About this story
Fever in the infirmary blurs the ward with memories of home — Dante's warnings about colors and loyalty, your father's song — while Fleming and Athy back your account and Wells tries to talk his way past the rector. Brother Michael has already sent for your family when the chapter ends.
How it opens
The school field smelled of wet grass, leather, and smoke from distant chimneys.
FlemingDedalus, stand nearer the play or admit you came outside to freeze.
You watched the heavier boys drive one another across mud beneath a colorless sky.
WellsHe saves his strength for scholarship and other games no one can see.
AthyLeave him; his spectacles already make the weather twice as miserable.
Choose
Seeing the mud clearly does not make it worth entering.
I will play when Fleming passes instead of boasting.