Becoming The Muse

Lights, Camera And Stage Fright

I froze.

The stage, was an acoustic auditorium, at the Zimbabwe Academy of Music in Bulawayo. I wouldn’t be surprised, if it was known as The Whispering Gallery because the acoustics there were out of this world. Every sound seemed to bounce off the walls and echo directly into your soul.

I was on stage, watching an expectant audience watching me back, as I readied for my debut speech at the National High School Public Speaking Finals. The time keeper, would flash a green light, to signal you to start and a red light when your time was up.

The light flashed green.

This was it. The moment I had prepared for. I had spent weeks practising, working on the timing and memorising my speech. I had made tiny flash cards, cut out of empty cereal boxes with cue words to help prompt me. Environmentally friendly and in hindsight maybe underprepared.

I took a deep breath, looked at the first card with one word scrawled on it

[MAGIC]

I froze.

My mind went blank. I couldn’t remember what came next. I forgot how to talk. The lights were on, the camera was rolling, but no one was home. I could feel beads of sweat pop up on face, with the incandescent spotlight, melting my soul and my last shreds of dignity. It was a hot mess, I tried wiping the sweat off, but my sweaty palms smeared not cleared…

I should have carried a handkerchief, I should have practised more, I should have practised one last time back stage, maybe, I shouldn’t have invited the girl I had a crush on to watch me perform, there she, was front row seat... But when you are falling off the mountain, its too late to wonder, if there was a better way to climb it..

I contemplated exiting stage left, but my legs might as well as have been glued to the floor. I was a stumble away from performing that Michael Jackson lean forward trick, if I werent busy collapsing on stage. I prayed for the earth to open up and swallow me, end my misery.

The audience seemed to be figuring out that I had choked… I could hear whispers, quiet at first, but growing louder, and giggles perhaps. The “enforcers” looked ready to escort me off the stage. Their job was primarily to remove speakers who went over the time limit when the red light was flashed, I suppose they could also do a mercy removal of those who choked.

I glanced at the countdown timer and realised that not much time had passed. Time moves weirdly when you are in front of an audience, making a mess of things and I was a hot mess.

I wiped my palms on the sides of my trousers, mostly to hide that they were shaking, and took another deep, shaky breathe, as I steeled myself to announce my exit. I raised my hands in the air and opened my mouth to say… something…

“As you were waiting for me to perfom…” I began; and the room fell silent, as if entranced in a spell I had cast.

“…Did you feel the tension in the air?” I asked and paused for dramatic effect.

”That’s because I am going to perform the greatest trick a magician ever pulled…. For the price of your attention, I am going to make you live forever…”

Cue stunned silence.

Then wild applause.

And I proceeded to deliver the rest of my speech; Open Skies, which got a standing ovation and hearty congratulations for being one of the most outstanding.

I was surprised no one noticed that I had fluffed my opening, not even my friends who had watched me rehearse countless times, they thought I had simply tweaked up my intro to give it dramatic flair…

*Magic*

~B

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