Chapter 3
"Bullheaded Man"
Taking up on Keating's offer, Mrs. Perry accompanied her deceased son's former teacher to a café not far from the motel where Mrs. Perry had been staying.
"This is really nice of you, Mr. Keating," she remarked. "I've still been trying to come to terms with why Neil did what he did. Thomas is such a SOB that our family has been destroyed because of him, but he thinks otherwise."
"Has he always been like this?" asked Keating.
"No," answered Mrs. Perry. "But, after the war, he changed to a set minded man. I don't know why, but every time he sees or hears of activities that Welton offers, he calls them garbage and propaganda. I tried to get him to see sense, but he threatens to punish me if I didn't do things his way. Thomas believes that if Neil were to follow the path he wanted to follow, then he would be getting nowhere in life."
"And he thinks that I teach garbage and propaganda, is that it?" remarked Keating, a hint of insult in his voice. "Teaching young boys like Neil to embrace their true feelings is not garbage and propaganda, it's getting them to open up their true destinies. Neil would have been perfectly fine as an actor, Mrs. Perry, wouldn't you agree with me?"
Mrs. Perry considered her feelings for a moment and then took a deep sigh.
"Yes, I think he would have made a great actor and he would have made twice as much as a doctor," she said, her voice filled with hurt. "All I wanted for Neil is for him to be happy, Mr. Keating. But, Thomas denied that. I can no longer be married to a man who takes happiness away. By taking away Neil's happiness, he took away my happiness as well as the happiness of his own family. What's more is he took away the chance to live a healthy and happy life with me, the woman he married."
Mr. Keating absorbed every single word that was spoken to him and deep down, he began to plan something, a plan to shatter Thomas Perry's way of life to pieces in his own creative manner.
"So, what are you going to do now?"
"I don't know, Mr. Keating," sighed Mrs. Perry. "But, I am going to divorce Thomas. Our marriage is over whether he likes it or not and I will never forgive him for this, Mr. Keating. He can try as he wants, but I am not going to be tolerate his ways anymore."
"That's entirely up to you, Mrs. Perry," said Mr. Keating, taking a sip of coffee. "God understands what you wish to do and perhaps more than ever, you need his guidance. What's more is you have my support."
Knowing that she had found a strong ally, Mrs. Perry got up and left the diner leaving Keating alone. Watching her hail a taxi, Keating then proceeded to concoct his plan to get Thomas Perry to open up.
…
Meanwhile, at the town cemetery, the funeral for Neil was at an end. His casket was lowered into the earth as the priest finished with the last rites. All Thomas could do was stand at the open grave of his only son.
"Neil, why was a little obedience so difficult for you to follow?" he asked, looking down at the soon-to-be buried casket. "You could have been someone as a doctor, made a lot of money, raised a family, but no. You just wanted to follow a radical in John Keating, didn't you? Well, it's too late now. You've destroyed your family, destroyed your mother and destroyed me. I hope you are happy now."
Thomas then threw a handful of dirt into the grave before turning around and walking away. He seemed like a broken man, but he wasn't. He was more angry than sad that all of his plans were ruined, his son was dead and his wife had left him.
"Damn it, why is obedience so hard to follow?" Thomas thought to himself as he left the cemetery. "All I want is to not have radicals trying to change our way of life, that's all. It's up to men like me to raise today's generation according to the laws of our country. We cannot have garbage and some people just don't understand that garbage is garbage."
Just then, Thomas then drove by a park and saw what appeared to be a play going on. It was Midsummer Night's Dream, the play that Neil was involved in.
"Garbage," he muttered as he drove off. "Nothing but garbage and false propaganda. We got into Germany's mess because of this garbage."
Soon, Thomas returned to the home he was now living in by himself. Once he got inside, he slammed the door and walked through the ruins of his home's destruction that he himself had caused.
"Damn it, Neil! Why could you just shut your mouth and obeyed me, your father? If you had only just done as you were told, you could have had it all, son!"
"Because I didn't want to do as you were told," said a voice and Thomas gasped at the sound of another voice in his presence. "I had a dream to be on the stage and because of you, dad, I gave up life on this Earth to be in the great stage of heaven. Why did you want me to become a doctor in the first place?"
"Because I am the boss of this family and I refuse to allow someone like yourself throw something like a career in medicine away," answered Thomas. "Neil, you disobeyed me by believing in the false propagandas of a madman instead of me, your own father!"
Suddenly, Thomas heard footsteps creeping towards him and then saw a shadow of someone walking towards him.
"Who's there?" he demanded, hastily racing over to grab a butcher's knife. "Come out, I say! Come out or I will call the police!"
The figure causing the shadows stepped out from behind the other room and revealed himself to be none other than John Keating.
"Keating, you son of a bitch," snarled Thomas, putting the knife back onto the counter. "If my house wasn't stenched with death, then I would kill you myself for what you did to my family."
"Kill me and the pain will only get worse, Mr. Perry," said Keating, clearly unfazed by Thomas' anger. "I know you must hate me for ruining your family, but you need to know that Neil had every right to follow his dreams."
"I DO HATE YOU, KEATING!" screamed Thomas, his eyes widened with anger. "My son's blood is on your hands, Keating, not mine! You brainwashed my son into believing that radicalism is the right path to follow."
"Radicalism?" remarked Keating, completely unfazed as he walked towards Thomas. "Was what I was teaching Neil radicalism? I have to disagree with you, Mr. Perry. Why is it that you wouldn't let your only son seize the day, follow his dreams to becoming an actor? Why is it hard to let someone do what their heart's desire? Neil's desire was to become an actor, not a doctor, but you just can't see it and when he killed himself, the blood is on your hands, but you refused to believe it."
"Get out," barked Thomas, reaching over to grab the butcher's knife. "Get out, Keating! Get out before I stab you with this!"
But, no matter what Thomas would try to do, Keating was not going to leave until he made Thomas Perry see the error of his ways…
