead. From then on, about five times a day, I would walk under the lights that were hanging from a chain in our living- room. When I first started this procedure I could touch the lights with my head only by standing on my tiptoes, but as time went on I was able to touch them while standing nat- urally. As would be expected, I received a great deal of enjoyment out of feeling these lights brush against my hair every time that I walked under them. One day while going through this routine I did not feel the brush of the lights through my hair. I went back and walked, this time on tiptoes, under them again. Still my head did not touch the lights. I was not only puzzled but a little worried. What had happened was a mystery to me until my father told me how he had taken a link out of the chain from which the lights were sus- pended, thus raising them two or three inches. The rest of the family, who had seen this trick successfully played on me, laughed heartily. I, however, failed to grasp the humor of the sit- uation. Now when I look back over those days of friendly competition between my brother and me, I cannot help realizing just how remote pains were from my growing, that is, as far as I was concerned. The rest of the family, how- ever, maintain that they felt them sharply. T. V., '35, BEWARE OF AMATEUR COOKS Have you ever eaten a meal that was pre- pared by someone who was trying to cook for the first time? If you haven't, let me caution you to beware. . On our camping trips, Thomas and I always have done the cooking, but one morning, while we were on our trip to the Chicago World Fair, Thomas and I had a Hat tire to iixg so we left the meal-getting to Lloyd. I naturally supposed he knew what he was doing, espe- cially when he did not ask us any questions, but I suppose he made up his mind to cook us a meal and surprise us. Well, he did. We were working on the opposite side of the road from him and the only thing we heard was an irreg- ular word now and then as the wind blew the gas-stove out or the food burnt. Tommy had just finished telling me how very hungry he was, when we heard a half-hearted yell from

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Westbrook High School 1.9 i ll WE HAVE NO CATS It was when I was about nine years old that I first began to notice the labels on goods that I bought at the grocery store. My mother taught me to do this by forcing me to return to the store whenever I bought the wrong article. I had always counted my change twice ever since I had been old enough to do so. One day I went to the neighborhood store and asked for some catsup, which label I had never noticed before. I expected to see the letters K-E-T-C-H-U-P, and what was my sur- prise when I saw something labeled-yes- it was C-A-T, cat, S-U-P, sup. I never was a very good speller and anyway S-U-P certainly sounded like soup. I was quite disgusted. I said I wanted catsupf' I said very timidly. XVell, here it is, was the pert reply. XYhere ? I was slowly losing my business- like voice as my courage was weakening. Right i11 front of you. That's not ca-tsup, that's mt soup, I firmly replied. Soon I began to see that I might be in the wrong. The next discovery which I must make was how to smooth it over. Soon I de- cided. due to the fact that I was always stub- bornly right, to stand by my statement. I very calmly picked up my money which I had laid on the counter and replied, IVe have no catsf' and walked out of the store. I arrived home a very indignant person and had even forgotten the bread I was supposed to bring. Ma, we'd better change stores. That was the astonishing statement with which I greeted Mother. NVel1, Wl1C1'C,S the bread and the catsup I sent for? I forgot the bread, I replied. Seeing the puzzled look on her face, I continued, and Mr. Lord, the storekeeper, doesn't seem to know what I mean by catsup. He's bound to give me ca-tis .sou-ff. He-He-He! How do you spell cat's soup P C-A-T-S-U-PF I thought so. Go back and get it and re- member always that there are two ways of spelling catsujr and that is one of them. The other way is K-E-T-C-I-I-U-P. Go back! My face was the color of a red-hot beet. I was beginning to have big salty drops fall from my eyes and I certainly did pot want to face that storekeeper again for a while. IVhy, he would probably call me dumb, igno- rant, foolish, and what not. VVe have no cats. That was what continued to flash through my mind. VVe have no cats. 75 Alas! Mother was very strict in some respects and the one of teaching me to buy was, in her mind, an important one. I crawled into my coat and started for the store. The nearer I got, the bigger the lump in my throat. As I rehearsed my heated re- plies to the mocking I was sure to receive, my voice grew more and more unsteady. There was the store! My lips trembled. Just as I came to the yard of the store a thought came to me. IVhy not go to the store across the street? I went. My luck seemed poor that day for the same customer was there who had been in the other store. I bravely asked for some catsup. VVould he notice it? Luck was with me! The label said K-E-T-C-I-I-U-P. VVhat's that? the boy I have referred to, slightly my senior, asked. Catsup, I replied. Sure it's not cat soup ? It says catsupf' I triumphantly replied for all his grin slightly unnerved me. VVhen I got home, Mother asked me about the spelling but I only replied that I went to the other storeg then I went out to play. At least, that is what I said I was going to doa I don't believe that anyone knew that I went outside and hid to cry it out. My self-respect had been broken and I had been proved no good as a buyer. Even today those words Hash through my mind again and again. VVe have no cats. VVe have no cats. L. K., '35.

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Westbrook High School 'b 'A 'B Lloyd, which informed us that breakfast was ready at last. W'e rushed to the table. The sight and smell of the food did not quite appeal to us, although we felt capable of eating anything. Lloyd proudly brought on the cereal and dished it out. He had mixed up some evaporated milk and water to put on the cereal, but he had made it so Weak that I could see the bottom of my pie plate through a half-inch of the mix- ture. I didn't notice this, however, until I had taken my first bite. I thought I would pass out, but I managed to gulp it down after several attempts, although I was uncertain then as to whether it would stay down or not. He had leftout the salt and burnt the cereal and, as if that were not enough, he had put the Hour in when the water was cold. which left large lumps of dry wheat to be bitten into. After I had masticated several of these lumps, I managed to dump the remainder, when Lloyd wasn't looking, into a hole in the ground, which I had dug with my heel. After having noticed that the plates of Thomas and Ernest were still full, I began telling how good it was, thinking that I could make them feel more miserable. I had no more than spoken the first sentence, when Lloyd jumped up and filled mine so full that it was running over the sides. I felt like kicking myself, but I could only grin and pray. I had to eat most of this because they had become suspicious and were watching me. My stomach had hardly finished rolling when he brought on the pancakes. But this time I had become cautious and took only a small one, whereas usually I would have grabbed for the largest. I placed it in my plate and poured some of the syrup, which he had made, on it. After the first bite, which was ten times as bad as the first of the cereal, I knew that I would certainly pass out if I ate it, for the pancake was about an inch thick and had been burnt on the outside, while the inside was just the raw dough, which ran out into my plate as I cut into it. The syrup had been made in an old frying-pan coated with rust. As he hadn't bothered to wipe it out, the boiling syrup had scalded most of it off into the syrup, giving it the flavor of sweet chemicals. As I sat there, swallowing to keep what I had already eaten down and playing with the pancake in my plate, some sort of modernized electric train passed on a nearby track. The others turned to watch it and I immediately, seeing my op- portunity, jammed thenpancake into an empty box and threw it as far as possible. You can bet that I didn't tell how good the pan- cakes were. I then tried to get the taste out of my mouth by drinking some coffee, but it was so strong and thick that one could easily mistake it for insect spray. That was the climax, and so with a mur- mured apology, I walked around the car and let nature take its course. And so may I, as one who has had the trying experience, warn you again. Beware of amateur cooks. L. D., '35. CORRESPONDENCE The most exciting of all the events that fill my day is the receiving of mail. The most dis- liked of these events is the answering of mail. Be it a library notice, a school catalogue, the regular weekly letter from the girl friend I met at camp, or the delayed letter with the out-of-town postmark-they all bring me, after hurrying home from school, at least the satisfaction that I am one individual person and somebody, somewhere, spent three cents for me. I am always a little disappointed to find that the person I had been thinking about all the way home from school hasn't written me, but when that letter does finally come, it is always twice as interesting as I have expected it to be. Once there were several letters bearing my name on the mantel. VVhat great fun it was to receive a prep school invitation to the winter carnival, to be invited to a Brunswick High Junior Prom, to hear all about how the social season is just getting under way in the South but how he wishes he were still up here with