5. GALLOPING FOXLEY
First Published: 1953
William Perkins is a man who has been commuting to London for decades. He loves his routine and how everything remains the same in his daily commute to London. One day a new passenger appears, and he is not happy when he sits in his compartment. Perkins dislikes the man and the fact that even though he must be around his age, sixty or sixty-one, he is very attractive.
Then one day when they are waiting for the train, the man who carries a cane starts balancing it, and William discovers that he knows the man. He is Bruce 'Galloping' Foxley, who was his precept at school and made his life a misery as a revenge for the upbraiding he got from William's father when he almost made him fall. From his memories we get to know how Foxley beat up Perkins, made him clean his things and humiliated him. Perkins stares at the man opposite him on the train, and he decides to tell him who he is. Perkins introduces himself and tells him that he was in Repton School in 1907, and the man introduces himself as Jocelyn Fortescue and he was in Eton in 1916. So it means that after all, he is not the man Perkins thought he was. Or it could be that Foxley recognised Perkins and he lied about who he was.
Whatever the meaning at the end is, it is interesting and sad to see how a young boy was bullied cruelly by one of his peers, and no adult noticed or did anything.
No comments:
Post a Comment