A. Sicuim’! MacDonald D.F.C., M.D. C..M. 
     
    
   
   
    
     practice, not done by the rest of the class, who marched 
     
     around Jarvis in the snow, while I stored up knowledge in 
     
     a heated office. 
     
    

    
     I am just reminded that when Christmas break 
     
     came in Jarvis, the Educational Office was closed, and I 
     
     was called on to share tarmac duty with the rest of my 
     
     class, who were getting Christmas break of 48 hours, while 
     
     I had to work for my New Year’s break. 
     
    

    
     My task was to go out to Lake Ontario, some miles 
     
     away from Toronto, to guard the water pumps that supply 
     
     the station. There was an electric pump, and a motor pump 
     
     which was to be turned on if the electricity went off. The 
     
     pumps were in a cement blockhouse about 15 feet square 
     
     with no windows - the door was locked, with a loaded 
     
     rifle leaning up against it, to use if necessary - top security 
     
     prevention. I landed out there Christmas Eve and was to 
     
     be relieved before noon on Christmas day, so that I would 
     
     be in time for Christmas dinner. I was given a steak to cook 
     
     for supper. I can still taste that steak after 56 years - it was 
     
     the first time I had ever tried to cook. One does not learn to 
     
     cook when one has seven sisters. 
     
    

    
     There was a bunk bed where I rested and read a 
     
     book called The Barking Dog. When at night I was at that 
     
     place in the book where the dog was barking over the 
     
     grave of the man’s wife in the garage, and the police were 
     
     digging up the floor to find something soft. Just as they 
     
     were reaching down to explore, the lights went out, the 
     
     electric pump stopped, and the area became the black hole 
     
     of Calcutta. I knew there was a flashlight which I fumbled 
     
     to get, and get the gas motor going. It is a wonder I did not 
     
     pass out with the smoke of the motor, which was so bad 
     
     one could hardly breathe. As I look back, I should have 
     
     opened the door and held the rifle in my hand to get ready 
     
     for that German spy waiting outside, having cut 
     
    
   
   
    
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