Collected Short Fiction by V. S. Naipaul Read Free Book Online Page A

shortly after, I would see George laughing with Elias, and George used to say to me, ‘I know what you thinking. You wondering how me and he get so friendly so quick.’
    The more I disliked George, the more I liked Elias.
    I was prepared to believe that he would become a doctor some day.
    Errol said, ‘I bet you when he come doctor and thing he go forget the rest of we. Eh, Elias?’
    A small smile appeared on Elias’s lips.
    ‘Nah,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t be like that. I go give a lot of money and thing to you and Boyee and the rest of you fellows.’ And Elias waved his small hands, and we thought we could see the Cadillac and the black bag and the tube-thing that Elias was going to have when he became a doctor.
    Elias began going to the school at the other end of Miguel Street. It didn’t really look like a school at all. It looked just like any house to me, but there was a sign outside that said:
    TITUS HOYT, I . A . (London, External)
Passes in the Cambridge

School Certificate Guaranteed
    The odd thing was that although George beat Elias at the slightest opportunity, he was very proud that his son was getting an education. ‘The boy learning a hell of a lot, you know. He reading Spanish, French and Latin, and he writing Spanish, French and Latin.’
    The year before his mother died, Elias sat for the Cambridge Senior School Certificate.
    Titus Hoyt came down to our end of the street.
    ‘That boy going pass with honours,’ Titus Hoyt said. ‘With honours.’
    We saw Elias dressed in neat khaki trousers and white shirt, going to the examination room, and we looked at him with awe.
    Errol said, ‘Everything Elias write not remaining here, you know. Every word that boy write going to England.’
    It didn’t sound true.
    ‘What you think it is at all?’ Errol said. ‘Elias have brains, you know.’
    Elias’s mother died in January, and the results came out in March.
    Elias hadn’t passed.
    Hat looked through the list in the
Guardian
over and over again, looking for Elias’s name, saying, ‘You never know. People always making mistake, especially when it have so much names.’
    Elias’s name wasn’t in the paper.
    Boyee said, ‘What else you expect? Who correct the papers? Englishman, not so? You expect them to give Elias a pass?’
    Elias was with us, looking sad and not saying a word.
    Hat said, ‘Is a damn shame. If they know what hell the boy have to put up with, they woulda pass him quick quick.’
    Titus Hoyt said, ‘Don’t worry. Rome wasn’t built in a day. This year! This year, things going be much much better. We go show those Englishmen and them.’
    Elias left us and he began living with Titus Hoyt. We saw next to nothing of him. He was working night and day.
    One day in the following March, Titus Hoyt rode up to us and said, ‘You hear what happen?’
    ‘What happen?’ Hat asked.
    ‘The boy is a genius,’ Titus Hoyt said.
    ‘Which boy?’ Errol asked.
    ‘Elias.’
    ‘What Elias do?’
    ‘The boy gone and pass the Cambridge Senior School Certificate.’
    Hat whistled. ‘The Cambridge Senior School Certificate?’
    Titus Hoyt smiled. ‘That self. He get a third grade. His name going to be in the papers tomorrow. I always say it, and I saying it again now, this boy Elias have too much brains.’
    Hat said later, ‘Is too bad that Elias father dead. He was a good-for-nothing, but he wanted to see his son a educated man.’
    Elias came that evening, and everybody, boys and men, gathered around him. They talked about everything but books, and Elias, too, was talking about things like pictures and girls and cricket. He was looking very solemn, too.
    There was a pause once, and Hat said, ‘What you going to do now, Elias? Look for work?’
    Elias spat. ‘Nah, I think I will write the exam again.’
    I said, ‘But why?’
    ‘I want a second grade.’
    We understood. He wanted to be a doctor.
    Elias sat down on the pavement and said, ‘Yes, boy. I think I going to take that