“How to be a Soldier” by Tommy Madden ’22

He began, “Then why-” “Treat her well,” I interrupted, “please, do it for everyone who can’t.” I picked up my pistol and tossed it into the garbage can on my way out of the bathroom. As I left the opera house, I felt the warm air wrap itself around me like one of Nadine’s smiles. I didn’t know where I was headed from there, only that it was to a better place.

Questions for the College Board

by Wilton Lawton College Board, why are you so difficult? No like seriously, why do you even exist? First off, you can claim to be as fair and equitable as possible, but not even you believe that, do you? There have been countless studies proving that nothing about the AP or SAT is a fair assessment of college readiness, yet you still administer these tests like they are life or death; why? I actually cannot think of a job - with the exception of a college board test creator - where I would use Matrices regularly; so why must whether or not we can use this irrelevant part of mathematics impact our futures? Second, you famously claim to be not for profit; however, it is public information that the CEO of your company makes 1.6 million dollars a year, and the following ten highest-paid employees are all producing well over 500,000 dollars a year, does this sound like a profit to you? I know kids that have been saving money for weeks, sometimes months, just to afford to take the SAT; how do you think these kids would feel if they learned how much these “Non-Profit” employees were making? It is also common knowledge that the higher the household income, the higher the student will score; the line is nearly linear, is this something that has been done intentionally? I just can’t seem to understand the main motives behind administering one test that ranks us in order of college readiness; can anyone provide evidence to back this system, or are we all just sheeple? While the College Boards’ importance during the application process is ostensibly essential, the admissions process is changing, and don’t you think it’s safe to assume that within the decade, your pointless standardized testing will be meaningless and obsolete? So say your farewells, you masters of deception, because you, of all people, should know, the worst thing you can do is fix your mistakes too slow, get it?

How to be a soldier by Tommy Madden

You have to work with your brothers, always prepared for anything that could be thrown your way. You have to put death at the back of your mind, you are not there to protect yourself, you are there to protect the guy next to you. You have to know that you are there to protect the people of Iraq, not fight against them and you have to distinguish the enemy from a friend. You have to know your place, you are not the best at everything, you are not the smartest in the room, but you can make good decisions, and lead, or you can make good suggestions and follow. Your weapon must be an extension of your body, keep it on you at all times, and never point it at your own man's back. You have to be willing to die for strangers, people you have never talked to, and probably never will. You have to deal with doing the work, but not getting the recognition. You have to be there when the IUD goes off. You have to see your best friend without legs, bleeding and crying. You have to hold him and tell him he’ll be fine, when you know that he won’t. You have to deal with that, sleep with that, and live with that. You have to go home and realize that you’re not still fighting. You have to learn to block the nightmares. You have to think hard, swim hard, run hard and fight hard to be a navy seal, and you have to push through pain, panic and fear, to protect what you hold dear.

Candy Heist

by Charlie Cave

Reid had a cold and bitter look plastered across his face. He had only been home for two minutes but his afternoon was quickly spoiled. Maybe he was cranky due to his long day of 5th-grade classes or because his mom wasn’t around to make him a snack but nonetheless, he was especially mad at this moment. He had been looking forward to digging into his sack of candy the whole day. But there it was. Lying on the floor with empty wrappers spilling out of it. Reid, dizzied by a cloud of rage, heard his older brother, feet stomping down their old oak staircase. The pace with which Drew moved down the stairs unsettled Reid. He almost seemed jitty or excited for some reason. Then everything clicked inside Reid’s young brain. He turned and bolted out of his room, roared down his stairs like a storm preparing to devastate a village. Not yet reaching the bottom of the stairs, Reid leaped from the third step onto the back of his brother. “What are you doing?” Drew asked in a bewildered tone.

“My candy!” Reid responded while landing a punch on Drew’s skull. His fingers bent and cracked upon impact, making his question if he was really the one inflicting the pain. “What?!” “My candy!”

Drew flung Reid of his back. The two brothers stood across from each other panting for air and staring at each other in the eye, waiting for a weakness to show. In one corner was Drew: taller, stronger and heavier than his opponent. In the other was Reid: shorter, lighter, but fueled by the rage that boiled in his chest. Both the boys walked to meet each other in the center of the room. Two titans waiting to battle once again when their dog trotted into the room. In his mouth hung an empty skittles wrapper.

Racoons

by Bert Greene

Snickers, Starbursts, Reeces. It was all good because it was all sweet. “This was a good, good night,” thought Devin as he bounced up and down out of excitement. Devin, however, was not satisfied with his already fat stash, he wanted more. He wanted all the candy. Most of all, He wanted to show Mrs. Gual’s class that he had collected the most candy out of them all. Not Terry, not Dominic, Him.

As Devin had nearly pillaged Cliff road of all its king sized bars, he straddled over to Lanark, the street that had the second biggest houses, behind Cliff of course. He started with a rather peculiar house, a large english Tudor with glowing windows. Quite inviting. However the yard seemed oddly run down. The weeds were two feet high and the vines were as thick as snakes. DING dong, DING dong, DING dong,

Devin rang and rang, but no answer followed. Frustrated, he reached up and pounded the door with that large metal knocker thing that nobody seems to touch. It shook the house. Still, there was an answer. Devin couldn't help but notice Wrappers, lots and lots of Wrappers, even wrappers to the best kinds of candy, scattered all over the floor. With a loud thud Devin set his candy down to follow this trail of candy around the poarch. The floor creaked as he stepped.

“Ahah!” Devin had found a large metal bowl that looked like it had been thrown on the floor. “Who could have done this?” he thought to himself as he bent over to pick the bowl up from the floor. As he stretched back up he noticed an ominous glowing green set of eyes staring at him from the bush. Stunned at first, Devin retraced his steps backwards toward the front door, frozen with fear. As Devin turned around he saw his own candy ransacked and scattered. Three more sets of glowing green eyes pierced through him as he stood there. Racoons he thought. Racoons.