Page 212 - BRAVE NEW WORLD By Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)

Brave New World By Aldous Huxley

It is finished Old Mitsima's words repeated

themselves in his mind. Finished, finished In

silence and from a long way off, but violently,

desperately, hopelessly, he had loved Kiakimé. And

now it was finished. He was sixteen.

At the full moon, in the Antelope Kiva,

secrets would be told, secrets would be done and

borne. They would go down, boys, into the kiva and

come out again, men. The boys were all afraid and

at the same time impatient. And at last it was the

day. The sun went down, the moon rose. He went

with the others. Men were standing, dark, at the

entrance to the kiva; the ladder went down into the

red lighted depths. Already the leading boys had

begun to climb down. Suddenly, one of the men

stepped forward, caught him by the arm, and pulled

him out of the ranks. He broke free and dodged

back into his place among the others. This time the

man struck him, pulled his hair. "Not for you, white-

hair!" "Not for the son of the she-dog," said one of

the other men. The boys laughed. "Go!" And as he

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