- “What he saw of the fair-haired boy did not seem to satisfy him.”
- “The freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification. He started up, then changed his mind and sat down again while the air rang. Ralph looked at him eager to offer something.”
- “Jack and Ralph smiled at each other with shy liking.”
- “Jack laid his on the trunk by Ralph. His grey shorts were sticking to him with sweat. Ralph glanced at them admiringly.”
- “Jack seized the conch. / ‘Ralph’s right of course’”
- “At return Ralph found himself alone on a limb with Jack and they grinned at each other, sharing this burden. [...] ‘Almost too heavy.’ / Jack grinned back. / ‘Not for the two of us.’”
- “Ralph and Jack looked at each other while society paused about them. The shameful knowledge grew in them and they did not know how to begin confession.”
- “‘I thought I might kill.’ / ‘But you didn’t.’ / ‘I thought I might’ / Some hidden passion vibrated in Ralph’s voice. / ‘But you haven’t yet.’ / His invitation might have passed as casual, were it not for the undertone.”
- “Ralph picked out Jack easily, even at that distance, tall, red haired, and inevitably leading the procession.”
- “Jack had too many things to tell Ralph at once.”
- “He noticed Ralph’s scarred nakedness,”
- “Not even Ralph knew how a link between him and Jack had been snapped and fastened elsewhere.”
- “That’s right—favor Piggy as you always do—”
- “‘But he’s, he’s, Jack Merridew!’ ‘I been in bed so much I done some thinking. I know about people. I know about me. And him. He can’t hurt you:’”
- “Piggy’s right Ralph, There’s you and Jack.”
- “Jack went red,”
- “Jack cleared his throat and spoke in a queer, tight voice,”
- “Now it was Ralph’s turn to flush but he spoke despairingly, out of the new understanding that Piggy had given him. ‘Why do you hate me?’ The boys stirred uneasily, as though something indecent had been said. The silence lengthened. Ralph, still hot and hurt, turned away first,”
- “He looked at Ralph, his thin body tensed,”
- “‘Coming?’ At that word the other boys forgot their urge to be gone and turned back to sample this fresh rub of two spirits in the dark. The word was too good, too bitter, too successfully daunting to be repeated,”
- “Jack’s mouth was at his ear,”
- “They were chest to chest, breathing fiercely, pushing and glaring.”
- “Then there was that indefinable connection between himself and Jack; who therefore would never let him alone; never.”
jul 26 2026 ∞
jul 26 2026 +