User:DoctorWho42/Beyond the Game

"Beyond the Game" is a short story by American author Vance Aandahl. It was first published in the May 1968 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

Background
Between 1960 and 1964, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (F&SF) published nine stories by Aandahl. His last story for F&SF was "A Crown of Rank Fumiter" in September 1964.

Plot
In gym class, Ernest hides behind twins Balfe and Basil Basset. The enemy team stands on the opposite wall. The gym teacher Miss Argentine places balls on the centre line. There are basketballs, footballs, handballs, softballs, and tennis balls. Each team must remain on their side. No one may cross the centre line. If a ball hits you, you are eliminated. If you catch it, they're eliminated. If it misses, then no one is eliminated. Those eliminated go to the side wall. There are never more than three or four on the winning side. Miss Argentine stands on the side wall. She blows her green whistle. On the other team, Freddy Guymon and Jim Genz reach the balls first. Guymon hits Bobby Graffigna in the knee with a basketball. Genz hits Ben Lee in the neck with a tennis ball, Gerald Francis in the thigh with a softball, and Rae Stalker in the chest with another softball. Ernest's team retreats. The other team continues attacking. Ernest waits for it to be over. He sees the balls' textures. Balfe turns to him. He was hit. Basil sends Balfe to the side wall. Ernest hides behind Basil. He curls up into a ball. He thinks about the wire mesh around the window in the gym. Beyond the window, green smoke melts into the gray fog over the city. His teachers tell him the sky is blue, but there are diamond-winged angels diving from pearl banks to the sun's golden rivers. Basil gets down on one knee. He was hit in the groin. Ernest is exposed. There is nowhere to hide. Everyone is running. Ernest crouches in the corner with his back to the game. He blocks his eyes and ears. He sees a naked boy running down a green slope. Ernest is the naked boy. He lies under flowers for the bears. They come out of tunnels to the river shallows. The bears play in the water. Ernest finds silence. He opens his eyes. Everyone is staring at him. He wonders how he survived the game. Miss Argentine chastises him for not playing. He is embarrassed. She tells everyone to stand on the opposite wall. They will begin a new game. Miss Argentine prepares the balls. She whistles, but Ernest breaks free. He burns a fire against the wall and melts the mesh. The window glass sears. He is far away.

Reception
In 1968, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction editor Edward L. Ferman found it "a tribute to his superior talent." In 1970, Analog Science Fiction and Fact's P. Schuyler Miller noted "Beyond the Game" "has what could be a perfectly straight story about a sensitive, shy boy, faced by the ferocity of a school sports program, who finds a strange way to escape."