Knox flew out of Ridgeway High and raced back to Welton as fast as he
could, riding against the blinding snow and over the icy roads. Back on campus,
his friends were just finishing their class with Mr. Keating. They were huddled
around Keating’s desk, laughing, when the bell rang.
“That’s it, gentlemen,” Keating said, snapping his book shut. Several of the
boys groaned, wishing they didn’t have to move on to Mr. McAllister’s Latin
class.
“Neil, could I see you a moment?” the teacher called, as the boys gathered
their books and headed out the door.
Neil and Keating waited until the others had left. “What did your father say?
Did you talk to him?” Keating asked.
“Yeah,” Neil lied.
“Really?” Keating said excitedly. “You told your father what you told me?
You let him see your passion for acting?”
“Yeah.” Neil felt the lie grow bigger. “He didn’t like it one bit, but at least he’s
letting me stay in the play. Of course, he won’t be able to come. He’ll be in
Chicago on business. But I think he’s gonna let me stay with acting. As long as I
keep my grades up.”
Neil avoided Mr. Keating’s eyes. He was so embarrassed by the lie that he
didn’t even hear what the teacher said to him. He grabbed his books and said he
had to run, while Keating stood looking after him, puzzled.
When Knox finally reached campus he ditched his bike near the kitchen at the
rear of the main classroom building and raced inside, cold but triumphant. He
stopped for a moment to enjoy the warmth and smell of the huge cooking area,
and helped himself to a sweet roll that had just come out of the oven. He ran into
the corridor just as classes were changing and immediately spotted the gang.
“How’d it go?” Charlie asked. “Did you read it to her?”
“Yep!” Knox grinned, swallowing the last of the sweet roll.“All right!” Pitts slapped him on the back in congratulations. “What did she
say?”
“I don’t know,” Knox replied.
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Charlie was puzzled.
The boys surrounded Knox before he could escape and ushered him into a
classroom, closing the door behind them. “Okay, Knox,” Charlie ordered, “start
from the beginning.”
That night, the boys milled around the dorm lobby waiting to go to Henley
Hall with Mr. Keating for the production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Knox
slumped on a chair by himself, still bewildered by his encounter with Chris,
exhilarated and confused at the same time.
“Where’s Nuwanda?” Meeks asked. “If we don’t hurry we’re going to miss
Neil’s entrance!”
“He said something about getting red before he left,” Pitts said, shaking his
head.
“What does that mean?” Cameron asked.
“You know Charlie,” Pitts laughed, just as Nuwanda scampered down the
stairs.
“What’s this getting red?” Meeks asked. Charlie checked around. He opened
his shirt and revealed a red lightning bolt painted on his chest.
“What’s it for?” Todd wanted to know.
“It’s an Indian warrior symbol for virility. Makes me feel potent. Like I can
drive girls crazy.”
“But what if they see it, Nuwanda?” Pitts asked.
Charlie winked. “So much the better!”
“You are crazy!” Cameron said as the group headed out of the lobby. As they
neared the door, they passed Chris, who was just walking in.
Knox nearly fainted. “Chris!” Knox’s heart began to beat wildly.
“Knox, why are you doing this to me?” Chris cried.
Knox looked around. “You can’t be here!” he said, pushing her into a corner.
Mr. Keating came down the hall, ready to go, and joined the group of boys at
the door. “Come on, fellows,” he said with a smile, and they left.
“I’ll be right there,” Knox called after them, and he ushered Chris out of the
building into the snowy night.
“If they catch you here, we’ll both be in big trouble,” Knox said, his teeth
chattering from the cold.“Oh, but it’s fine for you to come barging into my school and make a
complete fool out of me?” she shouted.
“Sshh, be quiet. Listen. I didn’t mean to make a fool of you,” he apologized.
“Well, you did! Chet found out, and he’s nuts. It took everything I could do to
keep him from coming here and killing you. You have to stop this stuff, Knox!”
“But I love you.”
“You say that over and over, but you don’t even know me!”
In the distance, Keating and the boys, waiting in the school station wagon,
honked for Knox. “Go ahead, I’ll walk,” he yelled, and the car pulled away. “Of
course I know you!” Knox said, turning back to Chris. “From the first time I saw
you I knew you had a wonderful soul.”
“Just like that?” she asked.
“Of course just like that. That’s how you always know when it’s right.”
“And if it so happens that you’re wrong? If it just so happens that I couldn’t
care less about you?”
“Then you wouldn’t be here warning me about Chet,” Knox pointed out.
Chris thought this over. “Look,” she said, “I’ve got to go. I’m gonna be late
for the play.”
“Are you going with Chet?”
“With Chet, to a play? Are you kidding?”
“Then let’s go together,” Knox suggested.
“Knox, you are so infuriating.”
“Just give me one chance. If you don’t like me after tonight, I’ll stay away
forever.”
“Uh-huh,” Chris said with a cynical smile.
“I promise. Dead Poets Honor. Come with me tonight. Then, if you don’t want
to see me again, I swear I’ll bow out.”
Chris hesitated. “God, if Chet found out he’d …”
“Chet won’t know anything,” Knox promised. “We’ll sit in the back and sneak
away as soon as it’s over.”
“Knox, if you promise that this will be the end of it …”
“Dead Poets Honor,” he said, raising his hand.
“What is that?”
“My word.” He crossed his heart with his fingers and looked sincerely at
Chris. She sighed as he led her reluctantly off toward Henley Hall.
Knox and Chris entered the high-school auditorium long after Mr. Keating and
the other students had taken seats in front. They sat in the back and when hisfriends spotted him with Chris they shot him gestures of encouragement.
On stage, the performance had begun. Sporting a crown of flowers, Neil made
his grand entrance as Puck, and the Dead Poets Society cheered him loudly. Neil
scanned the audience with a momentary look of fear. Todd crossed his fingers.
“‘How now, spirit! Whither wander you?’” Neil began as Puck.
“‘Over hill, over dale, thorough bush, thorough brier …’” an actor playing a
fairy responded. Mr. Keating glanced at the boys in the audience and gave a
thumbs up signal for Neil.
“‘Thou speak’st aright;/I am that merry wanderer of the night. /I jest to
Oberon, and make him smile, / When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile, /
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal …’”
Neil’s friends watched him intently as he delivered his lines with skill and
ease, enjoying every moment, getting laughs in all the right places. Todd sat
mouthing the lines with him as if this might help Neil get through it. But Neil
needed no help.
“He’s good! He’s really good!!” Charlie whispered excitedly to his friends.
The play continued with the characters of Lysander and Hermia. Ginny
Danburry played Hermia, dressed in an eye-catching costume of leaves and
twigs.
“‘One turf shall serve as pillow for us both; / One heart, one bed, two bosoms,
and one troth.’”
“‘Nay, good Lysander, for my sake, my dear,/Lie further off yet; do not lie so
near,’” Ginny replied as Hermia.
Charlie flipped through the program looking for the name of the girl playing
Hermia. “Ginny Danburry! She’s beautiful!” he sighed as his eyes returned to
her leaves and twigs.
“‘But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy /Lie further off, in human modesty;
/ Such separation as may well be said / Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid,
/ So far be distant; and, good night, sweet friend. /Thy love ne’er alter till thy
sweet life end!’” Ginny recited.
Charlie sat enraptured by her. As Ginny and Lysander played their scene, Neil
stood in the wings looking out. Suddenly, he spotted his father enter the rear of
the auditorium and stand at the back. His pulse quickened but his expression
remained calm.
On stage, Lysander and Ginny completed their scene. “‘Here is my bed. Sleep
give thee all his rest!’” Lysander said.
“‘With half that wish the wisher’s The pair lay down on the stage, and their characters went to sleep. A musical
interlude signaled Puck’s re-entry to the scene.
Neil moved in the wordless lyrical revelry uninhibited, joyful, magical. The
other characters appeared in the slow motion interlude as well. Hermia, glowing
brightly, held Charlie spellbound. Mr. Keating, Todd, and the other boys sat
awed and delighted by the whole production. Knox missed most of the show
because he stared at Chris in complete rapture, and trying hard not to show it,
Chris found herself becoming infatuated with Knox as well.
As the musical interlude ended, Neil stood alone on the stage as Puck. He
addressed the entire audience but directed his words toward his father, who had
remained standing at the rear of the auditorium.
“If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend;
If you pardon, we will mend.
And as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearnèd luck
Now to scape the serpent’s tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call.
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.”
The curtain fell on Neil’s closing monologue, and the audience burst into
enthusiastic applause. The boys had dispelled all doubt of Neil’s talent as an
actor, and as they rose to a standing ovation, the entire audience followed suit,
cheering Neil and the cast through extra curtain calls.
The actors took their bows one by one. Ginny received great applause, and she
smiled at Charlie, who applauded and shouted bravos extra loudly. Knox smiled
at Chris and stopped clapping to take her hand. Chris did not resist.
When Neil came out and took his bows, his friends cheered wildly. After theeyes be pressed!’” Hermia returned.applause, the members of the cast came out into the auditorium and mingled
with the audience. Several people rushed to the stage to offer their
congratulations.
“Family and friends may meet cast members in the lobby, please!” the director
called over the microphone.
“Neil!” Todd and the others called. “We’ll meet you in the lobby. You were
great!”
Onstage, Ginny Danburry was mobbed by well-wishers. Charlie ignored the
director’s announcement and leapt onto the stage. “You were great!” he heard
another boy tell her. He noticed that Lysander had his arm around Ginny.
“Congratulations, Ginny!” Lysander said, hugging her. Undaunted, Charlie
pushed his way over to Ginny.
“Bright light shines from your eyes,” he said with total sincerity. Ginny saw
that he meant it and smiled back. They stared into each other’s eyes until finally
Lysander smiled awkwardly and moved away.
Backstage, in the boys’ dressing room, the jubilant cast carried Neil on their
shoulders in praise of his performance. After a moment of celebration, the
director entered the dressing room, a worried look on her face.
“Neil,” she whispered in a hushed tone. “Your father.” Neil hopped off the
shoulders of his friends and followed her out, stopping in the wings to put on his
coat. He saw his father standing at the back of the auditorium and paused. Neil
stepped off the stage, and, taking off the headpiece as he walked, he slowly
approached his father.
Charlie spotted Neil. “Neil?” he called. But Neil did not answer. Then Charlie
saw Neil join his father, and sensing that something was wrong, he grabbed
Ginny’s hand and led her off the stage.
Keating and the gang were waiting for Neil in the lobby. “Hey everybody, this
is Chris,” Knox said, joining them.
“Whoa, we’ve heard a lot about you!” Meeks said as Knox stared him down.
“I mean … you know … I mean …” Meeks stammered.
Suddenly, the door to the lobby burst open, and Mr. Perry led Neil like a
prisoner out of the auditorium toward the front door. Charlie and Ginny came out
behind them. People in the crowds yelled congratulations at Neil. Stuck behind
the throng, Todd tried to reach his friend.
“Neil, that was great! Neil!” Todd shouted.
“We’re having a party!” Knox called.
Neil turned around. “It’s no use,” he said sadly. Mr. Keating reached Neil andtook him by the shoulders.
“Neil, you were brilliant!” Keating beamed.
Mr. Perry pushed Keating’s hands away. “You! Keep away from him!” Mr.
Perry shouted. A stunned silence followed his harsh words. He led Neil outside
to his car and pushed him in. Charlie started to follow them outside, but Keating
held him back.
“Don’t make it any worse than it is,” he said sadly.
Mr. Perry started the car and pulled off. Through the car window, Neil looked
like a prisoner being taken to his execution.
“Neil!” Todd screamed as the car drove away.
Stunned, the members of the Dead Poets Society stood silently in the lobby.
Charlie walked over to Mr. Keating. “Is it okay if we walk back?” he asked.
“Sure,” Keating said, chilled with sympathy, as he watched the “Dead Poets,”
along with Chris and Ginny, leave the lobby and walk out into the cold, dark
night.
