1983 School Magazine

BANG The nursery had a white ceiling, blue walls, red window frame. The teddy bear in the corner wore khaki shorts. Bang! Bang! The toy soldier stood tall on the green blanket mountain. Its eyes brown, hair brown, face white, expressionless. Pistol gleaming. Bang! Bang! The toy soldier fell to the ground. Its eyes blue, hair yellow, foce pink, expressionless. "He looks like Hans." "I{umph. " "Daddy. " "Whqt. " "Are Germans bad?" "I{umph.'" Bang! Bang! The toy soldier fell to the ground. Its eyes blue, hair yellow, face pink, expressionless. "Tell me about the war, Daddy." "Aah, the Great War, the War to end all Wars." "Did you kill anyone Daddy. " "Killed two Jerries. " Silence. His hair brown, eyes brown, foce wooden, expressionless. "Hans'uncle wqs killed in the war." "Humph." '"When Hans and tr grow up, we"ll travel around the world together. " The calendar read September 3, 1939 Bang! Bang! The toy soldier - CR,ASII!!

TNSECURE

In turn the wheel broke, the signpost fell and we became lost! J. Gardiner IIH

TT]E CTTY AT NIGHT Compulsively they come to the city at night. What are they seeking? Is it stimulation; sport; sin; or maybe salvation. Whstever it is, it is an escape from the suburbia syndrome. They want to experience lde first"hand, not second hand through the teleyision set. They want to be a part of the life that is the city at night. They are drawn from remote parts, like blood through the veins, to the city's heart which pulsates with the rtrythm of life, only to return on their arterial journey home. Revitalised, they settle back to their daily labour until the city heart once mare draws them to itself. And so they come to the glare, the glitter and glamour. The neon lights gaudily flash their messages. Come here, buy these, do this. The moon and stars pale to insignificance beside the rainbow of man-made light. Brightly-lit shop windows display a gamut of exquisite merchandise, while people strut up and down disploying their apporel like peacocks exhibiting their plumage. Shiny automobiles, filled with their own importance, roar, honk, and screech their way through the city. The music of the hopeful buskers is drowned by the chatter and laughter of people hurrying by, ond 'in' music blares from shop entrances. Tantilising aromas woft from restaurants and coffee shops, mingling with the fumes from exhausts. There is a feeling of exhilaration and excitement in the city at night. No longer are there weary and unwilling workers trudging their way to and from their crowded offices. The bored ond boring faces of the daytime have been tronsformed inta foces full of expectation. They've come for fun, to escape from their worries. Their pleasure may merely comefrom window shopping and dreaming. It may come from dining in a pleasant atrnosphere, or a visit to a theatre, or from the more stimuloting atmosphere of a disco or nigttt club. No matter what they do, and no matter where they go, they are partaking of the lde of the city at night. But there is another side to the city at night. A side that most people preJer not to see. There is the drunkenness, the organised crime, the prostitution and the drug- pushing, which ensnare so many unsuspecting innocent people, bringing them heartache and misery. There are the homeless young and old, who spend long, miserable nights on park benches and in shop doorways. There are the cold, tke hungry, the desperate, looking not only to satisfy their physical needs, but seeking an explanation of their spiritual ones as well. Gradually, the city's visitors depart. Their appetites satisfied, they return to their suburban slumbers. The city sleeps, Kathryn Myers (9 Eng.)

The room exploded. Imqni Gunasekara

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