Gary Chadburn~ Debbie Miller Orchard Illustration Likely to Succeed Illustration Two Ways To Live Illustration Amot Matooy Good Riddance. Tiny Brown Monkey Paws ee OE GT EE? Dissension, A Right And A Responsibility Late Now The Unveiling Haiku ~~ Mustang Illustration Haiku Vintage Illustration Noon Icicle Off-Season Illustration The Wakened Child Tanka Afternoon Walk Poem Emerald Isle Poem Haiku Tanka From The Sea It Was Almost 3 u2))).- Janice Sears Debbie Mester Marsha Taylor Carol Illustration Too bewis - - Kani Watters: =); Brian Marsh Diane Needleman Illustration It’s Pat) Spring THE ORCHARD GARY CHADBURN - Johnson Liz Warner Barta Heiner 13 - - 20 26 : Most CONTENTS - Jean Curtis rare + Mary Maddox Lana Thompson ~ Jeanette Eldredge Debbie Mester Craig Wright Pat Lewis) .Jeanette Eldredge’ Gwen Rhead Scott Campbell = Lana Thompson Jeanette Eldredge’ Debbie Miller Mary Maddox Sally Behling Jo Ann Jensen” Weldon Hill -— Scott Campbell Weldon Hill -— Diane Needleman Pat Lewis Mary Maddox Carol Johnson - 29 31 34 12 12 16 16 17 17 18 18 19 19 Le, 19 25 28 30 33 38 ee Pee The OF Se a Be TABLE The morning sun cast oblique shadows across the path that wound through the apple orchard like an_ uncoiled snake. The apple trees were skeletons, barren of leaves, and their branches jiggled back and forth as the winter wind moved through them. Six inches of crusted snow lay on the frozen ground. The sky ‘overhead was free of clouds and misty blue in the dawn of the new day. Rickie approached the orchard on his way to school. He stepped up his pace when he came to the bridge over the frozen canal because he didn’t like the stiff smell of the dead animals and the garbage that had been dumped over the side of the bridge, and began trudging down the path in the snow. A gust of cold wind hit his already numbed face and made his eyes waiter. The crusted snow crunched under the rubber boots that his mother had made him wear. Rickie stopped where the path crossed between ‘two ‘oak trees. The trees towered high into the sky and stood between the bridge and the apple orchard. He heard the voices of his friends in the tree hut. He took his hand out ‘of his coat pocket and brushed the brown hair back off his smooth forehead. His hand then went back into the warm pocket of his bluish-gray coat. Rickie cocked his head backward and looked up at the bottom of the tree hut. He shivered at the sight of the tree and the hut. The hut was built between the fork of two huge branches, and it hung forty feet in the air directly over the path. Rickie saw a head with a red cap pulled over it pop out over the side of the old boards. He knew it was Mike because Mike always climbed the tree before school and threw snowballs at kids from the hut. “Hey, you guys. It’s Rickie. Don’t throw,’ Mike called to the others in the hut that Rickie couldn’t see. “Hi, Mike,’ Rickie said. His weak voice trembled unassuredly when he spoke the words. He saw Mike cup his hands around his mouth and heard him shout, “Hey, Rickie. Why don’t ya climb up and throw snowballs with us at Burd Turd when the ugly pig walks to school?” The thought of climbing the tree up to the hut made Rickie’s stomach tighten. He dropped his head while he fumbled for an excuse. He looked back up at Mike. , “Tos. Ty ean’t, lve i gotta: get! to : school,” his trembling voice muttered. “Maybe . . . maybe tomorrow.’ He dropped his head down and looked at the snow on the ground. Rickie hesitated and then began tromping through the snow on down the path. He heard one oi the boys say to the others, “I think he’s chicken,’ chicken,’ the Yea, boy that’s it. said, his He’s voice trying to gain assurance. “Hey Rickie you're chicken!” the boy shouted. The words stabbed him and made his stomach tighten again. He didn’t look back or reply. He walked steadily onward as if he didn’t hear what was said. He felt the wind hit his cold cheeks and whip at his levis as he walked on through the patch of apple trees. Later on in the morning Rickie sat at his desk in the fourth grade class. His seat was at the end of the first row alongside the wall.