Place du Pantheon

Words, p.139
But children among themselves detest childish behaviour: they are real men. A man among men, I left the lycée every day with the three Malaquins, Jean, Rene, and Andre, Paul and Norbert Meyre, Brun, Max Bercot, and Grégoire, and we would run about and shout in the Place du Pantheon; it was a moment of serious happiness: I washed my hands of the family comedy. Far from wanting to shine, I echoed their laughter, I repeated their catch-phrases and their jokes, kept quiet, obeyed, and imitated my neighbours' gestures. I had but one passion: to identify myself with them. Curt, tough and cheerful, I felt like steel, free at last from the sin of existing: we used to play ball, between the Hotel des Grands Hommes and the statue of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. I was indispensable: the right man in the right place.