"James van Pelt - Nor a Lender Be" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pelt James Van)

interaction,
the game with the things he loved and the class, like opening a great oak
door
between them and the material, and he remembered again the first time he’d
really understood Hamlet, facing the ghost on the stage, talking into the
darkness, "King, Father, royal Dane. Oh, answer me! Let me not burst in
ignorance."
William shivered. Literature struck him so immediately. He could feel it in
the
air, shimmering out of the texts on their desks. He said, "What if I were
angry
with someone and wanted to call him a name? Can any of you give me an insult?"
Jason, a skinny, pale boy said, "Bloody, bawdy villain! Remorseless,
treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!"
"Ouch," said William, grinning, as he stuck an imaginary dagger in his chest.
Several students laughed.
Just as strong in room as the presence of Shakespeare were the kids, all of
them
awake for a moment in this play. William felt like a friendly conductor,
punching their tickets on the Hamlet express. They’d boarded as they always
did–a bit full of the world, distracted and fragmented, but the rocking of
the
iambic rails had lulled them into receptiveness. William had played Polonius
for
them at the beginning of class. He’d said, "I do know, when the blood burns,
how
prodigal the soul lends the tongue vows."
They’d been caught. By the time he’d gone back to "Neither a borrower nor a
lender be," they’d dropped every concern they’d brought to class. It was just
them and Shakespeare and William playing three-cornered catch. He closed his
eyes to feel it washing over him, and he almost forgot for a moment what they
had been doing until Rupert, a dark-eyed boy, cleared his throat before
speaking. "What if I said that you were an old man whose face was wrinkled;
your
eyes purged thick amber and plumtree gum, and that you have a plentiful lack
of
wit?"
"I’d say, ‘Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.’"
Red-haired Tracy said, "Do you think Hamlet was mad?"
Dirk, who sat behind her tapped her on the shoulder. "‘I am but mad
north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.’
Hamlet knew what he was doing."
Five hands shot up.
"In quotes only," said William.
A bell rang, ending class, and several students groaned in disappointment.
They
gathered books and headed to the door.
"Good night, sweet prince," said Rupert as he left. Jason prodded him and
said,
"Ah, ha. I knew it. Women delight you not."