The part about “all fall down” really meant die. For example, the music classes performed a bunch of songs about the plague, including “Ring Around the Rosy,” which I found out was a reference to the rosy 1 pustules (buboes) that appeared on the skin of the unfortunate victims. In keeping with the theme, all the various departments had to make some kind of artistic contribution having to do with how the people of The Dark Ages managed to amuse themselves and carry on while everyone was keeling over all around them. Of course, in the case of Medieval Day, “Death” meant the Black Death i.e., the bubonic plague (bacillus pasteurella) which, as you probably know, wiped out between one-third and two-fifths of the European population back in the fourteenth century. This year’s theme was “Life in a Time of Death.” Which, in a way, seemed the theme of my actual life. We really knock ourselves out with breathtaking displays of talented giftedness. And the Medieval Pageant is one of the most artistic, or as our headmaster, Chaz, would say, “intra-artistic” events of the year.

That’s a big event at the flaky school I go to–The Dante School for “artistically gifted youth.” We are so artistic it strains the mind. I met Will Brooks in early Spring on what happened to be Medieval Day.

The Melting Season by Celeste Conway