imagine

Imagine one thing for me. It'll be easy. I paint a vivid picture.

A man onstage. An old fashioned stage with thick red curtains, a wood floor worn out from years of dancing and tumbles, and stage lights filled with melted wax candles. He is standing alone and there is either a backdrop of a vacant city street corner or of a quiet circus ring - center ring, you be the judge. He's whispering and no one can hear. The audience, if there even is one, can only see his mouth moving. His arms begin to twitch and his head jerks up. After a few moments of staring the crowd directly in the eyes, he finally asks loud enough for everyone to hear. A rhetorical question, it must be, because he doesn't really expect an answer. But the quiet city street, or the vacant center ring draws the voice from his lips, whether he wants to speak or not. He doesn't really want. "Are you okay?" he asks out loud, once and only once. The crowd isn't brave enough to answer. His head goes back down, he starts walking around, his arms fall silent at his side. As he walks offstage he looks one more time at the audience that may or may not be there. His eyes go from the pit, up to the balcony, and even across the ceiling. He takes this stage in one last strong time, shakes his head slow and walks out. No one claps. No one rises to their feet in grand gesture. The audience is only waiting for the main event. A few more moments of silence and the actor's head peaks one more time around that thick red curtain and he says loud enough for all to hear, "Have I made my exit then?!" And the audience bursts into applause.