Neil pedaled rapidly through the town square on his way to Henley Hall for
rehearsals. He cruised past the town hall and a row of shops and continued along
the quiet Vermont road until he reached the white brick buildings of Henley Hall.
He slid his bike through the gate and parked it in the rack in front of the
building. As he entered the auditorium, the director called out to him.
“Hurry up, Neil. We can’t do this scene without our Puck.”
Neil smiled and dashed to center stage. He grabbed a stick with a jester’s head
on the end of it from the prop girl and began:
“Yet but three? Come one more;
Two of both kinds makes up four.
Here she comes, curst and sad.—
Cupid is a knavish lad,
Thus to make poor females mad.”
Puck looked toward the floor where a mad Hermia, played by Ginny
Danburry, crawled onto the stage, exhausted and wild-eyed.
The director, a blond teacher in her forties, stopped Ginny as she started her
lines and turned toward Neil. “Good, Neil,” she complimented. “I really get the
feeling your Puck knows he’s in charge. Remember that he takes great delight in
what he’s doing.”
Neil nodded and repeated boldly and impishly: “‘Cupid is a knavish lad, thus
to make poor females mad!’”
“Excellent,” the director said with a smile. “Continue, Ginny.”
Ginny crawled back onto the stage and started her lines:
“Never so weary, never so in woe,
Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briers,
I can no further crawl, no further go …”The director gestured and pointed as the students ran through the scene several
times.
“See you tomorrow,” Neil called when they’d finally finished rehearsals for
the day. He walked to the bike rack in the twilight, his eyes flashing and his face
flushed from the thrill he got from acting. He rode back through the sleepy
Vermont town to Welton Academy, repeating the lines he had practiced for the
past two hours.
Neil approached the Welton gates cautiously, making sure no one was around.
He pumped up the hill to the dorm and parked his bike. As he started into the
building, he spotted Todd huddled motionless on the stone wall.
“Todd?” he called, walking over to get a better look. Todd sat shivering in the
dark without a coat. “What’s going on?” Neil asked, staring at his roommate.
Todd didn’t answer. “Todd, what’s the matter?” Neil said, sitting next to him on
the wall. “It’s freezing out here!”
“It’s my birthday,” Todd said flatly.
“It is?” Neil said. “Why didn’t you tell me? Happy birthday! You get
anything?”
Except for his chattering teeth, Todd sat silent and still. He pointed to a box.
Neil opened it to find the same monogrammed desk set Todd already had in the
room.
“This is your desk set,” Neil said. “I don’t get it.”
“They gave me the exact same thing as last year!” Todd cried. “They didn’t
even remember!”
“Oh,” Neil said in a hushed tone.
“Oh,” Todd mocked.
“Well, maybe they thought you’d need another one, a new one,” Neil
suggested after a long awkward pause. “Maybe they thought …”
“Maybe they don’t think at all unless it’s about my brother!” Todd said
angrily. “His birthday is always a big to-do.” He looked at the desk set and
laughed. “The stupid thing is, I didn’t even like the first one!”
“Look, Todd, you’re obviously underestimating the value of this desk set,”
Neil said flippantly, trying to change the mood.
“What?”
“I mean,” Neil said and tried to smile. “This is one special gift! Who would
want a football or a baseball bat or a car when they could get a desk set as
wonderful as this one!”
“Yeah!” Todd laughed, infected by Neil’s humor. “And just look at this ruler!”They laughed as they both looked at the desk set. By now it was pitch dark
and cold. Neil shivered.
“You know what Dad called me when I was growing up? ‘Five ninety-eight.’
That’s what all the chemicals in the human body would be worth if you bottled
them raw and sold them. He told me that was all I’d ever be worth unless I
worked every day to improve myself. Five ninety-eight.”
Neil sighed and shook his head in disbelief. No wonder Todd is so screwed up,
he thought.
“When I was little,” Todd continued, “I thought all parents automatically
loved their kids. That’s what my teachers told me. That’s what I read in the
books they gave me. That’s what I believed. Well, my parents might have loved
my brother, but they did not love me.”
Todd stood, took a deep anguished breath, and walked into the dorm. Neil sat
motionless on the freezing stone wall, groping for something to say. “Todd …”
he called lamely, as he ran in after his roommate.
“Hey,” Cameron shouted as the boys started into Mr. Keating’s room the next
afternoon. “There’s a note on the board to meet in the courtyard.”
“I wonder what Mr. Keating is up to today.” Pitts grinned expectantly.
The boys raced down the hall and out the door into the chilly courtyard. Mr.
McAllister peered out from his classroom door, shaking his head in annoyance.
“People,” Keating said as the boys gathered around him. “A dangerous
element of conformity has been seeping into your work. Mister Pitts, Cameron,
Overstreet, and Chapman, line up over here please.” He pointed to the four boys
to stand near him. “On the count of four, I want you to begin walking together
around the courtyard. Nothing to think about. No grade here. One, two, three,
go!”
The boys began walking. They walked down one side of the courtyard, across
the back, up the other side, and across the front, completing the square.
“That’s the way,” Keating said. “Please continue.”
The boys walked around the courtyard again as the rest of the class and the
teacher watched. Soon they began to walk in step, a march-like cadence
emanating from the pavement. They continued in a one-two-three-four pattern as
Keating began to clap to the rhythm.
“There it is … Hear it?” he called, clapping louder in time. “One two, one
two, one two, one two … We’re all having fun, in Mr. Keating’s class …”
Sitting in his empty classroom grading papers, McAllister observed thecommotion through the window. The four marchers picked up on their cadence.
They lifted their legs high and swung their arms back and forth, keeping the
rhythm alive. The class joined in clapping out the beat.
Distracted by the clapping and cheering, Dean Nolan put down his work and
peered through the window at the drill-team activity below. Nolan’s eyebrows
furrowed as he frowned at Keating clapping and shouting to the English class.
What in the world are they doing? he wondered.
“All right, stop,” Mr. Keating called to the marchers. “You may have noticed
how at the beginning Misters Overstreet and Pitts seemed to have a different
stride than the others—Pitts with his long lurches, Knox with that light little
bounce—but soon all were walking in the same cadence. Our encouragement
made it even more marked,” he pointed out.
“Now, this experiment was not to single out Pitts or Overstreet. What it
demonstrates is how difficult it is for any of us to listen to our own voice or
maintain our own beliefs in the presence of others. If any of you think you would
have marched differently, then ask yourself why you were clapping. Lads, there
is a great need in all of us to be accepted, but you must trust what is unique or
different about yourself, even if it is odd or unpopular. As Frost said, “‘Two
roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by,/And that has
made all the difference.’”
The bell rang, but the boys remained rooted in their spots, watching Keating
and absorbing his message. Then Keating saluted the class and walked off.
Nolan moved away from his window as the class dispersed. What do I do with
this one? he thought. McAllister, chuckling at Keating’s antics, returned to
grading his papers.
The boys walked from the courtyard to their next class. “We’re meeting at the
cave after dinner,” Cameron said to Neil.
“What time?”
“Seven-thirty.”
“I’ll pass it along,” Neil said as he walked over to Todd.
Later that night, Todd, Neil, Cameron, Pitts, and Meeks sat around a fire in the
cave, warming their hands. A thick fog had moved in, and the trees swayed
noisily from the gusty wind.
“It’s spooky out tonight,” Meeks said with a shiver, moving closer to the fire.
“Where’s Knox?”
“Getting ready for that party,” Pitts chuckled.
“What about Charlie? He’s the one who insisted on this meeting,” Cameronsaid.
The others shrugged. Neil opened the meeting: “‘I went to the woods because
I wanted to live deliberately … to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life
…’” Neil stopped short as he listened to a rustle in the woods. They all heard
something, and it sure wasn’t the wind. Funny, it sounded like a bunch of girls
giggling.
“I can’t see a thing,” a girl’s voice echoed into the cave.
“It’s just over here,” the boys heard Charlie say.
The fire glowed brightly on the faces of the boys surrounding it as Charlie and
two older girls came giggling into the cave.
“Hey, guys,” Charlie said, holding his arm around the shoulder of a pretty
blond, “meet Gloria and …” He hesitated and looked at Gloria’s friend, a plain
girl, with dark hair and green eyes.
“Tina,” she said awkwardly, taking a drink from a can of beer.
“Tina and Gloria,” Charlie said happily, “this is the pledge class of the Dead
Poets Society.”
“It’s such a strange name!” Gloria laughed. “Won’t you tell us what it
means?”
“I told you, it’s a secret,” Charlie said.
“Isn’t he precious?” Gloria oozed as she hugged Charlie affectionately. The
boys looked flabbergasted at these wild, exotic creatures who had entered their
cave. They were obviously older, probably around twenty or so, and the boys all
wondered the same thing—where had Charlie picked them up?
“Guys,” Charlie said, pulling Gloria close to him as the other boys’ eyes
opened even wider, “I have an announcement. In keeping with the spirit of
passionate experimentation of the Dead Poets, I’m giving up the name Charles
Dalton. From now on, call me ‘Nuwanda.’”
The girls giggled; the boys groaned. “You mean I can’t call you Charlie
anymore, honey?” Gloria asked, putting her arms around his neck. “What’s
‘Numama’ mean, sugar?”
“It’s Nuwanda, and I made it up,” Charlie said.
“I’m cold,” Gloria said as she squeezed closer to Charlie.
“Let’s get some more twigs for the fire,” Meeks said.
Charlie shot Meeks a look as he and the other boys left the cave. Charlie
walked to one wall, scraped off some mud and wiped it on his face like an Indian
brave. He gave Gloria a sexy stare and followed the boys off into the forest to
gather some firewood. Tina and Gloria whispered and giggled.As the society pledges were tramping through the woods, Knox Overstreet
bicycled off campus to the Danburry residence. He parked his bike in the bushes
on the side of the house, took off his overcoat, and stuffed it in his saddlebag. He
straightened his tie, leapt up the steps to the front door, and knocked. Loud
music blared from the house, but no one answered the door. He knocked again,
then turned the knob and walked in.
Knox found a wild fraternity party in progress. He saw one couple making out
on the entrance hall couch. Other couples were on chairs, couches, stairs, or on
the floor, oblivious to anyone else around them. Knox stood in the entrance hall,
unsure what to do. Just then he spotted Chris, walking out of the kitchen, her hair
an uncombed mess.
“Chris!” he called.
“Oh, hi,” she said casually. “I’m glad you made it. Did you bring anybody?”
“No,” Knox said.
“Ginny Danburry’s here. Look for her,” Chris said as she started to walk away.
“But, Chris …” Knox shouted over the blasting music.
“I gotta find Chet,” she called back. “Make yourself at home.”
Knox’s shoulders slumped as Chris walked briskly away. He climbed over
couples sprawled on the floor and dejectedly looked around for Ginny Danburry.
Some party, he thought.
Out near the cave at Welton the boys stumbled in darkness, feeling the ground
for twigs and logs.
“Charlie …” Neil hissed.
“It’s Nuwanda.”
“Nuwanda,” Neil said patiently. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing, unless you object to having girls here,” Charlie said.
“Well, of course not,” Pitts said, bumping into Neil. “Sorry. It’s just that …
you should have warned us.”
“I thought I’d be spontaneous,” Charlie whispered. “I mean, that’s the point of
this whole thing, isn’t it?”
“Where’d you find them?” Neil asked.
“They were walking along the fence past the soccer field. Said they were
curious about the school so I invited them to the meeting,” he said matter-of-
factly.
“Do they go to Henley Hall?” Cameron asked.“I don’t think they’re in school,” Charlie said.
“They’re townies?!” Cameron nearly choked.
“Sshh, Cameron, what’s the matter with you?” Charlie said. “You act like
they’re your mother or something. You afraid of them?”
“Hell, no. I’m not afraid of them! It’s just, if we get caught with them, we’re
dead.”
“Say, boys, what’s going on out there?” Gloria called from the cave.
“Just gathering wood,” Charlie called back. “We’re on our way.” Turning to
Cameron, Charlie whispered, “You just keep your mouth shut, jerk-off, and
there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Watch out who you call a jerk-off, Dalton!”
“Oh, calm down, Cameron,” Neil said.
“It’s Nuwanda,” Charlie snapped back as he headed into the cave. The others
followed. Cameron seethed with anger. He watched the boys enter the cave,
waited for a minute, then followed.
They threw their twigs and a log they’d found on the fire, and sat around the
growing flames. “Wonder how Knox is making out.” Pitts laughed.
“Poor guy,” Neil sighed. “He’s probably in for a big disappointment.”
It was a disappointed Knox who wandered through the huge Danburry house
and ended up in the butler’s pantry. Several kids stood talking while one couple
was kissing passionately. Knox tried not to look as the boy’s hands kept moving
up the girl’s skirt, and she kept pushing them away. Knox spotted Ginny
Danburry, and they exchanged embarrassed smiles.
“You Mutt Sanders’s brother?” a huge line-backer-type guy asked Knox as he
mixed a drink.
“No.” Knox shook his head.
“Bubba!” the linebacker called to another huge, drunk jock who leaned
against the refrigerator. “This guy look like Mutt Sanders?”
“You his brother?” Bubba asked.
“No relation,” Knox said. “Never heard of him. Sorry.”
“Say, Steve,” Bubba said to the linebacker, “where’s your manners? Here’s
Mutt’s brother, and you don’t offer him a drink? Want some bourbon?”
“Actually I don’t …” Steve didn’t even hear Knox. He pushed a glass into
Knox’s hand and filled it with bourbon, adding a tiny splash of coke.
Bubba clicked glasses with Knox. “To Mutt,” he said.
“To Mutt,” Steve, the linebacker, echoed. “To … Mutt,” Knox agreed. Bubbaand Steve drained their glasses in one swallow. Knox followed their lead and
burst into a coughing fit. Steve poured everyone more bourbon. Knox felt as if
his whole chest was on fire.
“So what’s Mutt been up to?” Bubba asked.
“Actually,” Knox said, still coughing, “I don’t really … know Mutt.”
“To Mighty Mutt,” Bubba said, holding up his glass.
“To Mighty Mutt,” Steve echoed.
“Mighty … Mutt,” Knox coughed as they drained their glasses again. Knox
continued to cough, and the linebacker knocked him on the back.
“Take it easy there, bud,” he laughed.
“Well, I’d better find Patsy,” Bubba hiccupped as he slapped Knox on the
back. “Say hello to Mutt for me.”
“Will do,” Knox said. He turned to see Ginny smile at him as she wandered
out of the pantry.
“Gimme your glass, bud,” Steve called, pouring Knox more bourbon. Knox
felt his head begin to swim.
The fire blazed inside the cave. The boys and Gloria and Tina sat closely
around the woodpile, mesmerized by the dancing flames. The candle on the head
of the “cave god” sputtered.
“I heard you guys were weird, but not this weird,” Tina said as she looked at
the pitted statue. She pulled out a pint of whiskey and offered some to Neil. He
took it and sipped, trying to act as if it were natural to take a swig. He handed it
back to Tina.
“Go ahead, pass it around,” she said. The fire and the warmth of the whiskey
gave her plain face a pretty, flushed glow.
The bottle went around the circle. Each of them tried to pretend he liked the
bitter taste. Unlike most of the others, Todd managed to keep from coughing as
he swallowed the whiskey down.
“Yeah!” Gloria said, impressed by Todd’s drinking. “Don’t you guys miss
having girls here?” she asked.
“Miss it?” Charlie said. “It drives us crazy! That’s part of what this club is
about. In fact, I’d like to announce that I’ve published an article in the school
paper, in the name of the Dead Poets Society, demanding girls be admitted to
Welton, so we can all stop beating off.”
“You what?” Neil shouted, standing up. “How did you do that?”
“I’m one of the proofers,” Charlie boasted. “I slipped the article in.”“Oh God,” Pitts moaned. “It’s over now!”
“Why?” Charlie asked. “Nobody knows who we are.”
“Don’t you think they’ll figure out who did it?” Cameron shouted. “Don’t you
know they’ll come to you and demand to know what the Dead Poets Society is?
Charlie, you had no right to do something like that!”
“It’s Nuwanda, Cameron.”
“That’s right,” Gloria cooed, putting her arm around Charlie. “It’s Nuwanda.”
“Are we just playing around out here or do we mean what we say? If all we do
is come and read a bunch of poems to each other, what the hell are we doing?”
Charlie demanded.
“You still shouldn’t have done it,” Neil said, pacing around the cave. “You
don’t speak for the club.”
“Hey, would you stop worrying about your precious little necks,” Charlie said.
“If they catch me, I’ll tell them I made it up. All your asses are safe. Look,
Gloria and Tina didn’t come here to listen to us argue. Are we gonna have a
meeting or what?”
“Yeah. How do we know if we want to join if you don’t have a meeting?”
Neil raised his eyebrows questioningly at Charlie. “Join?” he asked.
Charlie ignored him and turned to Tina. “‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s
day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate—’”
Tina melted into warm goo. “Oh, that’s so sweet!” she cried, and threw her
arms around Charlie. The other boys tried to appear disinterested, as if they
weren’t really jealous.
“I wrote that for you,” Charlie told Tina.
Her eyes popped in delight. “You did?!”
“I’ll write one for you, too, Gloria,” he said quickly, noticing her face turn red
with envy. He closed his eyes. “‘She walks in beauty, like the night …’”
Charlie opened his eyes after the first few words and stood up from the fire.
Trying to cover up his forgetfulness, he walked across the cave. “‘She walks in
beauty, like the night,’” he repeated. He turned his back, opened a book, and read
quickly to himself, while Gloria watched expectantly. He closed it, put the book
down, and turned back to Gloria. “‘Of cloudless climes and starry skies;/ And all
that’s best of dark and bright/Meet in her aspect and her eyes.’”
Gloria squealed with delight. “Isn’t he wonderful?”
The other boys sat ashen-faced and seething with jealousy over Charlie’s
escapades. Gloria squeezed Charlie tight.At that same moment, Knox Overstreet was experiencing some jealousy of his
own as he stumbled through the crowded Danburry house. “Boy, were those
guys right,” he mumbled to himself as he thought of Chris and Chet and
remembered his friends’ warning not to get his hopes too high over Chris.
The house was dark, illuminated only by the moonlight streaming through the
windows. Music by the Drifters played loudly. Couples were intertwined
everywhere, making out.
Drink in hand, Knox tripped over a couple on the floor, tipsy from the
innumerable bourbons without coke that he had downed with Bubba and Steve.
“Hey!” an angry voice shouted. “Watch where you’re going! What’d ya have,
too much to drink, buddy?”
