First Among Equals - books

with his ailing grandmother, until she died at the age
of sixty-one.
Ray's close proxinnity to the old woman who had lost her
husband in the
Great War at first appeared romantic to him. fie would
listen enraptured as
she told him stories of her hero husband in his smart
khaki unif(-)rm--a
uniform iiow folded neatly in her bottom drawer, but
still displayed in the
fading sepia photograph at the side of her bed. Soon,
however, his grandmother's
stories filled Ray with sadness, as fie became
aware that she had
been a widow for nearly thirty years. Finally she seemed
a tragic figure as
he realized how little she had experienced of the world
beyond that cramped
room in which she was surrounded by all her possessions
and a yellowed
envelope containing five hundred irredeemable war bonds.
There had been no purpose in Ray's grandmother's making
a will, for all he
inherited was the room. Overnight it ceased to be a
double bedroom and
became a study, full of ever-changing library books and
schoolbooks, the
former often returned late, using up Ray's meager pocket
money in fines.
But as each school report was brought home, it became
increasingly apparent
to Ray's father that he would not be extending the sign
above the butcher
shop to proclaim "Gould and Son."
At eleven, Ray won the top scholarship to Roundhay
Grammar School. Wearing
his first pair of long trou-
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FIRST AMONG EQUALS
sers--shortened several inches by his mother-and
hom-rimmed glasses that
didn't quite fit, he set off for the opening day at his