The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1922-11-01

anu DuTueu tuc DiOOiH oul VI Tic lhcc
| and all the gentle lights out Of the
eyes. 1t did, however, leave certain
| lights, but they were such that their
| remembrance brought no pleasure to
Bruce. They were just a wild glare,
fixed, strange brightness as OF great
fear or insanity.
The Woman had kissed him and
gone quickly; and he had been too
young to remember If she had carried
any sort of bundle close to her breast.
Yet, the man considered, there must
have been such a bundle-otherwise
he couldn't possibly account for Linda.
And there were no doubts about her,
at all.
OF course he had no memories Of
her that first day, nor for the first
years. But all later memories Of the
Square house always included her.
She must have been nearly four years
younger than himself; thus when he
was taken to the house she was only
an infant. But thereafter, the nurses
put them together often; and when
Linda was able to Talk, she called him
something that sounded like Bwova
boo. She called him that so often that
for a long time he couldn't be sure
that wasn't his real name. Now, in
manhood. he interpreted.
Brother Bruce, of course. Linda
was of course sister"
Linda had been homely; even
small boy could notice that. Besides,
Linda was nearly six when Bruce had
left for good; and he was then at an
age in which impressions begin to
be lasting. Her hair was quite blond
then, and her features rather irregular.
But there had been light in her eyes
By his word, there had been!
She had been angry at him times In
plenty-over some childish game-and
! he remembered how that light had
grown and frightened. She had flung
at him too. He laughed at the
memory of her sudden, explosive feroc-
! ity-the way her hands had smacked
against his cheeks, and her sharp little
nails had scratched him Little Spit
fire." he sometimes called her; but
: no one else could call her anything
but Linda. For Bruce had been an
able little fighter, even in those days.
He was fond Of drawing pictures.
This vas nothing In itself; many lit
! tie boys are fond Of drawing pictures
Nor were his unusually good. Their
: strangeness lay in his subjects. He
! liked to draw animals in particular
: the animals he read about in school
:. and in such books as were brought
:, to him. And sometimes he drew In
dams and cowboys. And one day
when he wasn't half watching what
q he was doing-he drew something
I quite different.
( Perhaps he wouldn't have looked al
I 1t twice, If the teacher hadn't stepped
: hands. 1t was geography" then. mo-
+ drawing" and he should have beer
paying attention" And he had every
reason to think that the teacher would
crumple up his picture and send hin
to the cloak-room for punishment.
e But she did no such thing. Wher
: her eyes glanced down, her fingers
t slowly Strengthened. Then she looked
again-carefully.
| w MI Is Ills, ShC uSACb
p what have you been drawihg?"
e IL don't know" the child an
swered. He looked and for an instan
l. let his thoughts go wandering her,
a and there Those are trees" he
S said. A word caught at his throat ant
II he blurted it out. pines! Pine trees
q growing on a mountain"
l. hod civ ar-o16 hny
o the teacher commented But where
D Bruce, have you ever seen or hear,
q of such pines?" But Bruce did no
l. know.
e. Another puzzling adventure tina
n stuck in Bruce's memory had happene
e only a few months after his arriva
a. at the Square house, when man ha
IL taken him home on trial with the ide
Il of adoption.
All the incidents and details Of tn
II excursion with this prospective paren
Is were extremely dim and vague. II
b. did not know to what city he wen
lie nor had he any recollection whateve
lie of the people he met there. But he di
~ remember. with remarkable clearnes.
N the perplexing talk that the man an
the superintendent Of the Squar
lie house had together on his return.
lie HE won't do" the stranger ha
10 said. II tried him out and he won
a fill In in my family. And I've fetche
him back.
he 81 believe in being frank, and I tie
10 you there's something vicious In thu
IN boys nature. 1t came out the yer
20 first moment he was in the hous
,e when the Missus was Introducing hi
lg to my eight-year-old son. This is Ii
rs tie Turner she said-and this DO
lr sprang right at him. I'd never Il
ct little Turner learn to fight, and tn
boy was on top Of him and was poun'
y ing him with his fists before we coul
ut pull him of. I didn't understand
OF at ALL"
lg Nor did the superintendent unde
iy stand; norm these later years
ne Bruce either.
He was quite a big boy. nearly te
80 | A~- h. 0,onr Iaf< tho Souoro hone