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Authors: Jackie French
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would go, ‘Oh yes, dumb old Luke. We always knew he couldn’t have got a scholarship by himself.’
Luke shivered. He had to think about something else for a while. At least Macbeth was another world, four hundred years away from his problems of lies and cheats.
Luke picked up his copy of the play. It was getting easier to understand the language now. Maybe he was finally getting the hang of it. Some bits were almost pretty good. Like when Lady Macbeth was trying to get up enough courage to kill the King.
Come, you Spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood,
Stop up th’access and passage to remorse…
Okay, people today didn’t talk like that. Luke supposed they never had talked like that really. But it still sounded…well, almost real, in spite of the weird way they spoke.
Maybe that’s what makes it a great play, he thought suddenly. It feels like real life, even if it isn’t.
He read for another fifteen minutes, slowly getting into the story. Macbeth, convinced by the witches that he will be king, will now do anything so he is king, even kill good King Duncan. But he’s scared by the monstrous thing he’s going to do. ‘ Is this a dagger, which I see before me…? ’ he cries. ‘ Come, let me clutch thee…’ After he kills the King he’s in shock, so Lady Macbeth has to grab the dagger and smear the blood over the drunk grooms who are sleeping in the King’s room, so it will look like they’re the guilty ones.
Luke sat back. So that was what Mrs Easson had meant when she gave him ‘Macbeth’s Progress into Villainy’ as a topic for his talk. Macbeth was an okay guy to begin with. But he didn’t have the guts to do what he thought was right. Every evil thing he did led to another one…
He put the book down, changed into his pyjamas and put a DVD in the machine. It was a new one that Mum had brought back from Sydney. She always brought him something when she came back and left it on his bed—a new shirt, maybe (the last one was two sizes too small), or that goat’s-wool beanie that stank of billy goat as soon as it got wet. It was like she was saying, ‘See? I was thinking of you while I was away’ without having to use the words.
He got into bed and switched the DVD on using the remote. But he couldn’t concentrate. The DVD was…empty somehow. Everything that had happened today overshadowed it. Even Macbeth was more vivid. And last night’s dream…
Luke turned off the TV and lay back in bed.
That dream world was the place to live. A place where things were clear. Where enemies wore helmets and carried swords instead of exam papers. Okay, people were hungry and life was hard in some ways. But things were simple too.
He wished there were some way he could dream it all again. You couldn’t choose your dreams, could you? But that’s what he needed to dream of. Courage, like that of the Mormaer. A stepfather you could trust. A simple world…
He shut his eyes.
Sleep…
Chapter 9
Lulach
What! can the Devil speak true?
( Macbeth , Act I, Scene 3, line 107)
And suddenly he dreamed.
It’s too sudden, thought Luke vaguely. Dreams don’t start like this. You drift into dreams.
This felt as if he’d been dropped into a bucket of water. The whole world changed, and so did he.
I’m Lulach again, thought Luke. Him…me…it’s all mixed up. But what he sees, I see as well.
He was asleep in this dream too. But the bed was different—warmer, fluffier. It crackled as he rolled. Somehow he knew the mattress was filled with goose feathers. He could remember the old women plucking the dead birds out in the courtyard, his mother hanging the feathers in linen bags in the chimney so the smoke would kill any lice.
The sheets felt soft against his skin. They were linen sheets, from Ireland. The people of Alba had been colonists from Ireland hundreds of
Luke shivered. He had to think about something else for a while. At least Macbeth was another world, four hundred years away from his problems of lies and cheats.
Luke picked up his copy of the play. It was getting easier to understand the language now. Maybe he was finally getting the hang of it. Some bits were almost pretty good. Like when Lady Macbeth was trying to get up enough courage to kill the King.
Come, you Spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood,
Stop up th’access and passage to remorse…
Okay, people today didn’t talk like that. Luke supposed they never had talked like that really. But it still sounded…well, almost real, in spite of the weird way they spoke.
Maybe that’s what makes it a great play, he thought suddenly. It feels like real life, even if it isn’t.
He read for another fifteen minutes, slowly getting into the story. Macbeth, convinced by the witches that he will be king, will now do anything so he is king, even kill good King Duncan. But he’s scared by the monstrous thing he’s going to do. ‘ Is this a dagger, which I see before me…? ’ he cries. ‘ Come, let me clutch thee…’ After he kills the King he’s in shock, so Lady Macbeth has to grab the dagger and smear the blood over the drunk grooms who are sleeping in the King’s room, so it will look like they’re the guilty ones.
Luke sat back. So that was what Mrs Easson had meant when she gave him ‘Macbeth’s Progress into Villainy’ as a topic for his talk. Macbeth was an okay guy to begin with. But he didn’t have the guts to do what he thought was right. Every evil thing he did led to another one…
He put the book down, changed into his pyjamas and put a DVD in the machine. It was a new one that Mum had brought back from Sydney. She always brought him something when she came back and left it on his bed—a new shirt, maybe (the last one was two sizes too small), or that goat’s-wool beanie that stank of billy goat as soon as it got wet. It was like she was saying, ‘See? I was thinking of you while I was away’ without having to use the words.
He got into bed and switched the DVD on using the remote. But he couldn’t concentrate. The DVD was…empty somehow. Everything that had happened today overshadowed it. Even Macbeth was more vivid. And last night’s dream…
Luke turned off the TV and lay back in bed.
That dream world was the place to live. A place where things were clear. Where enemies wore helmets and carried swords instead of exam papers. Okay, people were hungry and life was hard in some ways. But things were simple too.
He wished there were some way he could dream it all again. You couldn’t choose your dreams, could you? But that’s what he needed to dream of. Courage, like that of the Mormaer. A stepfather you could trust. A simple world…
He shut his eyes.
Sleep…
Chapter 9
Lulach
What! can the Devil speak true?
( Macbeth , Act I, Scene 3, line 107)
And suddenly he dreamed.
It’s too sudden, thought Luke vaguely. Dreams don’t start like this. You drift into dreams.
This felt as if he’d been dropped into a bucket of water. The whole world changed, and so did he.
I’m Lulach again, thought Luke. Him…me…it’s all mixed up. But what he sees, I see as well.
He was asleep in this dream too. But the bed was different—warmer, fluffier. It crackled as he rolled. Somehow he knew the mattress was filled with goose feathers. He could remember the old women plucking the dead birds out in the courtyard, his mother hanging the feathers in linen bags in the chimney so the smoke would kill any lice.
The sheets felt soft against his skin. They were linen sheets, from Ireland. The people of Alba had been colonists from Ireland hundreds of
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