A Separate Peace.pdf - Southwest High School

63of leaps in space. And now I remembered what I had never taken any special note of before:how Phineas used to walk. Around Devon we had gaits of every description; gangling shufflesfrom boys who had suddenly grown a foot taller, swinging cowboy lopes from those thinkingof how wide their shoulders had become, ambles, waddles, light trippings, gigantic Bunyanstrides. But Phineas had moved in continuous flowing balance, so that he had seemed to driftalong with no effort at all, relaxation on the move. He hobbled now among the patches of ice.There was the one certainty that Dr. Stanpole had given—Phineas would walk again. But thethought was there before me that he would never walk like that again."Do you have a class?" he said as we reached the steps of the building."Yes.""So do I. Let's not go.""Not go? But what'll we use for an excuse?""Well say I fainted from exertion on the way from chapel," he looked at me with aphantom's smile, "and you had to tend me.""This is your first day back, Finny. You're no one to cut classes.""I know, I know. I'm going to work. I really am going to work. You're going to pull methrough mostly, but I am going to work as hard as I can. Only not today, not the first thing. Notnow, not conjugating verbs when I haven't even looked at the school yet. I want to see thisplace, I haven't seen anything except the inside of our room, and the inside of chapel. I don'tfeel like seeing the inside of a classroom. Not now. Not yet.""What do you want to see?"He had started to turn around so that his back was to me. "Let's go to the gym," he saidshortly.The gym was at the other end of the school, a quarter of a mile away at least, separated fromus by a field of ice. We set off without saying anything else.By the time we had reached it sweat was running like oil from Finny's face, and when hepaused involuntary tremors shook his hands and arms. The leg in its cast was like a sea anchordragged behind. The illusion of strength I had seen in our room that morning must have beenthe same illusion he had used at home to deceive his doctor and his family into sending himback to Devon.We stood on the ice-coated lawn in front of the gym while he got ready to enter it, restinghimself so that he could go in with a show of energy. Later this became his habit; I often caughtup with him standing in front of a building pretending to be thinking or examining the sky ortaking off gloves, but it was never a convincing show. Phineas was a poor deceiver, having hadno practice.