Table of Contents cover photograph by Jacob Deighton, 12 Buddy by Daniel Walsh 2 Alaskan Hunt by Daniel Walsh 8 The Things That We Love by Collin King 11 Trip to Belize by Collin King 13 The Kid Secret by Nate Martens 17 Like Father, Like Son by Nate Martens 20 Jordan’s First Day by Jack Knott 23 Tryouts by Jack Knott 27 A Broken Lapse of Reason by Daniel Sparks 31 Growth by Daniel Sparks 36 Conspiracy by Joey Migliazzo 40 The Hunting Experience by Joey Migliazzo 42 The Great Lie, or Get the Hell Out by Alex Spalding 46 Fantasy, or Don’t You Dare Leave by Alex Spalding 52 The Eventful Weekend by Tommy Barry 57 Prom Night by Tommy Barry 61 AMDG by Matthew James 65 I Hate Camping by Matthew James 72 Senior Ditch Day by Jacob Britton 75 Online Dating by Jacob Britton 77 Father by Jacob Britton 80 Hardships by Seth Harris 86 Homecoming Disaster by Seth Harris 95 Grown Up by Brendan Koch 99 School of Baffoons by Brendan Koch 106 The Scrivener Winter 2019 The De Smet Jesuit High School Literary Magazine Moderator Robert Hutchison Staff Anthony Arthur Matthew James Nathan Martens Daniel Sparks Thomas Barry Collin King Joey Migliazzo Daniel Walsh Jacob Britton Jack Knott Joseph Moffatt Seth Harris Brendn Koch Alex Spalding Special Thanks to Kevin Berns, Laurie Kohler , and Emily Ledbetter 1 Buddy by Daniel Walsh, 12 There was a beautiful sunset in a small town in southern Missouri. A cool breeze brushed through the trees as the quiet night began to set in. John was just getting back to his cabin after a hard day of work in the field. He made himself a hot cup of oats and sat down by the fire. Re- flecting on his day, he began to notice something was off. John walked outside in his backyard and yelled “Buddy I’m home!” Buddy was a matured black lab that John took care of when he found him wandering through the woods as a pup. Every evening after John would return to the cabin from work, Buddy would be waiting at the back door for him. However, this evening something different was waiting for John. John took a step outside and found Buddy’s blue collar lying on the photo by Dan Walsh, 12 2 ground at his feet. John began to breath heavily and shake as he walked back inside. He knew that this night was going to be a long one. John quickly ran into his bedroom, grabbed a backpack, and began packing. He rushed as he packed a flashlight, dog treats, water, and a leash. Just before he made it out the door, John turned around and grabbed his rifle, making sure ammo was handy. As he made it out the back door, the shadows of the trees began to disappear, and total darkness set in. John reached for his flashlight and flipped the switch as he began to enter the line of trees in his backyard. There was complete silence. All that was heard was the crunching as the leaves rustled with every step John took. John called out “Buddy are you out there!” John was spooked as someone yelled back “Who’s there?” John turned off his flashlight and crouched down to load his rifle as he began to shake. Unfortunately, John dropped his bullets in the leaves as he nervously tried to load the rifle. He heard footsteps approaching him as he stood as silent as he could. John’s stomach sank as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He quickly turned on the flashlight as both men yelled with fear. John said “What in the world are you doing out here?” John had run into his neighbor’s son, Dave. Dave said “I upset the old folks so they kicked me out for the night. I was out here looking for my phone after my dad threw it, but then I heard something and got scared, and that was when I ran into you. Why are you out here this late?” John looked down and said “Buddy is missing.” Dave said “I have nothing better to do so let me help you find him man.” So the two men began walking through the woods filled with darkness in search of Buddy. After about an hour or so of searching for his lost dog, John decided to return home and invited Dave to stay for the night. When they got back, Dave made some drinks for the two of them and they sat down by the fireplace. John sighed and said “what a night.” Dave looked up at him and said “thanks for letting me stay, I will help you find Buddy tomorrow morning, we better get up extra early in case he went too far.” John said “I appreciate your help, but why did your parents even kick 3 you out?” They have always been so patient and nice.” Dave sat back in his chair and said “It’s a long story, but here’s the short end of it… I had just gotten home from my new job at the super- market in town, and my dad came home from work early. He called me in the kitchen to where he was sitting reading the weekly newspaper. In one of the stories, I was mentioned and not for something good. He found out I had been skipping my classes in order to go partying, and I had been arrested for drunk driving last week. All my father wanted for me was to graduate from college and I had not been following the path he wanted for me.” John said “Sometimes we make mistakes in life, and we must live with them, but they are no good unless we can learn from those mistakes.” Dave said “thanks for understa…” John’s cell phone began to ring. It was a call from an unnamed num- ber. Dave looked at the number and said “That’s my number!” So Dave decided to answer the call. On the other end of the line was a low voice that sounded muffled. As Dave began to say hello, the call suddenly ended. Dave and John looked at each other in silence. The two men were confused and filled with fear. They both agreed to get a good night of rest and solve their problems the next morning. Early the next morning, John woke Dave up to start their search. They made breakfast, sitting in silence, and starred at one another in fear. Dave pack his bag with some dog treats and water for their journey. Dave said “I am not comfortable about that phone call we heard last night.” John said “It was probably nothing someone must have found your phone and was trying to return it to the owner.” The two men set out to head to town. Dave went to the printer shop to create flyers to help people recognize John’s dog. John went to the police station to ask them about any information that could relate to the disappearance of his dog. John also mentioned the phone call to Officer Daniels and he said he would look into it. After a long day of searching, the men decided to go out to dinner for a day of hard work. John was getting hopeless as he thought Buddy was gone for good. The waiter took their order and headed back to the kitchen to get their drinks. Dave noticed a guy in a big overcoat slip past their table and leave a note on the end. Dave picked it up and began to read it. The note said, “We have your dog and if you want to know why, meet us on the corner by the library down town tomorrow night, and come alone.” 4 Dave began to panic as the waiter brought them their orders, and ac- cidentally bumped into him as he quickly ran out of the restaurant. The waiter had a look of disgust on his face when John left some money on the table and quickly followed after Dave. John said “What do you think it could be? Do you remember those guys that used to pick on you back in high school, and I bashed their windshield in earlier this summer? Could it be them?” Dave said “No I don’t think they would ever do something this crazy and why would they mess with you, they thought I was the one who did it.” So the day passed and Dave returned home to talk with his parents about his bad choices. He convinced them he would turn his ways around and start trying to turn his grades around in college. John headed home to prepare a plan for the next night as he had no clue who dropped off that note. As John was sitting at his computer going through his con- tacts, he received a phone call from Dave’s phone. He didn’t answer it this time and a voice mail was left. John opened the voice mail and it said “John don’t forget tomorrow night be there or we will come to you. We are counting on you, don’t let us down.” This sacred John, but he knew he had to go in order to save Buddy. He still was very confused why this was happening to him. John turned off all his lights to try and get some sleep, but he did not sleep very well that night as he could not get this meeting out of his mind.