The Green caldron - University Library

8 The Green Caldron
amounts of money in order to maintain our alliances, is false. Our allies are
more vitally interested in their own welfare than we give them credit for. We
should not and we do not have to give them aid in order to have their support.
Foreign aid should be greatly reduced, and there should be no more of the
attitude of "how much money for your friendship," that now seems to prevail
in Washington. If our government continues its present policy of something for
everyone but the American taxpayer, there may come a day when there will not
be enough of our "staunchest ally" for our own protection.
ABOUT
Breathless
Leo Kruenegel
Rhetoric lOO, Theme 8
FOUR YEARS AGO, I MET AND WORKED WITH A
very quick-tempered man who was well-built, muscular, and handsome
but also conceited. As we know, handsomeness and conceit seldom
afford a good friendship. This man, whom I shall call Bob, was a moody man
like myself, and I felt it was inevitable that our moods would sometime clash.
Finally it happened.
One day, while working together, we angrily found fault with each other's
slightest mistakes. In my anger I said words that I normally wouldn't even
have thought. At this point the waters of his brain came to a full boil. He
swung his fist toward me. Fortunately, my timing was right, and I ducked the
blow. This made him become disgusted with himself ; he felt that he must hit
me to keep his pride. Like lightning he picked me up and dropped me to the
floor. My head hit the concrete floor with a loud thud. My ears were screaming
with the impact. I closed my eyes with a superstitious hope that that which
I could not see could not harm me. Suddenly I felt his knee pound into my
chest. My head ached with the fall, and my heart pounded in my ears. The
weight he put upon his knee seemed inhuman, and I could not get my breath. I
was helpless, and I was frantic with fear and shock. I opened my eyes and
the ceiling seemed to spin above me, then slowly the spinning images faded
away. Gradually, there came complete darkness. I felt no pain. A horrid thought
flashed through my mind. Could I be dead ? No, I could hear my heart feebly
but distinctly pounding in my ear. I was confused by the darkness, the numb-
ness of my body, and the nearly complete silence. I rested.
I slowly awakened to realize that my head was bandaged, and my chest
was tightly bound. I was lying on a cot. I tried to move to a more comfortable
position, but I found myself too weak. I looked at a clock and found that nearly
three hours had passed since the fight. Bob, standing nearby, took a sigh of
relief and solemnly apologized.
It felt good to breathe.