𝐉𝐎𝐈𝐄 𝐃𝐄 𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐑𝐄, c.d.

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE | O CAPTAIN
The students were seated in their desks silently, as the door opened. They quickly stood as Mr. Nolan enters the room, Cove fixing her skirt.

"Sit." The students sat once again as Mr. Nolan walked to the front of the room. "I'll be teaching this class through exams. We'll find a permanent English teacher during the break. Who will tell me where you are in the Pritchard textbook?" Everyone looked at each other as Mr. Nolan looked at Todd. "Mr. Anderson?"

"Uh, in the, in the Pr-" Mr. Nolan looked up at the boy through his glasses, telling him that he couldn't hear what he was saying. "In the, in the, in the Pritchard?"

"Kindly inform me, Mr. Cameron." Knox turned his head a little bit, looking at his younger sister as she fiddled with her thumbs. He noticed the way she would take quick glances at Charlie's empty desk, his heart breaking.

"We skipped around a lot, sir. We covered the Romantics and some of the chapters on Post Civil War literature." Mr. Nolan nodded his head, looking at the red head, asking about the realists. "I believe we skipped most of that, sir."

"All right, then, we'll start over. What is poetry?" A knock on the door grabbed the students attention, Mr. Nolan telling whoever it was to come in. The students looked back as the door as it opened.

"Excuse me. I came for my personals. Should I come back after class?"

"Get them now, Mr. Keating." The younger man nodded as he walked to his back office that was no longer his.

"Gentlemen, and Ms. Overstreet, turn to page 21 of the introduction. Mr. Cameron, read aloud the excellent essay by Dr. Pritchard on Understanding Poetry." Todd slowly closed his book as Mr. Keating opened the door to the tiny
room off the classroom.

"That page has been ripped out, sir." Mr. Nolan looked away from the book, telling Cameron to borrow someone else's books. "They're all ripped out, sir."

"What do you mean, they're all ripped out?"

"We took the pages and ripped them out. It's not difficult to understand." Mr. Nolan glared at Cove as he told her to watch her manners and attitude. Mr. Nolan took his own book over to Cameron's desk and then slapped the open page.

"Read!" As Cameron began to read, Mr. Keating looked out of his office at Todd as he put his scarf on. Todd looked at him for a moment before glancing away.

"Understanding Poetry by Dr. J Evans Pritchard, Ph.D. To fully understand poetry, we must first be fluent with its meter, rhyme and figures of speech, then ask two questions. How artfully has the objective of the poem been rendered and..." The door squeaked as Mr. Keating shut it behind him, making Cameron pause. "How important is that objective? Question one rates the poem's perfection; question two rates its importance. And once these questions have been answered, determining the poem's greatness becomes a relatively simple matter. If the poem's score for perfection is plotted on the horizontal of a graph--" Mr. Keating passed by Todd and the others, getting to the back of the classroom before Todd leaped up from his seat, turning to face him.

"Mr. Keating! They made everybody sign it." Mr. Nolan got up from his desk and approached Todd.

"Quiet, Mr. Anderson."

"You gotta believe me. It's true." The older man grinned, nodding his head in understanding as Cove watched, not knowing what to do or say.

"I do believe you, Todd."

"Leave, Mr. Keating." Todd shook his head, looking like he was on the brink of tears, telling him it wasn't his fault. "Sit down, Mr. Anderson!" Todd reluctantly returned to his seat. "One more outburst from you or anyone else, and you're out of this school! Leave, Mr. Keating." Mr. Keating hesitated for a moment at the door. "I said leave, Mr. Keating." The man slowly turned and headed to the door as Todd stood up on his desk, turning to Mr. Keating.

"O Captain! My Captain!"

"Sit down, Mr. Anderson!" Mr. Keating paused at the door, looking back at Todd who stood on his desk. "Do you hear me? Sit down! Sit down! This is your final warning, Anderson. How dare you? Do you hear me?" After a moment of indecision, Knox climbed up onto his desk.

"O Captain! My Captain!"

"Mr. Overstreet, I warn you! Sit down!" Knox looked down at his sisters desk, smiling as he nodded his head. The girl grinned at her older brother, getting up onto her desk.

"O Captain! My Captain!"

"Ms. Overstreet, sit down, young lady!" Pitts climbed up onto his desk, followed by several others, including Meeks. "Sit down! Sit down. All of you. I want you seated. Sit down. Leave, Mr. Keating." More students stood up on their desks until half the class was standing. "All of you, down. I want you seated. Do you hear me? Sit down!" Mr. Keating stood in the doorway, staring up at the boys and Cove in wonder as a smile appeared on his face.

"Thank you."