Choreography: a short story

A willful young marine watches a mesmerizing scene unfold on an elementary school field.

from Choreography: 

"Running hard produced pain, and pain jilted weakness he believed. It squelched it dry. It made every stride subject to the will. That's what his training taught him. Thus he ran hard and harder, willing himself forward, driving out weakness, and only within eyesight of the school did he begin to waver. The last length of the road was newly paved and effused a stinking tarry heat that wearied all his movement. Near the end of it he slowed down and pulled off the road into the large field in front of the elementary school."