Bricks In Their Place, by ERNEST HEMINGWAY      

It was very early and Jack took out the box because it was early and that was what Jack did. He took out the box and opened it and saw that it was full of bricks. The last time he had put away the box it had been full of bricks and now in the early day it was full of bricks just as it was before.

Jack reached into the box and removed a brick. The brick was blue with six interlocking studs placed evenly around the surface so the brick could connect tightly with the other bricks as Jack's father had done with his squadron in the war. Jack inspected the block and saw that it was true for it had none of the imperfections exhibited by many of the other bricks in the box, imperfections Jack had caused by biting or bending the bricks which he did because he was a child. Jack took the brick and reached into the box again and took out a second brick and inspected it and saw that it was true. Jack looked at the bricks and saw that there were true and good and he joined the bricks together and they joined together well and tightly.

Jack took out a third brick and inspected it and saw that the hollow base of the brick where it would interlock with the other bricks as Jack's father had done with his squadron in the war was full of red sand, dust which had blown in from the dry earth outside, blown in through the open french windows which Jack's mother had left open during the hot night so were open now even though it was very early. Jack held the brick to his mouth and blew out very hard, very hard as Jack's father had blown as he ran flat out through the dry sand to reach the man, the young man, as he lay and bled red into the red sand and the dry earth. Jack blew out the sand and interlocked the brick tightly with the other two bricks.

Jack carried on with a fourth, then fifth, then sixth brick, and they were all true and good and free of the imperfections of the other bricks Jack had bitten and mangled which lay at the bottom of the box. Jack inspected the column of bricks he had made and found that while it was straight and true it was too long, too long for the gun he had in his mind to make, the gun he had seen on his father's old belt which hung on the wooden hook in the dark hallway of their old house. So he took the top brick and tried to pry it free from the column he had made of the other bricks.

But the top brick of the column would not break free in the early day with the dust blowing in through the french windows. Jack braced his arm which was strong for the arm of a child against the hot leather chair of the large room as he pushed down on the top brick with his other arm. But the bricks were interlocked together and the top brick would not detach from the column of bricks.

Jack lifted the column of bricks and put the top brick of the column into his mouth and bit into the brick as his father had bitten into the hard pin of a grenade when he fought in the war. Jack bit into the brick and twisted, levering his head to force the brick off the column of bricks he had made. Jack held the detached brick in his mouth before taking it out with his small rough fingers and holding it up in the early light to inspect it. Where his teeth had held the brick the sides had buckled and the hollow base of the brick would no longer interlock tightly with the other bricks. Jack took the imperfect brick and reached into the box, forcing aside the other bricks. Jack left the brick carrying his teeth marks at the bottom of the box of bricks.