October Road2007

Nick Garrett:
Thank you for seeing me again.

Dean Leslie Etwood:
You said you were bringing pie.

Nick Garrett:
No I didn't.

Dean Leslie Etwood:
My assistant told me 'Nicholas Garrett called to say he'd like to come by again, but this time, he's bringing pie'. That's why I agreed. No pie?

Nick Garrett:
No pie.

Dean Leslie Etwood:
Then good day.

Nick Garrett:
Just, hear me out. Okay, I know how you feel about me, and I know that there's nothing that I can say to change your mind. But, how 'bout the words of a fellow teacher? [Directs his arms to the open doorway] I present Ms. Gertrude Weiner. 45 year veteran of the Massachusetts Educational System. And my tenth grade English teacher.

Mrs. Weiner:
How do you do? It's a pleasure. I um, I just want you to know that Nicholas is a wonderful young man. Watching him maneuver his way through semi-colons, I, I knew he would go far. You should think of what he can bring to the students.

Dean Leslie Etwood:
I am thinking of the students. That's why I'm not hiring Mr. Garrett. Because he's the very worst thing a teacher could be. A dilettante. Someone who does a job to suit his momentary needs. He reminds me of another man who came down to teach at a school in a parish of New Orleans. Only this man, he told the students that they could learn to sing. And so he sang to them, and the song was, uh, "Where Is Love" from the show "Oliver". But then this man, he left soon after, went back to his real life, leaving the students devastated. I remember that, because I was one of those children. And I remember the crushing sense of loss when that man left. So do not talk to me about the students Mrs. Weiner. Because everything I do, every fiber of my being is for these students.