Flight
Critique • Quotes
Story collection first edition, 1938First publication
1938 in The Long Valley collection
Literature form
Story
Genre
Literary
Writing language
English
Author's country
United States
Length
Approx. 7,500 words
Notable lines
About fifteen miles below Monterey, on the wild coast, the Torres family had their farm, a few sloping acres above a cliff that dropped to the brown reefs and to the hissing white waters of the ocean.
First line
"A boy gets to be a man when a man is needed. Remember this thing. I have known boys forty years old because there was no need for a man."
He was changed. The fragile quality seemed to have gone from his chin. His mouth was less full than it had been, the lines of the lips were straighter, but in his eyes the greatest change had taken place. There was no laughter in them any more, nor any bashfulness. They were sharp and bright and purposeful.
His face was blank, but it was a man's face.
Pepé bowed his head quickly. He tried to speak rapid words but only a thick hiss came from his lips. He drew a shaky cross on his breast with his left hand. It was a long struggle to get to his feet. He crawled slowly and mechanically to the top of a big rock on the ridge peak.
His body struck and rolled over and over, starting a little avalanche. And when at last he stopped against a bush, the avalanche slid slowly down and covered up his head.
Last lines
Critique • Quotes
