F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Selected Tales of the Jazz Age Collection
Abridged & adapted

© Беспалова Н. В., адаптация, сокращение, словарь, 2018

© ООО «Издательство „Антология“», 2018

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Chapter 1

In 1860 it was the proper thing to be born at home. At present, the first cries of the young are usually heard in a hospital, if possible, a fashionable one. So Mr. and Mrs. Roger Button were fifty years ahead of style when they decided, in the summer of 1860, that their first baby should be born in a hospital. It will never be known whether this fact had any influence on the astonishing story I am going to present.

I shall tell you what happened, and let you decide for yourself.

The Buttons had a good social and financial position in pre-war[1] Baltimore[2]. They were relatives to a number of famous Southern families, and this gave them a legal right to consider themselves the aristocracy of the Confederacy[3]. This was their first experience of having babies – Mr. Button was naturally nervous. He hoped it would be a boy who could be sent to Yale College in Connecticut[4], which Mr. Button had graduated himself.

On the September morning, when the great event had to happen, he got up nervously at six o'clock, dressed himself, and hurried to the hospital, to know whether the darkness of the night had given a new life.

When he was about a hundred yards from the Maryland Private Hospital for Ladies and Gentlemen he saw Doctor Keene, the family physician, going down the front steps, rubbing his hands together with a washing movement – a typical movement for people of his profession.

Mr. Roger Button, the president of Roger Button & Co., Wholesale Hardware[5], began to run toward Doctor Keene with much less dignity than was expected from a Southern gentleman.

«Doctor Keene!» he called. «Oh, Doctor Keene!»

The doctor heard him, turned around, and stood waiting. His face had a curious expression.

«What happened?» demanded Mr. Button, as he came up, gasping. «What was it? How is she? A boy? Who is it? What…»

«Speak clearly!» said Doctor Keene sharply. He seemed irritated.

«Is the child born?» begged Mr. Button.

Doctor Keene frowned. «Why, yes, I suppose so…» He gave a curious glance at Mr. Button again.

«Is my wife all right?»

«Yes».

«Is it a boy or a girl?»

«I'll ask you to go and see for yourself. It's a scandal!» cried Doctor Keene, then he turned away saying: «Do you think a case like this will help my professional reputation? One more would ruin me – ruin anybody».

«What's the matter?» demanded Mr. Button. «Triplets?»

«No, not triplets!» answered the doctor. «What's more, you can go and see for yourself. And get another doctor. I brought you into the world, young man, and I've been physician to your family for forty years, but I'm through with you[6]! I don't want to see you or any of your relatives ever again! Good-bye!»

Then he turned sharply, and without another word left.

Mr. Button stood there upon the sidewalk, shocked and trembling from head to foot. What awful misfortune had happened? He had suddenly lost all desire to go into the Maryland Private Hospital for Ladies and Gentlemen – with the greatest difficulty he forced himself to go up the steps and enter the front door.

A nurse was sitting behind a desk in the hall. Hiding his shame, Mr. Button approached her.

«Good morning», she said, looking up at him pleasantly.

«Good morning. I am Mr. Button».

When she heard this, terror spread over the girl's face. She rose to her feet and it seemed as if she wanted to run away from the hall.

«I want to see my child», said Mr. Button.

The nurse gave a little scream. «Oh – of course!» she cried hysterically. «Upstairs. Right upstairs. Go… up!»

She pointed the direction, and Mr. Button, feeling a cold sweat, went to the second floor. In the upper hall he addressed another nurse who was carrying a basin in her hand. «I'm Mr. Button, I want to see my…»

Clank! The basin fell on the floor and rolled in the direction of the stairs. Clank! Clank! It was rolling down the stairs as if showing the general terror which this gentleman created.

«I want to see my child!» Mr. Button almost shouted. He was about to collapse[7].

Clank! The basin reached the first floor. The nurse tried to control herself, and looked at Mr. Button with disgust.

«All right, Mr. Button», she agreed in a quiet voice. «Very well! But it's a scandal! The hospital will never have a reputation after…»

«Hurry!» he cried. «I can't stand this!»[8]

«Come this way, then, Mr. Button».

He followed her. At the end of a long hall they reached a room known as the «crying-room». They entered.

«Well», gasped Mr. Button, «which is mine?»

«There!» said the nurse and pointed her finger.

There sat an old man obviously about seventy years of age. He was wrapped in a large white blanket. His thin hair was almost white, and he had a long gray beard, which moved back and forth[9] at the wind coming in from the window. He looked up at Mr. Button with empty eyes in which there was a puzzled question.

«Am I mad?» cried Mr. Button losing his control, his terror turned into anger. «Is this a hospital joke?»

«It doesn't seem like a joke to us», replied the nurse sharply. «And I don't know whether you're mad or not – but that is certainly your child».

The cold sweat covered Mr. Button's forehead. He closed his eyes, then opened them, and looked again. There was no mistake – he was staring at a seventy-year-old man – a seventy-year-old baby whose feet hung over the sides of the crib in which he was lying.

The old man looked quietly at Mr. Button and the nurse for a moment, and then suddenly spoke in a cracked and very old voice. «Are you my father?» he demanded. «Because if you are», went on the old man, «I wish you'd get me out of this place – or, at least, get me a comfortable chair in here».

«Where in God's name did you come from? Who are you?» burst out Mr. Button in anger.

«I can't tell you exactly who I am», replied the man, «because I was born only a few hours ago – but my last name is certainly Button».

«You lie! You're an impostor!»

The old man turned to the nurse. «Nice way to welcome a new-born child», he complained in a weak voice. «Tell him he's wrong, why don't you?»

«You're wrong. Mr. Button», said the nurse. «This is your child, and you'll have to make the best of it[10]. We're going to ask you to take him home with you as soon as possible».

«Home?» repeated Mr. Button refusing to believe.

«Yes, we can't have him here. We really can't, you know?»

«I'm glad of it», said the old man. «This is a fine place to keep babies who cry all the time. I couldn't sleep. I asked for something to eat», here his voice rose to a screaming note of protest, «and they brought me a bottle of milk!»

Mr. Button fell down upon a chair near his son and hid his face in his hands. «Good heavens!»[11] he whispered in horror. «What will people say? What must I do?»

«You'll have to take him home», insisted the nurse, «immediately!»

A grotesque picture appeared before his eyes – a picture of himself walking through the crowded streets of the city with this strange terrible figure by his side. People would stop to speak to him, and what was he going to say? How would he introduce this aged man? «This is my son, born early this morning». And then they would walk slowly on, past the stores, the slave market – for a moment Mr. Button wished passionately that his son was black – and then past the rich houses, past the home for the aged…

«I can't. I can't», he whispered.

«Come on! Pull yourself together[12]», commanded the nurse.

«Look here»,[13] the old man announced suddenly, «if you think I'm going to walk home in this blanket, you're mistaken».

«Babies always have blankets», said the nurse.

The old man showed a small white baby's shirt with indignation. «Look!» he said in a trembling voice. «This is what they gave me».

«Babies always wear those», insisted the nurse.

«Well», said the old man, «this baby is not going to wear it».

Mr. Button turned to the nurse. «What shall I do?»

«Go downtown and buy your son some clothes».

Mr. Button's son's voice followed him down into the hall: «And a cane, father. I want to have a cane».

Chapter 2

«Good morning», Mr. Button said nervously to the clerk in the store. «I want to buy some clothes for my child».

«How old is your child, sir?»

«About six hours», answered Mr. Button, without thinking.

«Babies' department is there».

«Why, I don't think – I'm not sure that's what I want. It's – he's an unusually large-size child. Extremely large».

«They have the largest child's sizes».

«Where is the boys' department?» asked Mr. Button. He felt that the clerk could see his shame. He felt that the clerk must know his shameful secret.

«Right here».

«Well…» He hesitated. He couldn't stand the idea of dressing his son in men's clothes. If, say, he could only find a very large boy's suit, he might cut off that long and awful beard, dye the white hair brown, then he would manage to hide the worst, and to keep his own self-respect – not to mention[14]his position in Baltimore society.

But there were no suits of his new-born son's size in the boys' department. He blamed the store, of course – in such cases one could blame only the store.

«How old did you say that boy of yours was?» demanded the clerk curiously.

«He's – sixteen».

«Oh, I beg your pardon. I thought you said six hours. You'll find the youths' department in the next room».

Mr. Button turned sadly away. Then he stopped, as he saw a dressed model in the window display. «There!» he pointed his finger toward the window display. «I'll take that suit, out there on the model».

The clerk stared. «Why», he protested, «that's not a child's suit. It's a fancy dress[15]. You could wear it yourself!»

«Wrap it up», insisted his customer nervously. «That's what I want».

The astonished clerk obeyed.

When Mr. Button came back to the hospital, he almost threw the package at his son. «Here are your clothes», he said angrily.

The old man opened the package and examined the dress with a puzzled look.

«It looks funny to me», he complained, «It will make a monkey of me…»

«You've made a monkey of me!» interrupted him Mr. Button. «Don't think how funny you look. Put them on – or I'll – or I'll spank you». He felt uneasy when he said the word but somehow he understood that it was the proper thing to say.

«All right, father, you've lived longer; you know best. Just as you say».

This sounded to Mr. Button as a grotesque respect from a son and the word «father» made him tremble.

«And hurry».

«I'm hurrying, father».

When his son was dressed Mr. Button examined him with depression. The costume consisted of pink pants and a blouse with a wide white collar. The long gray beard fell almost to the waist. The effect was not good.

«Wait!»

Mr. Button took hospital scissors and cut a large section of the beard. But even with this improvement the impression was far from perfect. The remaining part of the beard, the pale eyes, and the ancient teeth seemed strange in combination with the bright colors of the costume. Mr. Button, however, refused to change his plan – he held out his hand and said firmly. «Come along!»

His son took the hand. «What are you going to call me, dad?» he asked in a trembling voice as they walked from the hospital – «just ‘baby' for a while? till you think of a better name?»

«I don't know», grumbled Mr. Button. «I think we'll call you Methuselah[16]».

Chapter 3

Even after a baby had his hair cut short and then dyed to an unnatural black, and had his face shaved, and then was dressed in small-boy clothes, it was impossible for Button to ignore the fact that his son was a shame for the Button family. Despite his aged stoop, Benjamin Button – for they called him this name instead of the proper but humiliating name Methuselah – was five feet eight inches[17] tall. His clothes did not hide this, his dyed black eyebrows did not hide the fact that the eyes were pale and tired. In fact, the baby-sitter, who was employed by the family, left the house after one look at him, in a state of indignation.

But Mr. Button was firm in his decision. Benjamin was a baby, and he should remain a baby. At first he declared that if Benjamin didn't like warm milk he could do without[18] food at all, but he finally allowed his son to have bread and butter, and even oatmeal as a compromise. One day he brought home a rattle[19] and, giving it to Benjamin, insisted that he should «play with it», so the old man obeyed and took it with a dull expression. He shook the rattle from time to time[20] during the day.

There was no doubt, however, that the rattle bored him, and that he found other and more pleasant amusements when he was left alone. Mr. Button discovered one day that during the last week he had smoked more cigars than ever before – a phenomenon, which was explained a few days later when he entered his son's room and found it full of faint smoke. Benjamin, with a guilty expression on his face, was trying to hide the dark Havana cigar. Mr. Button, of course, had to spank the child, but he found that he could not make himself do it. He only said to his son that smoking would «stop his growth».

Mr. Button was still firm in his attitude. He brought home lead soldiers, he brought toy trains, he brought large pleasant animals made of cotton, and, to keep the illusion which he was creating – for himself at least – he passionately asked the clerk in the toy-store whether «the paint would come off the pink duck if the baby put it in his mouth». But, despite all his father's efforts, Benjamin refused to be interested. He often went down the back stairs secretly and returned to his room with a volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica, which he could read through an afternoon, ignoring his cotton cows and his Noah's ark[21], which were left on the floor. Mr. Button's efforts were useless against such stubbornness.

The sensation created in Baltimore was, at first, enormous. No-one can say what the misfortune it would cost the Button family socially, but the sudden start of the Civil War[22] drew the city's attention to other things. A few people, who were always polite, tried their best to think of compliments for the parents – and finally decided to declare that the baby looked like his grandfather, a fact which seemed true, due to the state of decay typical for all men of seventy. Mr. and Mrs. Roger Button were not pleased, and Benjamin's grandfather was extremely insulted.

Benjamin, after he left the hospital, took life as it was, without complaining. Once several small boys were brought to see him, and he spent a dull afternoon trying to show an interest in toys and games – he even managed to break a kitchen window with a stone, an incident which secretly delighted his father.

Since then Benjamin tried to break something every day, but he did these things only because he wanted to please his father and because he was by nature helpful.

When his grandfather's original dislike went away, Benjamin and that gentleman took enormous pleasure in one another's company. They could sit for hours, so different in age and experience, and, like old friends, discuss the slow events of the day. Benjamin felt much easier in his grandfather's company than in his parents' – they seemed always slightly afraid of him and often addressed him as «Mr».

He was puzzled himself at the age of his mind and body at birth. He read the medical journals, but found that no such case had ever been written about. Following his father's strong wish he made an honest attempt to play with other boys, but he often joined in the quiet games – football frightened him too much, because he feared that in case of a fracture his ancient bones would never knit[23].

When he was five he was sent to kindergarten, where he learned a secret of the art of placing green paper on orange paper, and making colored maps. He sometimes fell to sleep in the middle of these tasks, a habit which both irritated and frightened his young teacher. To his relief she complained to his parents, and they took him from the school. The Buttons told their friends that they felt he was too young.

By the time he was twelve years old his parents had got used to him[24]. Indeed, the force of habit is so strong that they no longer felt that he was different from any other child – except when some curious event reminded them of the fact. But one day a few weeks after his twelfth birthday, while looking in the mirror, Benjamin made, or thought he made, an astonishing discovery. Did his hair turn darker? Were the wrinkles on his face becoming less obvious? Was his skin healthier and firmer, with even a touch of pink winter color? He could not tell. He knew that he no longer stooped, and that his physical condition had improved since the early days of his life.

«Can it be…?» he thought to himself.

He went to his father. «I am grown», he announced firmly. «I want to put on long trousers».

His father hesitated. «Well», he said finally, «I don't know. Fourteen is the age for putting on long trousers – and you are only twelve».

«But you'll have to admit», protested Benjamin, «that I'm big for my age».

His father looked at him.

«Oh, I'm not so sure of that», he said. «I was as big as you when I was twelve».

This was not true – it was a part of Roger Button's silent agreement with himself to believe in his son's normality.

Finally a compromise was reached. Benjamin had to continue to dye his hair. He had to make a better attempt to play with boys of his own age. He was not allowed to wear his spectacles or carry a cane in the street. In return he was allowed to put on his first suit of long trousers…

Chapter 4

I intend to say little of the life of Benjamin Button between his twelfth and twenty-first year. It is enough to say that they were years of normal antigrowth. When Benjamin was eighteen he stopped stooping and walked straight as a man of fifty; he had more hair and it was dark gray; his step was firm, his cracked voice turned to a healthy baritone. So his father sent him up to Connecticut to take examinations for entrance to Yale College. Benjamin passed his examination and became a member of the freshman class.

On the third day after he had officially become a student he received a letter from Mr. Hart, the college secretary, to come to his office and arrange his schedule. Benjamin glanced in the mirror and decided that his hair needed a new brown dye. He looked for the dye bottle in his desk but didn't find it. Then he remembered – he had used it the day before and thrown it away.

He hesitated. He had to come to the college office in five minutes. There seemed to be no choice – he must go as he was. He did.

«Good morning», said Mr. Hart politely. «You've come to speak about your son».

«Why, as a matter of fact, my name's Button…» began Benjamin, but Mr. Hart interrupted him.

«I'm very glad to meet you, Mr. Button. I'm expecting your son here any minute».

«That's me!» shouted Benjamin. «I'm a freshman».

«What!»

«I'm a freshman».

«Surely you're joking».

«Not at all».

The secretary frowned and glanced at a card before him. «Why, I have Mr. Benjamin Button's age down here as eighteen».

«That's my age», announced Benjamin, turning slightly red in the face.

Mr. Hart looked at him. «Surely, Mr. Button, you don't expect me to believe that».

«I am eighteen», he repeated.

The secretary pointed to the door. «Get out», he said. «Get out of college and get out of town. You are a dangerous madman».

«I am eighteen».

Mr. Hart opened the door and shouted. «A man of your age is trying to enter here as a freshman. Eighteen years old, are you? Well, I'll give you eighteen minutes to get out of town».

Benjamin Button walked with dignity from the room, and half a dozen undergraduates, who were waiting in the hall, followed him curiously with their eyes. When he had gone a little way he turned around, looked at the angry secretary, who was still standing in the doorway, and repeated in a firm voice: «I am eighteen years old».

Benjamin walked away followed by a laugh, which went up from the group of undergraduates.

But he didn't escape so easily. On his sad walk to the railroad station he found that he was followed by a group, then by a crowd, and finally by a large mass of undergraduates. The news had spread around that a madman had passed the entrance examinations for Yale and attempted to present himself as a youth of eighteen. The college was in a fever of excitement. Men ran out of classes, the football team left its match and ran shouting after the crowd. Their remarks were insulting the tender feelings of Benjamin Button.

«He ought to go to prep school[25] at his age!»

«Look at the infant prodigy[26]!»

«He thought this was the aged men's home».

«Go up to Harvard[27]!»

Benjamin walked faster, and soon he was running. He would show them! He would go to Harvard, and then they would regret these insulting remarks!

When he finally got on the train for Baltimore and felt safe, he put his head from the window. «You'll regret this!» he shouted.

«Ha-ha!» the undergraduates laughed. «Ha-ha-ha!»

It was the biggest mistake that Yale College had ever made…

Chapter 5

In 1880 Benjamin Button was twenty years old, and he marked his birthday by going to work for his father in Roger Button & Co., Wholesale Hardware. It the same year he began «going out socially» – that is, his father insisted on taking him to several fashionable dances. Roger Button was now fifty, and he and his son were more and more friendly companions – in fact, since Benjamin had stopped dyeing his hair (which was still grayish) they seemed about the same age and could be taken for brothers.

One night in August they got into the carriage in their full-dress suits and drove out to a dance at their neighbor country house, situated just outside of Baltimore. It was a wonderful evening. A full moon lighted the road with the silver color, and late-blooming flowers filled the air with smells that were like low, half-heard laughter. It was almost impossible not to be impressed by the beauty of the sky – almost.

«There's a great future in the hardware business», Roger Button was saying. He was not a romantic man – his sense of beauty was limited.

«Old fellows like me can't learn new tricks», he added. «You, young men, with energy and enthusiasm have the great future before you».

Far up the road they saw the lights of the country house, and then a sound reached them – the music of violins or the whisper of the silver moon.

They stopped behind a handsome carriage whose passengers were getting out at the door. A lady, then an elderly gentleman, then another young beautiful lady. Benjamin trembled; an almost chemical reaction seemed to change all the elements of his body. A fever passed over him, blood rose into his cheeks, his forehead, and there was a painful noise in his ears. It was first love.

The girl was slender and tender, her hair was dark under the moon and honey-colored under the gas-lamps of the doorway.

Roger Button leaned over to his son. «That», he said, «is young Hildegarde Moncrief, the daughter of General Moncrief».

Benjamin nodded coldly. «Pretty little thing», he said. But when the negro boy had taken their carriage away, he added: «Dad, can you introduce me to her?»

They approached a group, where Miss Moncrief was the centre. She made a low curtsy before Benjamin in the old tradition manner. Yes, he might have a dance. He thanked her and walked away – staggered away.

The time for his turn seemed endless. He stood close to the wall, silent, mysterious, watching with jealous eyes the young men of Baltimore as they moved around Hildegarde Moncrief, with passionate admiration in their faces. How disgusting they seemed to Benjamin; how young and rosy! Their brown hair made him feel sick.

But when his own time came, and he moved with her in a dance to the music of the latest waltz from Paris, his jealousy and worry melted from him like snow. Blind with delight, he felt that life was just beginning.

«You and your brother got here just as we did, didn't you?» asked Hildegarde, looking up at him with eyes that were like bright blue enamel.

Benjamin hesitated. If she took him for his father's brother, would it be best to tell her the truth? He remembered his experience at Yale, so he decided against it. It would be rude to argue with a lady; it would be criminal to ruin this wonderful moment with the grotesque story of his birth. Later, perhaps. So he nodded, smiled, listened, was happy.

«I like men of your age», Hildegarde told him. «Young boys are so idiotic. They tell me how much champagne they drink at college, and how much money they lose playing cards. Men of your age know how to understand women».

Benjamin felt he was about to propose to her immediately – with an effort he resisted the desire.

«You're just the romantic age», she continued. «Fifty. Twenty-five pretends to be wise and experienced; thirty is pale from overwork; forty is the age of long and dull stories; sixty is – oh, sixty is too near seventy; but fifty is the proper age. I love fifty».

Fifty seemed to Benjamin a wonderful age. He wished passionately to be fifty.

«I've always said», went on Hildegarde, «that I'd rather marry[28] a man of fifty who would take care of me than marry a man of thirty and take care of him».

For Benjamin the rest of the evening was in a honey-colored dream. Hildegarde gave him two more dances, and they discovered that they had the same attitudes to all the questions of the day. She agreed to go driving with him on the following Sunday, and then they would discuss all these questions further.

On his way home in the carriage just before the dawn, Benjamin suddenly heard that his father was discussing wholesale hardware.

«… And what do you think should draw our biggest attention after hammers and nails?» the elder Button was saying.

«Love», replied Benjamin absent-mindedly.

«Lugs?» exclaimed Roger Button, «Why, I've just covered the question of lugs».

Benjamin looked at him with astonished eyes just as sunlight burst into the eastern sky suddenly, and a bird sang loudly in the tree…

Chapter 6

When, six months later, the engagement of Miss Hildegarde Moncrief to Mr. Benjamin Button was made known (I say «made known», because General Moncrief declared that he would rather fall upon his sword than[29] announce it), the fever of excitement in Baltimore society reached its peak. The almost forgotten story of Benjamin's birth was remembered and spread out upon the winds of scandal in incredible forms as an adventure novel. It was said that Benjamin was really the father of Roger Button; that he was his brother who had spent forty years in prison; that he was John Wilkes Booth[30] in disguise – and, finally, that he had two small conical horns hidden on his head.

The Sunday New York newspapers presented the case with fascinating pictures which showed the head of Benjamin Button attached to a fish, or to a snake. He became known, among journalists, as the Mystery Man of Maryland. But the true story, as it usually happens, was known only to a few people.

However, every one agreed with General Moncrief that it was «criminal» for a lovely girl who could marry any handsome young man in Baltimore to throw herself into the arms of a man who was surely fifty. Mr. Roger Button published his son's birth certificate in large type in the Baltimore city newspaper but in vain[31]. No one believed it. You had only to look at Benjamin and see.

The two people, who were most concerned parties[32], had no hesitations. So many of the stories about her bridegroom were false that Hildegarde refused stubbornly to believe even the true one. In vain General Moncrief pointed out to her the high risk of deaths among men of fifty – or, at least, among men who looked fifty; in vain he told her of the instability of the wholesale hardware business. Hildegarde had chosen to marry a middle-aged gentleman, and she married…

Chapter 7

In one thing, at least, the friends of Hildegarde Moncrief were mistaken. The wholesale hardware business was extremely successful. In the fifteen years between Benjamin Button's marriage in 1880 and his father's retirement in 1895, the family capital was doubled – and this was due largely to the younger member of the firm.

Of course, Baltimore accepted the couple in the end. Even old General Moncrief made peace[33] with his son-in-law when Benjamin gave him the money to publish his History of the Civil War in twenty volumes, after nine famous publishers had refused to take it.

There were many changes in Benjamin himself during these fifteen years. It seemed to him that the blood flowed with new energy through his body. It began to be a pleasure to get up in the morning, to walk with an active step along the busy, sunny street, to work long hours with his shipments of hammers and his cargoes of nails. In 1890 he produced his famous business revolution which led to a surprising success: he made the suggestion that all nails used in nailing up the boxes in which nails are shipped are the property of the company-receiver of cargo. The suggestion was approved by Chief Justice[34], became a law, and saved Roger Button and Company, Wholesale Hardware, more than six hundred nails every year.

In addition, Benjamin discovered that he was becoming more and more attracted by the active side of life. He felt his growing enthusiasm for pleasure – he was the first man in the city of Baltimore who bought and drove an automobile. The citizens about the same age, when they met him on the street, were looking with jealous eyes at the picture he made of health and energy.

«He seems to grow younger every year», they remarked. And old Roger Button, now sixty-five years old, who had failed at first to give a proper welcome to his son, was trying to compensate for his mistake at last by looking at Benjamin with admiration.

And here we come to an unpleasant matter which should be passed over as quickly as possible. There was only one thing that worried Benjamin Button; his wife didn't attract him any longer.

At that time Hildegarde was a woman of thirty-five, with a son, Roscoe, fourteen years old. In the early days of their marriage Benjamin had loved and admired her very much. But, as the years passed, her honey-colored hair became dull brown, the blue enamel of her eyes turned into a cheap dirty dishes – moreover, and, most of all, she had become too set in her ways[35], too calm, too satisfied, too lifeless in her excitements, and too rational in her taste. As a bride she had «pulled» Benjamin to dances and dinners – now the things changed. She went out socially with him, but without enthusiasm, driven by that habit of inertia which comes to each of us one day and stays with us to the end.

Benjamin's disappointment grew stronger. At the start of the Spanish-American War in 1898[36] his home had so little charm for him that he decided to join the army. With his business influence he got an officer position as captain, and showed such talents at the work that he was made a major, and finally a lieutenant-colonel just in time to participate in the celebrated attack up San Juan Hill.[37] He was slightly wounded, and received a medal.

Benjamin had loved the active and exciting army life so much that he regretted to give it up, but his business needed attention, so he resigned his officer position and came home. He was met at the station by an orchestra and escorted to his house.

Chapter 8

Hildegarde, waving a large silk flag, greeted him on the front steps, and as he kissed her he felt in despair that these three years had taken her beauty and youth. She was a woman of forty now, with a faint line of gray hairs in her head. The sight depressed him.

Up in his room he saw his reflection in the familiar mirror – he went closer and examined his own face with worry, comparing it after a moment with a photograph of himself in uniform taken just before the war.

«Good Lord!»[38] he said aloud. The process was continuing. There was no doubt of it – he looked now like a man of thirty. He was not delighted, he was uneasy – he was growing younger. He had hoped until that moment that when he reached a physical age equal to his age in years, the grotesque phenomenon which had marked his birth would stop. He trembled. His future seemed to him awful, incredible.

When he came downstairs Hildegarde was waiting for him. She seemed irritated, and he wondered if she had at last discovered that there was something wrong with him. He made an effort to break the uneasiness between them when he mentioned the matter at dinner in what he considered a tactful way.

«Well», he remarked, «everybody says I look younger than ever».

Hildegarde looked at him scornfully and grumbled, «Do you think it's anything to boast about?»

«I'm not boasting», he said uncomfortably.

«I think you have enough dignity to stop it», she said after a moment.

«How can I?» he demanded.

«I'm not going to argue with you», she answered angrily. «But there's a right way of doing things and a wrong way. If you've made up your mind[39] to be different from everybody else, I don't suppose I can stop you, but I really don't think it's very tactful».

«But, Hildegarde, I can't help it[40]».

«Yes, you can. You're simply stubborn. You think you don't want to be like anyone else. You always have been that way, and you always will be. But just think how it would be if every one else looked at things as you do – what would the world be like?»

Benjamin thought there was no answer to that stupid argument and didn't say anything, and from that moment a misunderstanding between them began to grow. He wondered what possible charm she had ever had over him.

In addition to the breakup, he found, as the new century started, that his desire for amusements grew stronger. He was at every party of the city of Baltimore, danced with the prettiest of the young married women, chatted with the most popular of the debutantes[41], and found their company charming, while his wife sat among other older women who came to watch their children, and now followed him in disapproval with jealous, puzzled, and scornful eyes.

«Look!» people remarked. «What a pity! A young fellow that age married to a woman of forty-five. He must be twenty years younger than his wife». They had forgotten – as people often forget – that back in 1880 their mothers and fathers had also remarked about this same strange couple.

Benjamin's growing unhappiness at home was compensated for by his many new interests. He started playing golf and made a great success of it. He started to enjoy dancing: in 1906 he was an expert at «The Boston», in 1908 he was the best at the «Maxixe», and in 1909 every young man in town was jealous of his «Castle Walk».[42]

His social life, of course, influenced his business partly, but he felt that after twenty-five years of hard work at wholesale hardware, he could soon hand it over to his son, Roscoe, who had recently graduated from Harvard.

He and his son were, in fact, often mistaken for each other. This pleased Benjamin – he soon forgot the secret fear which had come over him on his return from the Spanish-American War, and now took a natural pleasure in his appearance. There was only one fly in the ointment[43] – he hated to appear in public with his wife. Hildegarde was almost fifty, and the sight of her made him feel absurd…

Chapter 9

One September day (a few years after Benjamin had handed Roger Button & Co., Wholesale Hardware, over to young Roscoe Button) a young man, about twenty years old, entered Harvard University in Cambridge as a freshman. He did not make the mistake of announcing that he was over fifty, he also didn't mention the fact that his son had graduated from the same institution ten years before.

He almost immediately got a leading position in the class, partly because he seemed a little older than the other freshmen, whose age was about eighteen.

But his real success was due to the fact that in the football game with Yale he played so well, with so much energy and with such a cold anger that he scored seven touchdowns[44] and fourteen field goals for Harvard, and as a result eleven of Yale men were carried one by one from the field in despair. He became the most celebrated man in college.

Strangely enough[45], in his third year he was hardly able to play football. Everybody noticed that he had become much thinner and was not quite as tall as before. He made no touchdowns – indeed, the team kept him only in hope that his enormous reputation would bring terror to the Yale team.

In his senior year he left the team. He had become so thin and weak that one day he was taken by some second year students for a freshman, an incident which humiliated him terribly. He became known as something of a prodigy – a senior who was surely no more than sixteen – and he was often shocked at the life experience of some of his classmates. His studies seemed harder to him – he felt that they were too difficult. He had heard his classmates speak of St. Midas's, the famous prep school, at which so many of them had prepared for college, and he made up his mind to enter St. Midas's after his graduation, where the life among boys his own size would be more natural and comfortable to him.

Upon his graduation in 1914 he went home to Baltimore with his Harvard diploma in his pocket. Hildegarde moved to Italy, so Benjamin went to stay with his son, Roscoe. But though he was welcomed there, Roscoe obviously had no warm feeling toward him – his son seemed irritated to see Benjamin, who was walking about the house in his sad youthful dreams. Roscoe was married now and had a good position in Baltimore life, and he wanted no scandal in connection with his family.

Benjamin was no longer persona grata[46] with the debutantes and younger college men, he found himself alone, only three or four fifteen-year-old neighbor boys were his companions. His idea of going to St. Midas's school came back to him.

«Listen», he said to Roscoe one day, «I've told you over and over that I want to go to prep school».

«Well, go, then», answered Roscoe coldly. The matter was unpleasant to him, and he wished to avoid a discussion.

«I can't go alone», said Benjamin helplessly. «You'll have to take me up there».

«I have no time», declared Roscoe suddenly. He looked uneasily at his father. «As a matter of fact», he added, «you'd better stop[47]. You'd better not go on with this business any longer. You'd better – better», he paused and his face turned red as he was trying to find words – «you'd better turn around and start back the other way. This has gone too far to be a joke. It isn't funny any longer. You – you behave yourself!»

Benjamin looked at him, close to tears.

«And another thing», continued Roscoe, «when visitors are in the house I want you to call me „Uncle“ – not „Roscoe,“

but „Uncle,“ do you understand? It looks absurd for a boy of fifteen to call me by my first name. Perhaps you'd better call me „Uncle“ all the time, so you'll get used to it[48]».

With an angry look at his father, Roscoe turned away…

Chapter 10

After this conversation Benjamin felt depressed, he walked upstairs and stared at himself in the mirror. He had not shaved for three months, but there was nothing on his face to shave. When he had first come home from Harvard, Roscoe had suggested that he should wear spectacles and false whiskers on his cheeks, and it had seemed for a moment that the grotesque comedy of his early years started to repeat. But whiskers made him feel both discomfort and shame. He burst into tears and Roscoe had to give it up.

Benjamin opened a book of boys' stories, The Boy Scouts in Bimini Bay, and began to read. But he found himself thinking about the war. America hadjoined the Allied forces,[49] and Benjamin wanted to join the army too, but, alas, sixteen was the minimum age, and he looked much younger. His true age, which was fifty-seven, was too old for the army.

There was a knock at his door, and the man handed him an official letter addressed to Mr. Benjamin Button. Benjamin opened it, and read the text with delight. It informed him that many reserve officers who had served in the Spanish- American War were called back into service with a higher position, so he got his position as brigadier-general in the United States army with orders to report immediately.

Benjamin jumped to his feet trembling with enthusiasm. This was what he had wanted. Ten minutes later he entered a large tailor's shop on Charles Street, and asked in his high boy's voice to be measured for a uniform.

«Want to play soldier, sonny?» demanded a clerk casually.

Benjamin was furious. «Look here! Never mind what I want!» he protested angrily. «My name's Button and I live on Mt. Vernon Place, so you know I'm good for it[50]».

«Well», admitted the clerk with hesitation, «if you're not, I guess your daddy is, all right».

Benjamin was measured, and a week later his uniform was ready. He had difficulty in getting the proper general's insignia because the dealer insisted that a nice badge would look just as well[51] and be much more fun to play with.

Saying nothing to Roscoe, he left the house one night and went by train to military camp, in South Carolina, where he was going to command a military brigade. On a hot April day he approached the entrance to the camp, paid the taxi driver who had brought him from the station, and turned to the guard.

«Get some one to carry my luggage!» he commanded.

The soldier looked at him with disbelief. «Say», he remarked, «where are you going with the general's stuff, sonny?»

Benjamin, veteran of the Spanish-American War, moved upon him with fire in his eye, but with, alas, a breaking boy's voice.

«Stand to attention!»[52] he commanded loudly; he paused to take breath – then suddenly he saw that the soldier stood straight and brought his rifle to the present[53]. Benjamin hid a smile of satisfaction, but when he glanced around his smile faded. He saw an impressive colonel who was approaching on horseback.

«Colonel!» called Benjamin sharply.

The colonel came up and looked down at him. «Whose little boy are you?» he demanded kindly.

«I'll soon show you whose little boy I am!» protested Benjamin in an angry voice. «Get down off that horse!»

The colonel burst into laughter.

«You want my horse, eh, general?»

«Here!» cried Benjamin in despair. «Read this». And he gave his official letter to the colonel. The colonel read it, he was astonished.

«Where did you get this?» he demanded, putting the document into his own pocket.

«I got it from the Government, as you'll soon find out!»

«You come along with me», said the colonel with a strange look. «We'll go up to headquarters commander and talk this over. Come along».

The colonel turned and began moving in the direction of headquarters. There was nothing for Benjamin to do but follow him – he tried to keep as much dignity as possible and promised himself to take revenge. But this revenge did not materialize. Two days later, however, his son Roscoe materialized from Baltimore, irritated and angry at a quick trip, and escorted the general in tears, without uniform, back to his home.

Chapter 11

In 1920 Roscoe Button's first child was born. While the family celebrated the event, however, no one thought they needed to mention, that the little boy, about ten years old who played around the house with lead soldiers, was the new baby's own grandfather.

No one disliked the little boy whose fresh, cheerful face seemed a little bit sad, but to Roscoe Button his presence was unpleasant and made him suffer. His generation did not consider such a state of things[54] «rational». It seemed to him that his father, in refusing to look sixty, did not behave like a true man of business or a «red-blooded he-man»[55] – these were Roscoe's usual words. Roscoe believed that a man of business should look young, but his father's desire to keep to it in such a curious and wrong manner was irrational. Roscoe was sure of it.

Five years later Roscoe's little boy grew old enough to play childish games with little Benjamin under the control of the same nurse. Roscoe took them both to kindergarten on the same day, and Benjamin found that playing with colored paper and making colored beautiful maps was the most fascinating game in the world. Once when he behaved badly and had to stand in the corner, he burst into tears – but for the most part these were happy hours in the cheerful room, when the sunlight was coming in the windows and he enjoyed feeling his teacher's kind hand on his head.

Roscoe's son went to school after a year, but Benjamin stayed on in the kindergarten. He was very happy. Sometimes when other children talked about what they would do when they grew up, a sad expression appeared on his little face as if he understood that those things would never happen to him.

The days passed on in a usual way. He went back a third year to the kindergarten, but he was too little now to understand what the bright colored papers were for. He cried because the other boys were bigger than he, and he was afraid of them. The teacher talked to him, but though he tried to understand he could not understand at all.

He was taken from the kindergarten. His nurse, Nana became the centre of his small world. On bright days they walked in the park; Nana pointed at a large gray monster and said «elephant», and Benjamin repeated it after her, and when he was going to bed that night he repeated it over and over again to her: «Elyphant, elyphant, elyphant». Sometimes Nana let him jump on the bed, and that was fun, because he enjoyed jumping.

He loved to take a big cane and go around the house, hitting chairs and tables with it and saying: «Fight, fight, fight». When there were people in the house the old ladies tried to speak childish language with him, which interested him, and the young ladies tried to kiss him, which he accepted with calm boredom. And when the long day was over at five o'clock Nana took him upstairs and gave him his evening foods with a spoon.

There were no old memories in his childish sleep; he didn't remember his brave days at college or the bright years when he broke the hearts of many girls. There were only the white, safe walls of his crib and Nana and a man who came to see him sometimes, and a great big orange ball that Nana pointed at and called «sun». When the sun went his eyes were sleepy – there were no dreams, no dreams to worry him.

The past – the wild fight when he led his soldiers up San Juan Hill; the first years of his marriage when he worked hard for young Hildegarde whom he loved; the days before that when he sat smoking with his grandfather in the dark old Button house – all these memories faded like dreams from his mind as if they had never been. He did not remember.

He did not remember clearly whether the milk was warm or cool at his last feeding or how the days passed – there was only his crib and Nana's familiar presence. And then he remembered nothing. When he was hungry he cried – that was all. Through the days and nights he breathed and there were soft sounds over him that he hardly heard. He felt only faint smells, and light and darkness.

Then it was all dark, and his white crib and the dim faces that moved above him, and the warm sweet smell of the milk faded away from his mind.

May Day

I

The war had been fought and won and the great city of the winners was celebrating the victory. All through the long spring days the returning soldiers marched up the highway to the loud sounds of the drums and happy sounds of the military orchestras. The great city had never seen such greatness and shine, because the returning young men were straight and brave, and the young women of the land were naive and pretty both of face and of figure.

There were many adventures that happened in the great city during this time, and several of them – or perhaps one – are presented here.

At nine o'clock on the morning of the first of May, 1919, a young man spoke to the room clerk at the Biltmore Hotel, asking if Mr. Philip Dean had checked in there, and if so, could he be connected with Mr. Dean's rooms. The young man was small, slender, and handsome; his eyes were shaped with unusually long eyelashes above and with the blue circles of ill health below, which gave his face an unnatural color as if he had a constant fever.

Mr. Dean was staying there. After a second the connection was made; a sleepy voice said «hello» from somewhere above.

«Mr. Dean? It's Gordon, Phil. It's Gordon Sterrett. I'm downstairs. I heard you were in New York and I had an idea you could be here».

The sleepy voice became enthusiastic. Well, how was Gordy, old boy! Well, he certainly was surprised and excited! Would Gordy come right up, for Heaven's sake[56]!

A few minutes later Philip Dean, dressed in blue silk pajamas, opened his door and the two young men greeted each other with a bit embarrassed enthusiasm. They were both about twenty-four, Yale graduates of the year before the war; but there the resemblance stopped. Dean was blond, healthy, and strong under his thin pajamas. Everything about him showed physical comfort. He smiled frequently, showing large and prominent teeth.

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Примечания

1

pre-war – (ист., амер.) довоенный, то есть произошедший до Гражданской войны в США (1861–1865)

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2

Baltimore – Балтимор, город в США, штат Мэриленд

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3

Confederacy – (ист., амер.) Конфедерация, Конфедеративные штаты Америки, известные также как Южане, объединение рабовладельческих штатов Юга, существовавшее как независимое государство в период Гражданской войны; рабовладельческий штат Мэриленд не присоединился к Конфедерации

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4

Yale College in Connecticut – Йельский колледж в штате Коннектикут, одно из старейших и наиболее престижных учебных заведений США, статус университета получил в 1887 г.

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5

Roger Button & Co., Wholesale Hardware – Роджер Баттон и К°, оптовая торговля скобяными товарами

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6

I'm through with you – (фраз. гл., разг.) между нами всё кончено

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7

was about to collapse – (идиом.) был на грани обморока

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8

I can't stand this! – (идиом.) Я этого не вынесу!

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9

back and forth – (идиом.) взад и вперёд, из стороны в сторону

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10

to make the best of it – (идиом.) зд. смириться

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11

Good heavens! – (идиом.) О боже!

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12

Pull yourself together – (идиом.) Возьмите себя в руки

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13

Look here – (разг.) Послушайте

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14

not to mention – (идиом.) не говоря уже о

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15

fancy dress – маскарадный костюм

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16

Methuselah – (библ.) Мафусаил, согласно Библии один из праотцов человечества, проживший 969 лет, имя используется как синоним долгожителя, древнего старика

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17

five feet eight inches – 5 футов 8 дюймов, 172 см

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18

do without – (фраз. гл., разг.) обходиться без

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19

rattle – детская погремушка

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20

from time to time – (идиом.) время от времени; от случая к случаю

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21

Noah's ark – (библ.) Ноев ковчег, судно, построенное Ноем для спасения от Всемирного потопа своей семьи, а также всех животных (по паре особей каждого вида)

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22

Civil War – Гражданская война в США 1861–1865 гг. между промышленными штатами Севера и рабовладельческими штатами Юга

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23

in case of a fracture his ancient bones would never knit – при переломе его старческие кости никогда не срастутся

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24

his parents had got used to him – родители наконец к нему привыкли

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25

prep school – (амер.) частная средняя школа (готовит к поступлению в престижный колледж)

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26

infant prodigy – чудо-ребёнок, вундеркинд

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27

Harvard – Гарвардский университет, старейший вуз США, один из самых известных университетов всего мира

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28

I'd rather marry – я предпочла бы выйти замуж

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29

would rather fall upon his sword than… – скорее проткнёт себя собственной шпагой, чем.

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30

John Wilkes Booth – Джон Уилкс Бут (1838–1865), американский актёр, убийца президента Линкольна

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31

in vain – (идиом.) напрасно

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32

concerned parties – заинтересованные стороны

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33

made peace – (идиом.) примирился

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34

Chief Justice – (юр., амер.) председатель Верховного суда США

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35

set in her ways – (идиом.) закоснела в своих взглядах, привычках

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36

Испано-американская война в 1898 г., в ходе боевых действий которой США захватили принадлежавшие Испании с XVI в. Кубу, Пуэрто-Рико, Филиппины

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37

Битва за холм Сан Хуан к востоку от Сантьяго-де-Куба у юго-восточного побережья Кубы, где произошло решающее кровопролитное сражение, обеспечившее победу американского флота в морском сражении при Сантьяго- де-Куба

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38

Good Lord! – (идиом.) Боже (мой)!

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39

you've made up your mind – (идиом.) ты решил

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40

I can't help it – (идиом.) Я ничего не могу c этим поделать

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41

debutante – (фр.) дебютантка, девушка из знатной или богатой семьи, впервые выезжающая в свет

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42

The Boston, Maxixe, Castle Walk – модные в США в начале ХХ в. бальные танцы: вальс-бостон – американизированный вариант вальса, матчиш – «бразильское танго», касл уок – предшественник фокстрота, названный по имени родоначальников, семейной пары Касл

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43

fly in the ointment – (идиом.) ложка дёгтя в бочке мёда

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44

touchdown – тачдаун, в американском футболе – пересечение мячом или игроком с мячом линии зачётного поля соперника, оценивается в шесть очков

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45

strangely enough – (идиом.) как ни странно

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46

persona grata – (лат.) персона грата, лицо, пользующееся особым вниманием, занимающее особое положение

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47

you'd better stop – тебе следовало бы остановиться

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48

so you'll get used to it – тогда быстрее привыкнешь

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49

Allied forces – союзники, общее название членов коалиции государств, находившихся в состоянии войны с блоком так называемых Центральных держав (Германией, Австро-Венгрией и др.) во время Первой мировой войны

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50

I'm good for it – (идиом.) за мной не пропадёт, у меня хватит денег заплатить

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51

just as well – (идиом.) точно так же

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52

stand to attention – (воен.) стоять по стойке смирно

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53

brought his rifle to the present – (воен.) привёл винтовку в положение «На караул»

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54

state of things – положение дел

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55

red-blooded he-man – настоящий мужчина

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56

for Heaven's sake – (идиом., разг.) ради бога

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