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