Summer is finally on its way! Today was absolutely beautiful outside and although it is only early May, I can feel summer vacation coming faster than ever before. To celebrate our upcoming freedom, the boys (Mark and Jake) and I decided to take the day off of school and head to the lake. We figured since it is senior year and our plans for next year are all figured out already, that it would be a shame to waste such a beautiful day sitting inside learning about complicated math equations and literature from like a million years ago.
Upon arriving at the lake, we soon discovered that it was kind of cold the closer we got to the water so we spent most of the day exploring the wooded paths that surrounded the area. I almost forgot how much I loved the spring of the year, the luscious greenery and rejuvenated look of the trees and shrubbery that surrounded us however, reminded me exactly of the excitement and joys the warmer months have always brought to me. The air almost seemed fresher to me today, and the birds seemed to chirp an extra happy tune. It was a wonderful day to spend with my boys, we had so much fun together laughing, reminiscing and carrying on like we usually do that we decided to mark the occasion by carving our names in to the tree we had a picnic under earlier in the afternoon. It was a nice way to spend the beginning of our last few months together even though I do not think any particular one of us saw this day as the beginning of the end by any stretch of the imagination, I think we are still under the impression that we will remain this carefree forever.
We decided to finish our day off with watching the sunset on the old dock by the water, Mark had to go home early for supper, but Jake and I decided we would watch the sunset anyways without him. Jake and I had always had a particularly special bond to begin with, I always felt like he was the brother I never had, so the absence of Mark did not really affect the outcome of the day at all. While discussing our future plans, we noticed a man sitting near the water; he was a dishevelled looking older gentleman with tattered clothes and a golden locket in his hand, he looked a little down on his luck so we decided to go talk to him. The man's name was David and he explained to us that he was a former accountant who had lost his earnings due to a gambling problem that spiralled out of control and he eventually lost everything; his job, his savings, and his family. The golden locket was his daughter's and he carried it around with him as motivation to get his life in order. I had never known my own father growing up and did not want his daughter to have to endure the same hardships I had, so Jake and I gave him the little money we had on us at the time and the food we had left from the picnic. I am not sure why I felt so attached to this man, but I feel as if I did the right thing. Jake and I still watched the sun set together, somehow though, I feel as if it was just a little bit sweeter.
-N.C
Concentration etched between her brows, I watched the smoke weave in curling signets toward the distant sky, her fingers pale and relaxed around a disappearing cigarette. Johanna was rhapsodizing about some half-tangible figure, so careless and trivial, but her words floated past me and drowned themselves in the moving water at my back. Yielding to the earth's pull and my own lethargy, I lay parallel to the dry and cracking ground, staring upside down across the Thames' young twin. I listened to the river, steady and ceaseless as its motion was, never kept from that single ambition of carrying itself through to the sea. The quiet rage of its contents drifted into each of my ears, meeting at the center to fill me with its pure passion. I wondered with how much zeal that determined element would deign to carry me with it-- if I could slip in unnoticed, or if I would be dragged through its congealing, muddy bottom, and become part of the journey anonymously from then on. I cursed my own biology for its limitations, allowing me a glimpse of what purpose looked like and then mocking my admiration with the human incapacity for death. Her smoke billowed straight over me, and my mind was spinning.
Sed fugit, interea, fugit tempa. The river nursed Virgil, and they both haunted me as they passed, nature and the poet marching on their eternal way.
Johanna asked what I would have done in her position &c. My response was safe and uninspired, having paid only an absent mind to her ramblings, and because I knew she didn't care what I thought, anyhow. The wind began to pick up from the North, and the Sun retreated from that echoing ire into the West. Between dark strands of her rebellious, blowing hair was a scene of two sparrows escaping the cold base of a willow to their nest in the curtained branches above. Borrowing their instincts, she suggested our own departure.
We crossed the tree-flecked fields and came to the bridge: a dismal, steel structure stretched stiff and gracelessly over the river. Dry grass quivered at its forced roots, tiny gold flakes outshining man's metallic posts. We strode the length of steel and planks, up the asphalt hill and East toward the centre of town. A shortcut through the cemetery brought us to the small end of Queen Street, and face to face with the old funeral parlour; never had I seen those doors ajar, in all the frequent times I had stood and stared from the cemetery gates. I glanced halfway behind me, but I already knew why this was so: not one corpse in the church's yard had been placed there later than 1946.
The wind in the streets was less apparent, and the dull grey of the avenue's rooftops blended into our dusky sky, so that the mortar of man seemed to fall endlessly upward and mask the true colours of night. Johanna traipsed on, and I beside her, threading through the shufflers and beggars and loud thinkers to our understood destination ahead. The ragged air clawed at our eyes, pulling tears to the surface as our flesh cowered under icy skin.
Out of the cold and the damp, into a side-door plethora of fresh, foreign grinds and clink-clink-clinking mugs dribbling froth over their lips, we unloaded our shoulders in a free corner by the window. A youth of bright eyes and warm hue smiled from behind the till. He looked as if his pleasure lay in our service, and his satisfaction in a cinnamon-dusted apron--but I had no delusions. Essentially, he must wonder at the same futilities as I, and Johanna, and the frazzled, hoary man with his caffeine on the stool were suffered to admit incontrovertibly.
The sound of scraping chairs, cautious sipping, and spontaneous laughter bit and snapped at the condensed air, encircling us like wild beasts do criminals in a Roman amphitheater. I stared into my cup, its contents unflowing, opaque, and steamy; no satiation did the liquid bring, and I pondered again what set the river apart from this useless consumable mass. I felt like a mass, myself, rooted to the spindly seat and my gradually clearing vision. Johanna with her liquid words, the server with his liquid disposition and the old man with his liquid mind; we were all barrels of still water. We moved, but only within ourselves--not one of us was reaching the sea. The river, I figured, reigned superior to us all. It didn't even stop to gloat; for I knew even as I sat there, crouched inward and sedentary, that the reigning river had never ceased to flow.
--Isabel
Tyler MacLean
It was a scorching hot day. Not my little brother's favorite type of weather, and I had no choice but to be a tiny bit nervous for him. The warm-up went great and things were looking promising, however Jamie has never before faced competition at quite this level. So there I was sitting out in the right center field bleachers with my hands trembling and butterflies in my stomach. If I felt this bad, I could not come close to imagining his anxiety, but no Jamie was calm and cool. He always was. He automatic flowers made of stone. Whether ten runs ahead or ten runs behind he just throws the ball, without a hint of emotion. Yet it was different this time. A different team, a different place and most certainly a different atmosphere. This had me petrified as the game was about to start.
Adversity stepped in right away, as the first batter laid a perfect bunt and was followed up by a line drive single. If I was nervous before, I was scared to death now but somehow the big guy pulled it together and retired the next three men to step to the plate. We luckily got out of that one scratch free and even scored two runs for ourselves in the bottom of the first inning. My brother took the field again, I was still trembling, and the base hit from the first batter did not calm my nerves. The next three batters made it obvious that he shared not of the same emotions that I did. Those three men went down hard, one strikeout after the next.
That was the turning point of my thoughts and feelings. What did I have to fear? Jamie had never let me down before and would never give anything less than his very best. My hands stopped trembling and there was nothing to worry about. Jamie struck out the next ten hitters in a row. Even in the fifth when a hitter laced a triple off the wall, the next batter was easily retired as well as the side.
With one inning to go, and a six to nothing lead, nobody in the stands or on the field had any fear in their hearts whatsoever. The opposing team was forced into a strikeout, a grounder, and walk and finally a final thirteenth K to win the game. The celebration began, and nobody could have been as happy or more content than I was.
Tyler MacLean
[January 15 2008] I have never liked any of the guys my little sister Jenn brought home. After being begged to meet her newest boyfriend I gave in, but I was not planning to like him. He strolled up looking like he was god's gift to the earth which made me laugh because he looked like a total idiot. We had lunch which was nice. We ate outside on the deck, light wind blowing and the birds flying overhead. I didn't say much mostly just listened to the pair. Months later, and I knew it would come, my sister decided to marry Mathew. The big day came, I tried to be happy. I got up, showered and got dressed, trying not to stop and think about what was going to happen hours later. Jenn was leaving to get her hair done and I didn't know when the next time we would be alone would be, so I pulled her quickly aside to give her a gift. I wanted it to be just between me and her. I passed her a picture of me and her as children, holding hands and walking down the beach. My mom said it was the image of happiness. Jenn looked at me and hugged me, as she took the picture and walked towards the door she turned and thanked me for being such a good brother and friend. I went back to my room sat on the bed and stared at the wall, thinking how the image on the beach would never be again. Mom came in rushed me to get going as there were things to be done and all kinds of wedding junk. I went and was numb through the service. The days following were a blur, gifts, honeymoon and parties. It wasn't until moving day that I began to gain to feel the reality of the situation again. As Jenn and Mathew moved into their new home I had the opportunity to travel with Mathew alone. He looked at me and told me that he would never hurt my sister. I looked back at him and felt calm as the world outside flew past the car. I said one simple sentence "if you hurt my sister, you will pay...little bro." He smiled and finally I felt ok.
-Dennis Mills
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-Tory
]]>Sunday, Nov. 24th. Rainy morning. I woke up feeling a
little ill. Mary was in the kitchen making tea when I came downstairs.
She suggested that we walk the dogs, as T was still sleeping and the
fresh air might help my aching head. The wind nipped at our coats as
soon as we set outside and the rain pounded down on our heads
mercilessly. My hair sticking to my face, we trudged through the field
and onto Seaforth Road. The houses on either side sheltered us slightly
from the gales. M suggested that we try to cut through the path on
Inverness Crescent when we reached it, so we could circle back home
faster. She looked disheveled from the dogs seemed anxious to get back
into the warmth as well. We headed towards Inverness. I had not been
down this road for some time. The autumn had been mild in the beginning
so many leaves still hung from the rows of maple lining the street.
Despite the overwhelming grey of the morning, their oranges, yellows,
and burgundies stood out admirably, though shaking in the wind. We
reached the path and discovered that the damp had turned it into mud.
We changed our course again and headed towards Indian Road. The wind
became stronger and rain poured heavily in thick sheets, soaking us
through our jackets. As the old house came into view, a thin plastic
flower pot came across our path. M recognized it as belonging to Sue
Rogers and thought we should return it, despite the detour prolonging
our sodden journey. Sue thanked us, insisting that we come in. The
house was eerily quiet without the usual sounds of her children
screaming or laughing through the house. Her features were greying-
heavy circles beneath her red, dry eyes. She commented on her own
appearance explaining "Robert left last week." Her voice cracked at the
recollection and M moved a still damp hand onto her back. "The girls
have gone with him for the weekend. I don't know what's going to happen
with them yet." She turned her eyes to the ground. I could almost feel
them stinging and blurring. "Without Robert I can't afford to keep the
house." As M and I talked with Mrs. Rogers calm came to the outside and
we regretfully excused ourselves to take advantage of the break in the
storm. The streets were now jarringly quiet. Indian Road seemed to echo
our footsteps and I remembered the times I had spent playing with S and
K and the Rogers girls on the sidewalks and in the little field. The
rain held off until we reached the warmth of our house again. The smell
of coffee, reassuringly stung my nose as we came in and I knew that T
was awake. I forgot a particularly fine sight that we found on McMahon
Avenue. The row of evergreens at the side of the yard, which last
summer looked sickly, have regained some of their splendour. One stands
feet above the others and though the wind swayed them all, their Kelly
colour stood out strongly, marking the edge of our yard.
--R.E.
The Older Brother University Student
]]>August 28th 2007 [Tuesday]. I left the house early that morning-like every other. Morning was cooler; by each passing day. The drive seemed longer then usual. The trees were glistening - the sun light rising up beneath them. Cars passed me I passed them. When I arrived I received my usual greeting. What took so long? Then I realized this was it. My last day of my normal life, I was leaving in five days. The grass was wet, the ground hard from the vast animals passing day after day after day. The pastures unfruitful. A mark that meant summer was departing fast. I held back the tears as I went about my chores. What was I going to do without BB, around him I knew where I stood, I learned who I was. Would he miss me? That will never be known. The sun was as high as I was low. Clouds were as likely as me staying. The heat was passionate-as I of horses everyday, all my life, always. I was just fortunate I didn't have to face it all yet-soon enough though.
September 1st 2007 [Saturday]. The day had come, It was exciting and heart-rending. I've never faced anything like this before. It's like the first snowfall, excited that it's snowing but I don't like winter. Time to say good bye to everything that's me, that was me. The sun was gone that day everything was grey and cool it was like the sun knew. Lace has been mine since I was nine. She will always be apart of me. I arrived at the barn as if it were the same and rode one last time. Summer had been grand, nothing ever stays the same. BB was my sun on that dark dreary day-just like every other. Saying good bye, heart in my throat, tears in eyes. I was okay. We drove away - waterfall over my face, they're suppose to be magnificent, and this was not. Or was it? Who knew one could have a bond this strong with such a free spirited creature. I knew, I've always known, it's always been part of my life.
E. Johnson
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