A Separate Peace.pdf - Southwest High School

97"I told Brinker this morning," I began in a voice treacherously shaking, "that I thought thiswas the worst—""And I said," Brinker's voice was full of authority and perfectly under control, "that forFinny's good," and with an additional timbre of sincerity, "and for your own good too, by theway, Gene, that we should get all this out into the open. We don't want any mysteries or anystray rumors and suspicions left, in the air at the end of the year, do we?"A collective assent to this rumbled through the blurring atmosphere of the Assembly Room."What are you talking about!" Finny's voice was full of contemptuous music. "What rumorsand suspicions?""Never mind about that," said Brinker with his face responsibly grave. He's enjoying this, Ithought bitterly, he's imagining himself Justice incarnate, balancing the scales. He's forgottenthat Justice incarnate is not only balancing the scales but also blindfolded. "Why don't you justtell us in your words what happened?" Brinker continued. "Just humor us, if you want to thinkof it that way. We aren't trying to make you feel bad. Just tell us. You know we wouldn't askyou if we didn't have a good reason . . . good reasons.""There's nothing to tell.""Nothing to tell?" Brinker looked pointedly at the small cast around Finny's lower leg andthe cane he held between his knees."Well then, I fell out of a tree.""Why?" said someone on the platform. The acoustics were so bad and the light so dim that Icould rarely tell who was speaking, except for Finny and Brinker who were isolated on thewide strip of marble floor between us in the seats and the others on the platform."Why?" repeated Phineas. "Because I took a wrong step.""Did you lose your balance?" continued the voice."Yes," echoed Finny grimly, "I lost my balance.""You had better balance than anyone in the school.""Thanks a lot.""I didn't say it for a compliment.""Well then, no thanks.""Have you ever thought that you didn't just fall out of that tree?"This touched an interesting point Phineas had been turning over in his mind for a long time.I could tell that because the obstinate, competitive look left his face as his mind becameengaged for the first time. "It's very funny," he said, "but ever since then I've had a feeling that