Field Trip

He visited the Tip Top factory where ice cream fell in creamy bricks from a silver chimney. He gorged on Eskimo Pies. The class went to a farm. The farmer showed them how to slit a sheep's throat, the old-fashioned way. The butcher's thick forearm dropped saveloys into his hand. They were cold and left fatty deposits on the roof of his mouth.

He dreams of renaming himself—Francis of the little animals, Swift of the underwater.