"Goodbye. Goodbye, world. Goodbye, Grover's Corners...Mama and Papa. Goodbye to clocks ticking...and Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths...and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you."
The tears were still wet on Katrina's cheeks as she turned to Zach.
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it...every, every minute?"
"No," Zach answered, gentle and sympathetic, but definitive. Till it was like he had a quiet revelation and added, "The saints and poets, maybe--they do some."
"I'm ready to go back," Katrina said, resigned to her grave. She took her seat, and it was like she became a living statue.
Zach listened silently as the dead talked. To Mrs. Gibbs trying to get Emily to look at the stars. To old man Stimson bitterly bemoaning the ignorance and blindness of the living. To Emily, lost between them, her pain and acceptance painted plain on Katrina's face. And then Dion walked on stage.
"It's George," Katrina said, detached but unable to look away as Dion approached her and fell to his knees, anguish twisting his face before he fell flat before her.
"That ain't no way to behave!"
"He ought to be home!"
But Katrina paid no mind to the squawking ghosts. Not looking away from Dion, she spoke to the woman sitting next to her, "Mother Gibbs?"
"Yes, Emily?"
"They don't understand, do they?"
"No, dear. They don't understand."
The lights dimmed around the seated students, and as Zach took center stage a single spotlight fell on him.
"Most everybody's asleep in Grover's Corners. There are a few lights on," Zach walked to the right of stage and gestured, the imaginary town more real in his mind's eye than the empty sea of blackness that was actually before him, "Shorty Hawkins, down at the depot, has just watched the Albany train go by. And at the livery stable somebody's setting up late and talking.
"Yes, it's clearing up." Zach looked to the ceiling and could see the grey clouds parting, "There are the stars doing their old, old crisscross journeys in the sky. Scholars haven't settled the matter yet, but they seem to think there are no living beings up there. Just chalk...or fire."
He turned back to the audience, and his lips hinted at a grin, even as his eyes were unbearably sad, "Only this one is straining away. Straining away all the time to make something of itself. The strain's so bad that--every sixteen hours everybody lies down and gets a rest."
The watch flashed into Zach's hand and opened with a tiny chime, "Hm...Eleven o'clock in Grover's Corners."
Zach slipped the watch into the front pocket of his vest, and waved to the audience as if they were very old friends, "You get a good rest, too. Good night."
Zach turned and walked off stage as the spotlight dimmed to black. The silence was almost oppressive, till the first hands shattered it and the thunder of applause followed.
Zach waited patiently backstage as the rest of the cast went out for their curtain call. Crew members patted him on the back, and Dion grabbed him in his arms to kiss him before he quickly had to run out for his own bow.
For only a moment it was just he and Katrina waiting to head back onstage. Zach said sincerely, "You were perfect, Kat. I almost started crying."
"So were you, Zach," she said sweetly, and then it was her turn to walk back on the stage. It was like the crowd went up 10 decibels as she went out there.
Zach let the applause for Katrina have some time to breathe, and then he made his way on stage. The roar was almost overwhelming. He blushed as he took his bow, and laughed as he heard Jake dog whistle in the crowd. His pledge brothers who weren't in the play started throwing flowers at the stage. Sean's bright red hair stood out amongst them like a beacon.
Professor Davidson came on stage with a microphone, nearly incomprehensible as she tried to stop herself from crying while she thanked the audience and the cast and the crew.
Then, to Zach's horror, she added, "There's one student in particular who deserves special recognition, tonight. He joined our cast without a lick of theater experience, but from the moment he auditioned till moments ago he's been the bedrock of this entire production, and one of the greatest young actors I've had the privilege to work with. So, I and the rest of the college's theater department, would like to congratulate Zach Thomas on winning this season's award for best new actor."
Suddenly Professor Peters was standing next to him and shaking his hand, as he handed Zach a small plaque while the audience cheered him. Zach could barely stand the extra applause he'd gotten for curtain calls every night, this singling out made him want to melt into the stage. Thankfully, Davidson quickly told the audience to have a good night, and the crowd and cast immediately started to disperse.
"I hope you like the plaque," Dion said, grabbing Zach by the waist and pulling him close, "Cause that's all you get. Cheap bastards won't even give you a gift card for the bookstore."
"Eh, it'd just be like they were giving me my own money," Zach said, grinning up at his boyfriend, looking a little ridiculous up close with the stage makeup on. But then Zach knew he looked just as silly, the first time he saw how rosy the makeup girl made his cheeks he wanted to puke.
Dion smiled and kissed Zach's hand, "Come on, let's find our families. Sooner we say goodbye sooner we get to the party." Then he held Zach's hand and led him into the crowd.
