December 19, 1961
Th Daily Nebroskan
Page 3
Love
Tree
ice
rsci
Is
T9
A
And
Ve
V
by david mignery
'' "Do I have to come up there and get
you?" He almost went for his gun.
"You will never take me alive."
"You been drinking, Kid? You don't
look twenty-one to me." '
"Hell no, and I am twenty-one, any
how." "You better come down and let me
check your ID, Kid." I threw my wallet
down to him and he checked it. "Alright,
Kid, you coming down? I can't stand here
all night." I . shook my head. "Alright,
there. He said that he had got the word Kid, stay up there," and he threw up
I am sitting in this waiting room and
this guy next to me keeps popping .his
knuckles. I talk to him to get him to
stop. I find out he is a college rat like
me find out; thats a laugh;, he had
"fraternity" "ritten all over him in nine
foot letters; and so we talk about, how
lousy everything is. After we ran through
the list there was this lousy silence and
he was beginning to pop his knuckles
again, so I asked if he knew what hap
pened that was going on behind the door
that it was a multiple choice test and the
questions were scientifically and infalli
bly designed to find out if you were a
cool guy or not and if you are you're in
and you are allowed to do all these things
that are nothing but sharp and there are
all ( kinds of advantages.
"Crazy," I said and then changing the
subject, "How did you get here?"
"Suicide."
"Oh. Why?"
"Fed up, you know."
I didn't press him because he was prob
ably sensitive as hell. Then he asked why
I was here and I told him the whole lousy
story from where I was walking down this
street. He was a heck of a nice guy.
I was walking, you know, because I
didn't know what else to do, down this
street on campus. It was night and all
these cars are whipping along and, I try
to see the people inside who are going
someplace in this lousy little town to do
something great because they are all in
this lousy rush. They drive like their cars
are tanks and something and bugs and
rabbits watch out. God, I wish I knew
where they were going because I got all
this nervous energy and I need a release
or something. But they never even see me.
Crazy things are supposed to happen
when you go for walks but they never do
because you never see anybody else walk
ing, if that's a reason. I used to walk so
that cops would stop me and ask what the
hell I was walking for. They never did
though. So everything is lousy so I take
off my khaki raincoat that makes me
look like everybody else and climb up
into this tree. It is early in the semester
so the tree is dark green with wet leaves
and nobody can see me. But I guess this
cop saw me climb up because he comes
over and shines his flashlight up at me
and says, "What do you think you're do
ing up there for chrissakes."
"I am picking apples." which was
clever.
"Apples! That's a maple tree for chris
sakes." He really breaks me up.
"The joke's on me, I guess."
"Well, get out of there."
"No."
my wallet, "you will come down eventual
ly so just don't cause any trouble up
there. You want your coat?" He held it
s up to me but I ignored him. He shrugged,
hung my coat on a branch and walked
away, eyes sharp for someone to shoot.
.
I didn't sleep too well, and so was
awake when the sun came up. Nobody
noticed me except this squirrel who came
out and looked at me for five minutes
while he ate a nut. By eight o'clock M$en
classes begin hundreds of students were
passing beneath me but not one saw me.
They saw my raincoat, however, and
' eventually someone took it away. Finally
at three this spook with a load of books
. saw me and I became 'something of an at
traction. For a few days I was big news
on campus but then they got used to me
and besides it was hard to see me be
cause of all the leaves.
When fall came the leaves all fell off
and my best buddy could no longer pre
tend he didn't see me as he walks by. So
one day he stops and we talk. He tried to
talk me out of the tree but I have this
will of iron. But I did ask him to bring my
coat because it was pretty cold at nights
especially when it rained. He says, "Well,
gee, I'd like to ol' buddy but I don't know
where it's at." Then he tells me he. has '
been going with my steady girl and has
sold my car and is wearing my clothes.
I ask him if he could please go get me a
peanut butter sandwich or something" but
he says gee he'd like to but he's got this
important meeting. '
"Thanks, ol'. buddy." I say, but he
doesn't hear me.
I also talked with this cat from the
journalism school who keeps asking me
why I chose a maple tree. finally told
him it was a mere coincidence. He print
ed it in the school paper and everybody
thought I was crazy to live in a tree just
because it was a maple. Fuzzy thinking,
they called it. '
FORHfcSr
One night I was sitting here looking at
my toe that was sticking through a hole
in my shoe, when my old steady girl
came by with another guy (not my best
aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim "
buddy). She announced that things had
changed between us and she was going
out with other guys and she wanted to
have some fun before she was too old.
"I know," I said.
She wanted to be honest with me.
"I appreciate it." I said.
She said when I came down out of the
tree I could still date her but not to ex
pect things to be the way they were be
fore. I felt sick. I wanted to ask her how
a love as beautiful and as great as ours
could be destroyed by my spending some
time in a tree but I just sat there. She
went cheerfully on; if I wanted to call it
off completely, just let her know and she
would understand and she still respected
me. Honest! I felt sicker. I'm a real kook.
After she left, I got drunk on a bottle
of vodka I had sent a kid after. It was a
pretty wild night because I had never,
been drunk before not being in a fratern
ity and all. Pretty soon 'this guy came
along who said he had come all the way
from the edge of the woods just to talk
to me.
I panicked. "You!" I cried, "Get lost!"
I was pretty rough on him.
He got mad and said, "Kids like you
are a dime a dozen."
I yelled after him, "Phoney!" I don't
know why. He is a heck of a nice guy
and I'd like to call him up sometime.
The next guy was really, wild. He was
an old alum and he came clanking along
in this suit of armor. He had some diffi
culty walking and he ran into my tree.
Apparently he had come just to rescue
me from the tree. "Son," he says, "you
can't run away from life like that. You
have to face things, so pull yourself to
gether and come on down."
"Never." I said.
"Listen Kid, you think you are original?
I read a story about a guy in a tree. It
was a lousy story."
"You're in a story too you lousy jerk!"
, ."Speak up will you, Kid, I can't hear
too well with this suit of shining armor."
"I am not coming down!" I shouted.
"You in a fraternity, Kid?"
"No."
"Thank God for that. Well son, I didn't
think you was. You are giving this school
a bad name, Kid. What you need are
some Christian values, took at me, Kid,
I am a millionaire. You know why I am
a millionaire? Christian Values. Listen,
Kid, I've been around a lot longer than
you have and I know some things. A
guy who has made a million bucks can't
be all wrong. You don't make that kind
of dough by being stupid so come on down
from there. ;'
"Go to blazes."
'Well I can see there is no sense talk
ing to you. I didn't have to come here
you know. By God, I am coming up there
and drag you down."
He tried to climb the tree but his ar
mor was so heavy that he fell on his
back. Two hours later he was able to
struggle to his feet and clanked off.
After that it was very quiet. The cars
had stopped roaring past and the squir
rel awakened by the silence came out for
some air. He looked at me for a few min
utes, yawned and went back to bed. The
campus was wrapped in a night mist.
Very late I heard a thin piping noise and
from behind a bush danced a satyr. He
was a rather raggy old satyr but he
looked magnificent dancing there on the
lawn in the soft light. For five minutes he
danced there and then he danced behind
McClung Hall still piping away. Every
thing was soft and still. I leaned over and
reached out and as I reached I fell from
the branch.
In the far distance appeared a serpent
of dust, chasing a bug. It grew swiftly to
a light truck trailing a sinuous dust
plume, rattling over the rocks of the dry
wash, and grinding to a halt beside a
newty-burned field, the brilliant green of
the new grass showing through the black
remains of the old, like a phoenix rising
from its own ashes. Two men stepped
from the cab of the truck and walked to
the back. The flap, carefully tied, was
unfastened, and two soldiers with rifles
dismounted, followed by a third man in
civilian dress. The little group walked
slowly out across the burn, sweat-beaded
black faces glistening in the heat, and
every step leaving a crushed impression
in the ash, crushing the new life under
the old. Four men stopped, and one
walked on alone. Warm sun flooded the
afternoon in rippling waves on the breeze.
In the man's mind an idea grew sudden
ly, just as he heard the muttered com
mand, "Fire," and blackness quenched all
thought. A lean black body tumbled into
the fresh green of the spring grass.
Dreams of empire, hopes of a new na
tion vanished in the brief instant of hot
metal crashing through the conscious
ness. Leader of men, bringer of chaos,
nourisher of worms.
Two persons lay on the soft green car
pet of the young grass, lost in the wonder
of the moment, the infinite joy of new
love being created suddenly from nothing
at all.
"What are you thinking?" he asked.
A long pause. Then, shyly, "How good
it is to be Here . . . with you."
"But everybody must be happy on a
" day like this.-God, but it's beautiful. I
don't think there could be a person alive
who's sad right now."
And they returned to the contemplation
of each other.
He lay on his back, staring up at the
gray ceiling the same gray ceiling that
he'd watched for what was it? Five
years? Ten? Maybe forever. "God, I
wonder what it's like outside," he thought.
Outside. That didn't mean much any
more, either. Out in the yard, during rec
reation period (so called), he'd been able
to smell the freshening grass outside the
wall, and feel the warm breeze, but it
seemed only a half -reality, a breath from
another existence. This was all his uni
verse, these gray walls and ceiling, neat
ly separated from all else by a row of
steel bars. Two smudges' on the ceiling
stared back at him, like a pair of un
blinking eyes. No matter how he turned,
; they were still there, always watching,
the very symbol of his captivity, like the
ever-present guard. He rolled over on his
side and closed bis eyes. The words of an
old song ran vaguely through his mind:
"The eyes of God are shining in the sky
tonight" The eyes on the ceiling stared
down on the sleeping form.
The young man sat unmoving, cursing
On
Fields
Forgotten
softly to himself. "No good dame any
way. Don't know what the hell I ever
saw in her. Dammit ... Too busy to go
with me. is she? Seems to have plenty of
time for other people, though." The hoi-
low Reeling in his stom ach grew larger at
the thought. Resentment burned in his When He poppe(j the scene
gut. He carefully traced in his mind how tne cats waii,
she had looked, walking hand in hand It was real c00i man
with someone else, so damned beautiful
he thought he couldn't stand it. The
breeze stirred softly in the grass around
him, and her dark eyes, quiet voice . . .
' "Hell, this is silly," he thought. "I won
der what it is in people that makes them
enjoy being sorry for themselves. She's
not that important." He forgot his sorrow
for a moment as he pondered this point,
and then she came back into his mind,
abruptly, and anger rushed through him.
He leaned back against a tree, able to
think only of her, exhausting his pain in
the exquisite self-torture of a spurned
lover.
Batrachomyomacliia II
by Stephen abbott
Here come the stars (about several)
and some grass and jazz and ah ya,
Some fish in a big juicy wet puddle
I then the rib scene . . .
It was real cool i guess
Then some fruity snake says "lets sin"
and they do
I and then its not too cool anymore
For about too many years it wasn't cool.
And the cats made with the clubs and hairy clothes.
"Here now. You're too big a girl to
cry over spilled ice-cream. Why, what
Big girls like you shouldn't do that. Now,
v I tell you what. If you'll stop crying, I'l
UJ give you a dine and you can buy another f
Ml
hollaml
(a couple hep fellas
say the cats was monkeys
but thats blot o bull
cuz everyone knows cats
aint monkejs i guess)
Anyway everybody juiced it
accept one cat
called Noah, cui he knowed it 'wasn't .:ool
and lucky for him
cuz like one day the world washed away.
r-"J fOMCiT
cone. Would you like that?" A shy nod,
the preferred dime was accepted, and the
little girl ran happily back into the shop.
"Cute Iku kid," he thought. "Makes a
guy feel just all right when he can be
nice to kids." He walked on, feeling very
satisified.
The small child whimpered softly, too Some cats made temples and tombs
exhausted now to cry any more. He was 1 but our cats made it on the peak
himrrv. and tired, and nuzzled. He won- 1 which is somewheres in the desert
dered, in a thild's vague, half-animal
way, where his mother was, and why he
hadn't been fed, and talked to and ca
ressed. He was too young to understand
why his home lay in smoking ashes, but
old enough to know hunger; too young to
realize that his parents lay in those ashes,
but old enough to know loneliness; too
young to understand war, old enough to But when He makes the scene He aint got the monguls horn
die. lie moaned quietly sitting alone in 1 He swings to a new arrangement
the warmth and freshness of the after- but lotza cats bop . . . cuz its cool
noon, a dvine ember of life among the al-
rne ruga pries is uuiu uup u guesf i
and they like fix Him up with thorns and jazz
and say "now cool it daddy, swin out"
Like the trip was tough i guess
but they made it
and sat tight for some more years.
They were waitin to swing
with the biggest, coolest cat of all.
But the biggest cat of all dont quite swing out
Hes gotta do a couple rounds of handjive
before blowin the last strains with us
ready dead ashes of other lives.
The sun sinks smoothly into the western s
pit, drawing behind it the curtain of dark-
ness. Two lovers wander down a hidden
path, among the sprays of delicious-smell-
ing lilacs, each lost in private thoughts,
alone in a momertt of shared joy. In the
cage, the lights come on. "Solitary, l i
wonder what that's like. Anyway, what But what of today you ask
could be more solitary than this? No one nineteen hundred and sixty some years later
to talk to, and no one worth talking to 1 ..',..,.
anyway." The iron bars stretch away, Well, some cats are still juicin it
row on row, to the roof high above. A ya . . . and some cats, are lost m the ivory temple swingrn
vmma man Ipan. hafir aoninst his tree. I kind of sick like
aUU avUlC tato aic rv aiimg auuui mc a cat
lost in his self-pity, trapped in the prison
of his own mind. Off in the darkness, a
, small figure stirs restlessly, waiting . . ..
" A young, lean black body lies in a shallow
grave; unknown, unnoticed, unmourned. p
Its too bad i guess
that such a cool arrangement
aint played