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Curly Casey was the man with the bottomless pot of coffee at the Happy Gang Center celebration
of Robbie Burns night Feb. 9. After a Haggis-less dinner catered by the Ladies of the Royal Purple,
the group retired downstairs for some recreation. See Alie Toop, B14.

The way |
I see it...

by Stephante Wiebe

left turn. So I quickly turned
right, onto the highway
heading west. I'd pull off soon,
and turn around.

Up against the wall

waved as I headed once again = onion.
for the corner store. I only live
two blocks away, remember?

This time all entrances were month. Or the fact that I

It was probably due to that
chain letter that I broke last

haven’t written my mother late-
ly. Destiny had it in for me —
I wasn’t going to have an

open, and I quickly drove in
and purchased my onion.
When I got home, sliced into

Just then, the biggest truck
in the world came up behind
me, Close behind me. So I

1

‘Is all this snow finally getting
to-me, or am I losing my

‘mind? Don’t answer that. The
. following is a true story:

Yesterday, I needed an
onion. Just a regular run-of-
the-mill onion, nothing exotic.
But it was necessary for the
supper I planned to make, so I
thought [’d zip out to the cor-
ner store. Only two blocks
away, it wouldn’t take more
than a minute. .

_. The snowplow had been by,
closing my driveway in with a

- foot-high pile of ice, and I

paused before starting the car.
The muffler had been recently
beaten about by these piles of
ice... could it take another
slam? Maybe not. I grabbed
the shovel, and hurriedly
moved two tons of compact
ice, just enough to ease my

stationwagon through. It took

10 minutes and a lot of muscle.
Now. I could get my onion. |

: ‘drove two blocks, and steered

into the back entrance of the
parking lot. Whoa! I hit the
brake when I saw the huge

crevices and potholes in the ice.
My car’s muffler shivered at
the thought of bouncing
through those canyons, so I
backed up. Backing into the
side of the road, intending to
use another entrance, [ saw an.
RCMP cruiser heading my
way, just as I realized I was on
the wrong side of the road, fac-
ing traffic and in an awkward
position. I quickly turned
myself around, and either he
didn’t care or he didn’t notice
— maybe he knew what was in
store for me and took pity.

Slowing to turn into another
entrance, I saw a large grader
coming out, blocking both
lanes of the entrance. Cars
were lining up behind me,
waiting for me to get out of
their way. I decided to move
ahead onto the highway, and
make a left turn off from
there.

As I approached the intersec-
tion, I saw three semi-trucks,
one logging rig, and half of
Terrace’s population streaming

by. I'd never be able to make a |

punched the gas pedal and
stepped up my pace. Ahead, a
main road veered right. I took
it. Heading along, driving up

the hill, 1 realized now I was

taking the ‘‘long way’’ to the
corner store. In my rear view
mirror,-I could see traffic
behind me, enough to make a —

_ U-turn complicated. So I kept

going. Up the hill, past the
houses, behind the college I

- went. Finally, 1 found a main
street, one that.I knew would

take me‘back home. I turned

off, thinking how ridiculous all.

this. was for one onion. _
Across the bench, I stopped

-at an intersection to turn down

the hill. The road was empty. I
accelerated, and heard my tires
spin on the ice as the trans-
mission whined. Oh swell —
I'd used five dollars of gas and
was ruining the transmission
for one lousy 25-cent onion.
With the utmost patience, I left
the ice and headed down the
hil,
‘I-drove past my house and.

the onion and saw the dark onion that night.

edges of spoilage, I knew I was
cursed. The onion was rotten.
Dinner would be an onionless
meal, I would not subject my
nerves and my stationwagon

muffler to another trip for an kitchen wall.

Too bad the kids were at a
friend’s house. They would
have enjoyed the way the dark
onion oozed juice as it hit the

Inside Section B --
Skeena Theatre Arts is back, and

wierd... B4

_ So long, Rick... B6

strategy... B9

And special features for Heritage
Week... B14 and B15 -

The bottom line in our development