Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Dead Poets Society... I am just inspired by it.

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The next three weeks pass quickly, as all the teachers begin reviewing the year's work for our coming final exams. It isn't a pass weekend, but Chris told Knox that she'd gotten a letter packet from the Captain when he called her yesterday, and that she'd come up for a little while today to bring them. Knox told us to wait in various places around the grounds, so that he and Chris could take a stroll and deliver our letters as they walked.

So Todd and I head to the lake, to go rowing again. Mr. McAllister, on duty in the boathouse once more, comments to Todd, "You should be rowing instead of playing soccer, lad, I've watched you do both and your heart is on the water."

Todd shrugs. "I want to, sir," he says. "But my parents made me do soccer when I started at Balincrest, because my brother played soccer in school. Dean Nolan assigned me to soccer this year based on my records there. And, well, I wasn't very good at speaking up, when I first started here."

McAllister frowns a bit. "That... hmm," he looks thoughtful for a moment. "Tell you what, lad, I'll not likely be able to get you out of soccer if that's what your parents want for you. But I will talk to Dean Nolan about letting you do both next year, if you'd like."

"I would, sir, and thank you," Todd says.

McAllister gives him a remarkably friendly grin. "You've taken your punishment quite well, if you ask me," he says, dropping his voice a bit. "I thought the Dean was a bit harsh on you, lad, but saying so didn't do any good. Still, you've bucked up and made no complaint. I'm glad to see you've found a good friend in Mr. Cameron here." His grin widens to include me. Then he drops his voice almost to a whisper. "I've been in contact with another friend of yours," he tells Todd. "An older friend. He's still teaching, and he'll be getting married come summer. I don't dare tell you more, lad, but I thought you might like to know."

Todd almost chokes at that. Fortunately, McAllister interprets it as surprise, as opposed to the smothered laughter I think it is. "I... I'm glad to hear that," Todd manages after a moment.

"Aye, I thought you might be," McAllister nods. "And you lads will not be telling anyone this, right?"

"No, sir," we both promise as he shoves the scull away from the dock. We pull as hard as we can to the far side of the lake before breaking into laughter.

Knox and Chris are waiting for us in the dockside gazebo on the "pretty" end of the lake... as opposed to the "working" end where the boathouse is... and they grin to see us laughing as we pull up by the dock. "What's so funny?" Knox wants to know as they step out to meet us.

"McAllister," Todd replies with a grin. "He's not so bad, when he's not declining nouns at us." He leaves it at that.

Knox nods. "I know what you mean. He shows signs of being human once in a while."

Chris extracts a pair of letters from her purse and hands them to us. "Enjoy the reading, you two," she tells us. "We still have to meet up with Stephen and Gerald at the chapel. I'll probably see you once more before school ends, since Knox wants me here on the last day to meet his parents before summer, but in case we miss each other, have a good vacation, and I'll see you when you come back next fall. I'm sure you'll have letters waiting." She smiles, then she and Knox join hands and amble off towards the chapel.

Tempting as it is to start reading immediately, Todd and I pocket the letters and row a couple more circuits of the lake, then return the scull and oars to McAllister before finding a place to sit and read. We end up on the bleachers overlooking the track and football field. There are a few other groups of people there, studying or just hanging out since the weather is so nice, but no one is bothering anyone else. We climb to the top and lean back against the railing as we pull out our letters and begin reading.

Dear Richard,

Be on time and sober, eh? I hate to break it to you, but there is a little bit more than that involved in planning a wedding, even if the bride does handle most of the work. After all, I have a honeymoon to plan. Jessica is a great nature-lover, so I'm thinking of renting a cabin at Yellowstone National Park, or perhaps somewhere to the north of here, among the giant redwoods. I'm leaning towards Yellowstone, though, as we can simply drive up the coast to see the redwoods at any time.

Your planned vacation on Martha's Vineyard sounds wonderful as well. If I was still on the east coast, I would consider either there or Nantucket for the honeymoon. But as I'm not... I think geysers make an acceptable substitute for sea spray, don't you? I'm glad to hear that you and Todd will get to spend so much time together over the summer. I hope your vacation works out exactly as I'm sure you've planned it.

And I'm glad to know that you found my information on UC useful. Because if there's one thing definite in this world, it's that you can make much, much more of yourselves with an education than without one. I'm glad you're thinking far enough ahead to understand the difficulties you will face because of your relationship, and that you're already making plans to deal with the potential problems that we all know are likely to result.

On that note, if the worst should happen at some point next year, I want you to wire me immediately. I'm telling Todd the same thing. I don't want to hear that either of you... tried to resolve a problem the way Neil did. I wish I had known just how bad it was for him. I would have tried to do something... anything... to have kept him alive. Yes, including helping him to run away from home. If you two are found out and expelled, contact me. At the very least, I'll wire you enough money for a train ticket out here, and help you find work of some sort.

Your Captain,

John Keating.

Todd and I put our letters down at the same time and exchange a wide-eyed glance. All either of us can think of to say is, "Damn!"