Jack

S. M. Iwen

Jack Mackenzie’s family was of limited means. Mr. Mackenzie worked two jobs. Mrs. Mackenzie worked one job and did a few odd jobs on the side. They weren’t an anomaly in the small poor town of Dudley. In fact, the whole town would go under if it hadn’t been for the playhouse near the center of town. It drew in an audience composed form people of Dudley and neighboring communities as well as big business tycoons from the major cities that surround it.

Jack was perhaps the one person that the playhouse drew the most. Even more so when Edmund Farnsby, the son of Carroll Farnsby and owner of her playhouse, hired a young beautiful actress named Marionette. Jack was there for her premier debut and instantly fell in love. She had played Wendy Darling and jack had envied the actor who played Peter Pan each of the eight times he had seen the play. He walked home late each night and daydreaming to himself about acting in the playhouse side by side with Marionette. When he got home, he’d tell his parents he wanted to be an actor. They laughed at him.

“Why would you want to throw your life away?”

“Don’t you want to get out of the rat hole of a town?”

“Do you want to end up like us?”

Jack saved up every dime he had to go watch Marionette as often as he could. He spent time analyzing roles and memorizing lines and was often late for dinner, or forgetting chores. The adamant daydreamer was deadest on becoming an actor and started gathering the courage to try out for the next production.

It wasn’t long when Jack’s father caught wind of is daily activities. In Mr. Mackenzie’s eyes, Jack wasn’t going anywhere in life. Jack wasn’t on the road to a career. There’s no future in acting. Mr. Mackenzie has no future, and no good father wants his son to end up like himself. He sent Jack to his room that night, with “it’s for your own good” whipped into his back.

The Mackenzie’s sent their son to apprentice the local accountant, Maxwell Ryan, and eccentric man who would take Jack’s mind off of Carroll Farnsby Playhouse...