Dedication
The applause subsided as famed author and graduate of Castle Rock High Gordie Lachance stood and took his place behind the rostrum after his introduction. He cleared his throat, not from being nervous, but to give him time to compose himself as he battled emotions and memories of life at the school.
"You'll have to excuse me" he started "but even as a famous writer, I seem to have forgotten to bring the notes I, er, took so long to write out." Many in the audience chucked. "But this is non-fiction, so I don't have to rely on character notes and plot outlines. I have been asked to speak at the official dedication of the new science building today. Naturally, what better person to speak at such a grand occasion than someone who only got a 'C' in chemistry because he spelled his name right and guessed enough of the answers on the final to pass." The crowd was laughing now.
"My teacher, Mr. Paul Yams, is here today. He assured me beforehand that even with having so many students in the years before he retired, he still remembers my mediocrity very well." Gordie pointed out the teacher, who rose slowly from his seat at the front and waved at the audience before giving a slight bow to the speaker. "So it's only fitting today that I don't want to talk about science specifically. Don't worry, we'll work science into it before we're done" he assured them.
He mentally settled into his task and continued. "My first exposure to science, oddly enough, was with Mr. Yams. He was the science teacher when my older brother Denny was a student here." Denny Lachance was a good student in all his subjects, a talented football player, and all around nice guy. Despite attracting all the hopes and dreams of his parents, he always tried to extol the achievements and potential of his younger brother to family and friends. After graduation he enlisted in the military, expecting to use G.I. Bill benefits to go to college and start a career. His plan was tragically cut short by his death in a Jeep accident in 1959. Gordie's parents had lost their older child, and Gordie himself lost the single most influential person in his life.
Gordie continued. "My brother loved science, and used to tell me about some of the experiments Mr. Yams would have the class perform. He would disappear into his back storage room, shut the door, and emerge minutes later with odd apparatus or unknown mixtures that the students were tasked to solve. He would give some preliminary suggestions and then sit back and observe the students either succeed, or fail with spectacular effect. Naturally this did nothing but enthrall and scare the living daylights out of me."
"After my brother graduated, he…made plans to leave town and continue life's journey abroad. With me in tow, he took one last visit to Castle Rock High and checked in with Mr. Yams, who was in his classroom at the time. I was introduced, and then sat as they conversed for a short time. At my brother's request, Mr. Yams led him over to the backroom door. I swear I could see a mischievous glint in his eye as they both disappeared inside. I could hear voices, some tinkering of metal and glass, and various jar lids being opened and closed. After quite a few minutes, they both came out again with large grins on their faces. Mr. Yams asked if I wanted to see what was in the room, but before I could gleefully accept my brother interrupted and said we had to be moving on. He thanked Mr. Yams profusely, and we left to go home again."
Gordie continued. "After we got home, my brother took me into his room and we sat on his bed; he could read my face like a book, knew that I was disappointed, and apologized. I told him it was okay, that we couldn't stay there all day and that someday I could look when Mr. Yams was my teacher. But then he said the most extraordinary thing." Gordie changed his voice to mimic his brother.
"The reason I didn't want you to go back there, he said, is that you might ruin it. Ruin what, I said, I'd be careful not to knock anything over. No, my brother explained, you'd ruin the magic. I watched you when I used to tell you about the things that came out of that room and what we did with them. I wasn't telling you about chemicals and Bunsen burners; I was telling you about potions, elixirs, magical brews and enchanted flames. I didn't have pages of formulas; they were wondrous incantations passed down through secret tome and hushed whispers."
"I told him I didn't understand. You have a wonderful gift of imagination, he said, one that I or most others can never have. You create, you change, you see things that we never will. That's a good thing, so don't you worry about it. But don't ruin it by only trying to see everything the way it is or you could lose that gift. Leave that work to those who revel in discovering and measuring that which is, describing everything down to its smallest minute detail. That is a noble pursuit as well, just not your special destiny."
"So what you're saying is I shouldn't spend so much time looking at paper, wood and glue when I should be thinking about how the kite those things could make will rescue a family stuck on an island? My brother paused for a moment and then pulled my hat over my eyes. See, he said, you've got an imagination AND you're smart. Aint nothing you can't do, kid."
Gordie paused in his story, lost for words as he brought himself back to the moment. "So today, we dedicate the new science building. Hopefully, one that will have a very nice, mysterious back room full of all sorts unknown experiments for the students; students that hopefully will do better in their work than I did so many years ago. See, I told you we'd get back to science eventually." The crowd laughed again. "But the important thing is this, something that my brother probably understood but didn't have the time or opportunity to convey to his little brother: imagination has its place in the world of science too. Discovery and measurement, description and cataloging may take up a great deal of a scientist's time, but it is imagination that points you in the direction you steer your efforts. Even if you're not imagining a new discovery, maybe you're imagining a better way to do something."
"When my brother was in school, man hadn't been in space yet even through writers had imagined it in story already. But scientists imagined it could happen, and imagined ways to do it. Support imagination. Support the spirit of imagination. Support those that imagine. Because every imagination,,,needs that one special supporter. Thank you" he concluded.
Gordie returned to seat and didn't look up for some time.
The End
A/N: Another one of my stories based on a briefly seen or fleeting relationship between two characters in a movie. In this case, it was the bonding that Gordie had with his brother Denny, shown only in flashback.
I tied it in with an actual experience I had after graduation, where a friend and I visited our high school science teacher. My friend asked and visited the back room, but I refused because I wanted it to remain magical and mysterious. Years later, when the teacher retired, they cleaned out the back room with help from a hazmat team proving it was also a bit dangerous…