A_Separate_Peace_-_Full_Text
18Up the field the others at badminton sensed a shift in the wind; their voices carried down to us,calling us. When we didn't come, they began gradually to come down to us."I think it's about time we started to get a little exercise around here, don't you?" he said,cocking his head at me. Then he slowly looked around at the others with the expression ofdazed determination he used when the object was to carry people along with his latest idea. Heblinked twice, and then said, "We can always start with this ball.""Let's make it have something to do with the war," suggested Bobby Zane. "Like ablitzkrieg or something.""Blitzkrieg," repeated Finny doubtfully."We could figure out some kind of blitzkrieg baseball," I said."We'll call it blitzkrieg ball," said Bobby."Or just blitzball," reflected Finny. "Yes, blitzball." Then, with an expectant glance around,"Well, let's get started," he threw the big, heavy ball at me. I grasped it against my chest withboth arms. "Well, run!" ordered Finny. "No, not that way! Toward the river! Run!" I headedtoward the river surrounded by the others in a hesitant herd; they sensed that in all probabilitythey were my adversaries in blitzball. "Don't hog it!" Finny yelled. "Throw it to somebody else.Otherwise, naturally," he talked steadily as he ran along beside me, "now that we've got yousurrounded, one of us will knock you down.""Do what!" I veered away from him, hanging on to the clumsy ball. "What kind of a game isthat?""Blitzball!" Chet Douglass shouted, throwing himself around my legs, knocking me down."That naturally was completely illegal," said Finny. "You don't use your arms when youknock the ball carrier down.""You don't?" mumbled Chet from on top of me."No. You keep your arms crossed like this on your chest, and you just butt the ball carrier.No elbowing allowed either. All right, Gene, start again."I began quickly, "Wouldn't somebody else have possession of the ball after—""Not when you've been knocked down illegally. The ball carrier retains possession in a caselike that. So it's perfectly okay, you still have the ball. Go ahead."There was nothing to do but start running again, with the others trampling with stronger willaround me. "Throw it!" ordered Phineas. Bobby Zane was more or less in the clear and so Ithrew it at him; it was so heavy that he had to scoop my throw up from the ground. "Perfectlyokay," commented Finny, running forward at top speed, "perfectly okay for the ball to touchthe ground when it is being passed." Bobby doubled back closer to me for protection. "Knockhim down," Finny yelled at me.
19"Knock him down! Are you crazy? He's on my team!""There aren't any teams in blitzball," he yelled somewhat irritably, "we're all enemies.Knock him down!"I knocked him down. "All right," said Finny as he disentangled us. "Now you havepossession again." He handed the leaden ball to me."I would have thought that possession passed—""Naturally you gained possession of the ball when you knocked him down. Run."So I began running again. Leper Lepellier was loping along outside my perimeter, notnoticing the game, taggling along without reason, like a porpoise escorting a passing ship."Leper!" I threw the ball past a few heads at him.Taken by surprise, Leper looked up in anguish, shrank away from the ball, and voiced hisfirst thought, a typical one. "I don't want it!""Stop, stop!" cried Finny in a referee's tone. Everybody halted, and Finny retrieved the ball;he talked better holding it. "Now Leper has just brought out a really important fine point of thegame. The receiver can refuse a pass if he happens to choose to. Since we're all enemies, wecan and will turn on each other all the time. We call that the Lepellier Refusal." We all noddedwithout speaking. "Here, Gene, the ball is of course still yours.""Still mine? Nobody else has had the ball but me, for God sakes!""They'll get their chance. Now if you are refused three times in the course of running fromthe tower to the river, you go all the way back to the tower and start over. Naturally."Blitzball was the surprise of the summer. Everybody played it; I believe a form of it is stillpopular at Devon. But nobody can be playing it as it was played by Phineas. He hadunconsciously invented a game which brought his own athletic gifts to their highest pitch. Theodds were tremendously against the ball carrier, so that Phineas was driven to exceed himselfpractically every day when he carried the ball. To escape the wolf pack which all the otherplayers became he created reverses and deceptions and acts of sheer mass hypnotism whichwere so extraordinary that they surprised even him; after some of these plays I would noticehim chuckling quietly to himself, in a kind of happy disbelief. In such a nonstop game he alsohad the natural advantage of a flow of energy which I never saw interrupted. I never saw himtired, never really winded, never overcharged and never restless. At dawn, all day long, and atmidnight, Phineas always had a steady and formidable flow of usable energy.Right from the start, it was clear that no one had ever been better adapted to a sport thanFinny was to blitzball. I saw that right away. Why not? He had made it up, hadn't he? It needn'tbe surprising that he was sensationally good at it, and that the rest of us were more or lessbumblers in our different ways. I suppose it served us right for letting him do all the planning. Ididn't really think about it myself. What difference did it make? It was just a game. It was good
- Page 1 and 2: 1John KnowlesA Separate Peace
- Page 3 and 4: 3Like all old, good schools, Devon
- Page 5 and 6: 5"What I like best about this tree,
- Page 7 and 8: 7naturally stronger because it was
- Page 9 and 10: 92Our absence from dinner had been
- Page 11 and 12: 11"Does it?" He used this preoccupi
- Page 13 and 14: 13had often labeled, now achieved a
- Page 15 and 16: 15had brushed on the limb shook me
- Page 17: 17But the one which had the most ur
- Page 21 and 22: 21wonder at what he was able to do.
- Page 23 and 24: 23"Swimming in pools is screwy anyw
- Page 25 and 26: 254The next morning I saw dawn for
- Page 27 and 28: 27"You wouldn't—" I wasn't sure I
- Page 29 and 30: 29leaves. Little disregarded patche
- Page 31 and 32: 31me for a second. Now I knew that
- Page 33 and 34: 33called to me on the chapel steps
- Page 35 and 36: 35from just feelings. And this feel
- Page 37 and 38: 37that I had done it, but it was he
- Page 39 and 40: 396Peace had deserted Devon. Althou
- Page 41 and 42: 41water, roaring with rage.I stoppe
- Page 43 and 44: 43trembling, goaded egotism he coul
- Page 45 and 46: 45will never be swayed by all the f
- Page 47 and 48: 477Brinker Hadley came across to se
- Page 49 and 50: 49It was a mistake; the radio had s
- Page 51 and 52: 51Not long afterward, early even fo
- Page 53 and 54: 53winter. Have you ever seen it?""N
- Page 55 and 56: 55poles and thrust skis, rhythmical
- Page 57 and 58: 57I grabbed the knob and swung open
- Page 59 and 60: 59"Is there?" he murmured absently.
- Page 61 and 62: 61"I'll help," said Brinker."No," s
- Page 63 and 64: 63of leaps in space. And now I reme
- Page 65 and 66: 65rushing to his face and neck I st
- Page 67 and 68: 67"Leave your fantasy life out of t
18
Up the field the others at badminton sensed a shift in the wind; their voices carried down to us,
calling us. When we didn't come, they began gradually to come down to us.
"I think it's about time we started to get a little exercise around here, don't you?" he said,
cocking his head at me. Then he slowly looked around at the others with the expression of
dazed determination he used when the object was to carry people along with his latest idea. He
blinked twice, and then said, "We can always start with this ball."
"Let's make it have something to do with the war," suggested Bobby Zane. "Like a
blitzkrieg or something."
"Blitzkrieg," repeated Finny doubtfully.
"We could figure out some kind of blitzkrieg baseball," I said.
"We'll call it blitzkrieg ball," said Bobby.
"Or just blitzball," reflected Finny. "Yes, blitzball." Then, with an expectant glance around,
"Well, let's get started," he threw the big, heavy ball at me. I grasped it against my chest with
both arms. "Well, run!" ordered Finny. "No, not that way! Toward the river! Run!" I headed
toward the river surrounded by the others in a hesitant herd; they sensed that in all probability
they were my adversaries in blitzball. "Don't hog it!" Finny yelled. "Throw it to somebody else.
Otherwise, naturally," he talked steadily as he ran along beside me, "now that we've got you
surrounded, one of us will knock you down."
"Do what!" I veered away from him, hanging on to the clumsy ball. "What kind of a game is
that?"
"Blitzball!" Chet Douglass shouted, throwing himself around my legs, knocking me down.
"That naturally was completely illegal," said Finny. "You don't use your arms when you
knock the ball carrier down."
"You don't?" mumbled Chet from on top of me.
"No. You keep your arms crossed like this on your chest, and you just butt the ball carrier.
No elbowing allowed either. All right, Gene, start again."
I began quickly, "Wouldn't somebody else have possession of the ball after—"
"Not when you've been knocked down illegally. The ball carrier retains possession in a case
like that. So it's perfectly okay, you still have the ball. Go ahead."
There was nothing to do but start running again, with the others trampling with stronger will
around me. "Throw it!" ordered Phineas. Bobby Zane was more or less in the clear and so I
threw it at him; it was so heavy that he had to scoop my throw up from the ground. "Perfectly
okay," commented Finny, running forward at top speed, "perfectly okay for the ball to touch
the ground when it is being passed." Bobby doubled back closer to me for protection. "Knock
him down," Finny yelled at me.
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