Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve

As time went on, Philip's disability ceased to interest the children, and came to be recognized at last, like a child's red hair, or a child's obesity.During this time, however, Philip became extremely sensitive.As long as he can avoid running, he tries to avoid running, because he knows that if he runs, the disease will get worse, even if he usually walks, he will still twist.He behaves like mud, and walks strangely.In front of people he stood as still as possible, hiding his lame behind the other foot so as not to attract attention.He is constantly on the lookout for other people's involvement in his lameness.He could not join in the games the other children played, so their lives were always unfamiliar to him.They have no part in their various activities, he can only stand aside and watch by himself.He felt that there seemed to be an invisible barrier between himself and other children.Sometimes, the children seemed to think that it was his own fault that Philip could not play football, and Philip himself could not get the children's understanding.He is often alone, inseparable from each other.He has always been talkative, but now he has gradually become taciturn.He began to wonder what was the difference between himself and the other children.

Singer, the oldest kid in the dormitory, doesn't like Philip.Philip was a small man for his age, and he had to suffer a lot of abuse.After about half term, there was a craze for playing "nib" in the school.It is a two-player game played on a table or bench with the point of a pen.Players have to use their nails to push one of their nibs and try to make it climb up against the opponent's nib;Whoever succeeds takes a breath on his thumb ball, and then presses the two nibs hard. If he can stick them and lift them up at the same time, then the two nibs belong to the winner.Before long, the school was full of pupils playing the game, and the clever ones won plenty of nibs.After a while, Mr. Watson decided that this was a kind of gambling, outlawed the game, and confiscated all the nibs in the hands of the students.Philip played the game so well that he had to part with it, and hand over all the spoils.However, his fingers were itchy, and he always wanted to live through the pain again.A few days later, on his way to the football field, he stopped into a shop and bought some T-shaped pen nibs for a penny.He scattered these nibs in his pocket and enjoyed touching them.Singer soon discovered that Philip had these nibs on hand.Singer's pen nib was also handed over, but he secretly left behind a very large nib called "Elephant", which is almost an ever-victorious general.At this moment, he did not want to miss the opportunity to win Philip's T-shaped nib.Although Philip knew that it would be like hitting a pebble against a stone with his little pen against him, he was adventurous by nature, so he was willing to fight with his back.Besides, he also knew that if he refused to play, Singer would never let it go.He had been out for a week, and now he sat down to fight again with a surge of excitement.Philip lost two little nibs at once, and Singer beamed with delight.But in the third confrontation, Singer's "elephant" slipped suddenly for no reason, and Philip took the opportunity to push his T-shaped nib onto the back of the "elephant".He cheered with victory.Just then, Mr. Watson stepped in.

"What are you doing?" he asked. He looked from Singer to Philip, but neither of them said anything. "Don't you know that I forbid you to play this stupid game?" Philip's heart was pounding.He knew what the outcome would be, and he was scared out of his wits, but the fear was tinged with joy.Philip had never been whipped by a teacher.The pain of flesh and blood is hard to bear, but after the incident, it might as well use it to brag in front of other children. "Come to my study." The headmaster turned, and the two children followed side by side, and Singer whispered to Philip:

"We're out of luck this time." Mr. Watson pointed to Singer and said: "Bend down!" Philip turned pale, and saw that Singer twitched every time he received the lash, and Singer wailed after the third lash.Followed by three whips. "Enough, stand up." Singer straightened up, tears streaming down his face.Philip took a step forward, and Mr. Watson looked him over: "I don't want to whip you. You're new here, and I can't beat a crippled boy. Come on, both of you, and stop messing around." When they walked back to the classroom, a group of children were waiting there, and they had already found out through some mysterious channel what had happened.The children asked Singer impatiently this and that.Singer faced them, liver-coloured with pain, with tear-stained cheeks.Singer turned his head towards Philip who was standing not far behind, and said angrily:

"Give it to him, he's slicked because he's a cripple." Philip stood blushing and silent.He felt the children cast contemptuous glances at him. "How many hits?" one of the children asked Singer. Singer ignored it.He was full of anger because of the pain of flesh and blood. "Don't come and fight with me again," he roared at Philip, "you've got the advantage of not taking any risks." "I didn't come to see you." "you have not?" As Singer spoke, he kicked up and tripped Philip to the ground.Philip is usually not very stable, and this fall was really hard.

"Cripple!" Singer swore. In the second half of the semester, Singer tortured Philip as ordered.Although Philip tried his best to avoid it, the school was too small, and the road to the enemy was always narrow.He tried to get on with Singer on his own initiative, even flattered him, bought him a knife, which he accepted, but refused to shake hands.Once or twice Philip, unable to bear it any longer, kicked and kicked the older boy, but Singer was much stronger, and Philip, who was no match for him, ended up being beaten. And have to beg for forgiveness.This made him particularly sad that he couldn't bear the humiliation of begging for mercy, but whenever the pain exceeded the limit that his body could bear, he had to admit his mistake and apologize.To make matters worse, this miserable life does not know how long it will last.Singer was only eleven years old, and would not be promoted to the Secondary School until he was thirteen.Philip knew that he had two more years to go to school with this friend who had humiliated him, and he would never be able to avoid him.Philip was only a little happier when he was absorbed in his lessons, or when he went to bed.An inexplicable feeling haunted him constantly: that the life before him, with all its miseries, was but a dream, and that he might wake up in the morning and find himself in the little bed at home in London.