The White Falcon - 17.12.1971, Blaðsíða 8

The whole thing sounded a bit suspicious. The Liberty Elementary
School Winter Pageant -would this year portray the exciting saga of
nutrition, Mrs. Klappenbach was explaining. The title of the extra-
vaganza was to be "Well-Rounded Meals For Tomorrow's Well-Rounded
Citizens", or something like that. Everyone in our third grade class
knew it was going to be a dog.
The plot was explained to us. It seemed that there was this boy
who didn't know about eating a balanced diet and lived on nothing but
candy bars and ice cream. Consequently, he had a pudgy little out-
of-shape butterball body instead of a strong healthy one. Then one
night in a dream, representatives from the Four Basic Food Groups
(Grains, Meats, Milk Products, and Fruits/Vegetables) visited him and
explained The Story of Nutrition. He shaped up his diet, his body
got strong, and he lived happily ever after.
Mrs. Klappenbach had written it. It figured.
"Our class is going to be the Fruit/Vegetable group," she smiled.
"We'll start making our costumes today."
The next two weeks were a papier-mache orgy. Everyone had a pic-
ture of whatever fruit/vegetable they were going to be, and they
tried to duplicate it in papier-mache, only magnified about a hundred
times so that they could fit inside it.
Our basketball center, Andy Swenson, was going to be a cucumber.
"This is dumb," he muttered as he slapped another layer of paper onto
the frame. "This is really dumb."
The other classes were busy, too. Our rival third grade class was
going to be the Milk Products group, and they were working on several
milk bottles, some wedges of cheese, a carton of yogurt, and a cream
pitcher. The two second grade classes were the Grain and Meat
groups. They were turning out assorted papier-mache bread loaves,
muffins, pork chops, and chicken livers.
We were the first to get our costumes finished and when Mrs.
Klappenbach happily surveyed the "fruits" of our labors, our class-
room looked something like the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant.
"Really dumb," repeated Andy under his breath. He had produced a
fine looking cucumber, though.
When the pageant finally debuted, it turned out a lot better than
we had expected. One of the muffins in the second grade was respon-
sible. It happened just after the Meat group joined the rest of us
onstage, right in the middle of the speech the T-bone steak was sup-
posed to make about protein. All of a sudden, the T-bone jumped
straight up in the air and yelled something unprintable. Then one of
the radishes started screaming that something hit him in the leg.
Next it was the carton of yogurt. That muffin had a pea-shooter
sticking out one of his eye-holes and was shooting not only the peas,
but the banana and the pot roast and everyone else on the stage!
We tried to take cover but only ran into each other. A couple of
garbanzo beans jumped the attacking muffin and did battle with him as
best they could. A watermelon with no eye-holes ran around blindly
and bumped the leg of lamb into the audience. Andy, the cucumber,
ran off-stage and knocked down Mrs. Klappenbach, who had been stand-
ing in the wing. In short, it was beautiful.
Once we'd seen what they were like, we were eager to have another
pageant. Even Andy said it had been a lot of fun, and not dumb at
all. It was a big letdown when the next one was cancelled.
Put Christmas
safety at the
top of your list
The most joyous and beautiful
time of the year, Christmas, will
soon be upon us. But due to
carelessness, some people will
have their Christmas celebrations
become a time of tragedy and sor-
row because of fire and dangerous
gifts.
The following are some safety
precautions that you can take to
ensure that your family will have
a safer and more enjoyable holi-
day.
FOR FIRE PREVENTION:
• Use only nonflammable decor-
ations and never use candles for
lighting the Christmas tree.
• Warn smokers not to smoke
near the tree.
• Check all electric cords,
making certain that they are not
broken or frayed.
• If you have a fresh tree,
keep the base of the trunk in wa-
ter. It will stay greener and
more fire resistant longer.
• Place the tree away from
fireplaces, radiators, stoves a:
don't let it block an exit.
• As soon as possible, dispose
of the tree, being careful not to
burn it near the home.
• Nothing can compare to the
look on a child's face as he op-
ens his Christmas presents, but
parents must buy toys that are
safe to play with.
• Avoid toys with sharp metal
corners or edges.
• Paint on toys may contain
lead, which if chewed, can cause
lead poisoning.
• Detachable parts of toys,
such as wheels, bells and knobs
can catch in a child's throat.
• Avoid plastic that can shat-
ter. Many broken rattlers spill
tiny stones.
Be safety conscious during
Christmas shopping. Make sure
that the days and months after
the holidays will be safe ones
for the children. Make this a
happy, safe Christmas.
#
A REMINDER-------
All base personnel who made
reservations for holiday tele-
phone calls overseas are reminde<
that they must reconfirm thei
reservations the day before th
call is made.
8
December 17, 1971