i aa la la ol i ate ara aL elo ea nai oe a * ¢ ee (OMe the tears any longer. She cried, letting out all the anguish built up over the last few years. She sat in her old rocking chair crying for a couple of hours at least. She fell asleep and woke up late at night with a headache. Puff was on her lap sleeping. She picked him up and _ laid him on the floor and then went to bed. When she woke up in the morning, she put her faded pink dress on and didn't bother with her hair. She walked slowly out to her dimly lighted living room and sat down in her rocking chair. She began humming and let her thoughts wan- Sadie went to bed hoping Liz would change her attitude by tomorrow. She slept dreaming about the small bridge at the park. Liz and her husband came the next morning. Sadie wondered why she looked so excited. ‘‘Mother,"’ Liz said, ‘‘We're going back home this morning because we're going to a play tonight so I'll see you later.” Liz gave Sadie a quick kiss on the cheek. Sadie was saying, ‘So soon, but you just got here dear and it's such a sunny day. We could go to the park again.” ‘Goodbye, mother,'’ Liz yelled as she hurried out the door.”’ “But Liz,"’ Sadie said fighting tears. Sadie began looking for Puff hoping he would comfort her. She couldn't hold back der, “Liz will come next year and things will be different. We'll go downtown and even to the park. Oh, wasn't that park beautiful?” a r ar t ae THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER by Emily Fowers “Sixth period, only forty-five minutes until I'm home free," Wendy thought happily “Today I’m going to make it, | just know it.'’ She could feel a smile start to draw up her dry lips without lipstick on them. Light glared through the large glass doors and into the otherwise softly lit hallway as it reflected from the hazy autumn sun on to the stretch of a cemented sidewalk. As she hurried into the classroom area dragging all 130 pounds of herself, Wendy felt her cheeks redden and burn. She felt uncomfortable. The 5’ 2" highschool sophomore angrily muttered, ''Late, again!"’ to no one but herself. She watched her dirt-filled AND A Of The hot breeze the hoeing happily. laches inky The wind-mil| due ehuenc the and a of just a trace breath pump. The lifts the and farmer s garden pump Kerry rain. sky farmer gate, watered, thrive while wind-mills face, strain in the honey he spins sings prairie-hens. with hopes strings and path -lnedhae cooling Flickers when to bie corn will drink from ln drought To in with the creaky that barn, beyond wipes golden of grain, the But west clouds Assured And atop grass, te the a Field farmer Of FLOWS across harp, weather-vane Relaxing A\nd strums August's Petween The WATER smiles. the rye furowed aisles. sprouts and and water Brethower grows flows. Wendy knew that she would have to stand up to pull down the shift, but she felt as if she were welded to her seat. Beads of perspiration trickled down her temples. She tugged at the printed dress nervously, but the material was just stretched too lightly to be moved. She felt hot and weak, and once more tears began to fall. The edge of her hip thudded hard against the desk top as she jumped from her seat in one desperate lunge. She winced at the pain and pulled down the bothersome shift then quickly but carefully slid into. the narrow chair of the desk. Trying brown, scuffed shoes cover the lines in the green tile floor, as to calm herself? Wendy looked about the room sharply. Normally sitting next to the ‘Science Section" of the room always gave her a sense of security, She usually enjoyed watching the large aquarium with it's bright, artifical lighting, because it made the fishes and the greenery inside look like a whole separate world all by itself. The multi-colored rocks in the bottom were spread in a chaotic display of red, blue, and purple. The constant movement of the water made the rocks glint and glimmer like thousands of tiny jewels as their slick surfaces flashed and reflected the light from the metal aquarium cover. The small school she ambled down the hallway to her class. Slowly, she walked into the narrow door entrance of the class which was walled with dirty red bricks. A shadow of light crept across the door stop from the fluorescent classroom lights. As she entered the room someone giggled, and sent a signal out to all the other busily talking smear of faces that clouded the classroom. Muffled snickers of understanding answered back. As soon as Wendy heard the laughter she cringed, and all of the muscles in her body contracted as if being pulled by a large silver needle. Her eyes blurred, spilling hot tears down her cheeks. A muffled sob made her push her jaw into an unnatural hurt and terrified position. After what seemed like an eternity to Wendy, she finally relaxed enough to move from her cemented ‘position in the doorway. Blindly, she hurried to her seat thinking, ‘It would have to be the end seat in the last row.” Wendy wanted so much to disappear that she didn't sit down carefully enough. As she plopped into her desk seat her faded cotton dress clung stubbornly to the plastic ridges in the pink chair, making her dress crawl up to the middle of her slightly heavy thighs. of about 25 fish, guppies, fantail, and common gold fish swam in quick darts. Now and then one would calmly glide to the top and then quickly gulp a mouthful of fish food which floated in a cornmeallike mass. The different colors of sea shrubs ranging from light yellow to all the shades of green, blended under the weight of slimy, gray snails. But today the aquarium offered no comfort. The metal strips of the window louvers were clinched tightly over the large wall of windows and no autumn sunlight filtered through to make the safelite-like dust particles dance within their rays. All that Wendy could see was a blur of green and blue with 29