Dead Poets Society (13 page)

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 his friends 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 eyes be pressed!’” Hermia returned.

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 the 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 and took 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.

Neil’s mother sat in the corner of the small, stuffy study, her eyes swollen with tears. Mr. Perry sat rigidly at his desk.

The door opened and Neil walked in, still wearing his Puck costume, his eyes also red from crying. He looked toward his mother and started to speak, but his father quickly interrupted.

“Son, I am trying very hard to understand why you insist on defying us, but whatever the reason, I am not going to let you ruin your life. Tomorrow I am withdrawing you from Welton and enrolling you in Braden Military School. You are going to Harvard and you are going to be a doctor.”

Fresh tears welled in Neil’s bloodshot eyes. “Father,” he pleaded, “that’s ten more years. Don’t you see, that’s a lifetime!”

“You have opportunities I never dreamed of!” Mr. Perry shouted. “I won’t let you squander them.” He stalked out of the room.

Neil’s mother looked like she wanted to say something, but she remained silent and followed her husband out of the room.

Neil stood alone, completely drained of emotion, trying not to think about the future his father had just laid out for him.

Rather than walking directly back to Welton, the pledges of the Dead Poets Society decided to go to the cave. Todd, Meeks, Pitts, Charlie and Ginny, and Knox and Chris sat huddled around the blazing candle of the cave god for warmth. Charlie held a half-empty glass of wine, and the empty bottle sat on the ground nearby. The boys stared morosely into the flame, aware that it was a symbol of Neil, who had brought it to the cave.