All the World’s a Stage

And timing is important

Running as fast as she could, Cynthia made it to the auditorium in the nick of time just as the event organizer and master of ceremonies was ending sign-ups for the singing competition. With a little begging she was allowed to sign up.

“Okay, I’ve got to get the show started now,” said the master of ceremonies. “You’ll be the first one up.”

“What? No! I can’t go first. I’m still out of breath from running eight blocks.”

“Sorry, that’s how we do it. The last one to sign up is the first to perform and the first one to sign up is the last to perform. We’ve always done it that way.” With that he turned and walked out onto the stage.

Cynthia went into panic mode. She had less than a minute to catch her breath and relax. Her hands began to shake. She was feeling dizzy and a little nauseous. She took a couple of deep breaths but that seemed to make things worse. Her heart was pounding like crazy.

After being introduced she walked very slowly across the stage to the microphone. Her heart was still pounding as she adjusted the microphone. A tingling sensation raced throughout her body. As she looked out at the audience they began to blur. Suddenly everything went black.

Cynthia fainted. The master of ceremonies and two stage hands ran out onto the stage to pick her up and carry her away to the green room backstage where they deposited her on a couch. The master of ceremonies quickly turned to go back on stage to announce the next act.

One of the stage hands very gently slapped her face while the other went to get some water. Cynthia slowly came to and she sat up just as the other stage hand came into the room and handed her a coffee mug with ‘All the World’s a Stage’ printed on it. It was filled with cold water.

As Cynthia took a sip of water the master of ceremonies came back into the room, “Did you hurt yourself falling? Are you okay?”

“I’m okay. I’m fine. So did I win?”

The master of ceremonies let out a snort of derision and abruptly turned and left the room.

Cynthia and the two stage hands laughed.

“Listen guys, I’m alright. You two should probably get back to whatever you were doing. I’m just going to sit here and regain my composure.”

The two stage hands left as Cynthia sat on the couch sipping the water for several minutes. She eventually realized that there was indeed a benefit to being the first performer. She could be the first to leave!

She set the coffee mug down, retrieved her purse then quietly slipped out the back door of the auditorium.

Outside, the cool evening air refreshed her. The sun had already set and the sky was darkening. She began walking the streets with no destination in mind.

Eventually she came to the city park in the middle of which was a small lake. Cynthia walked to the little wooden pier that jutted out over the lake. All the World’s a Stage, huh? she thought to herself. The pier was very much like a stage.

She walked out to the very end of the pier and set down her purse on the wooden planks. She looked down at the water below her feet then out over the lake then up to the sky at the evening’s first twinkling stars. There were no humans in her audience; just some songbirds and a few ducks swimming on the lake.

She took a couple of deep breaths then began singing her song. She sang it like she had never sung it before. The acoustics were incredible. She filled the song with every ounce of joy in her being and when she was finished she felt utterly euphoric. She was about to take a bow to her non-human audience when she was startled by the sound of clapping behind her.

Cynthia turned around to see Jeff, her boyfriend.

“Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!” Jeff kept clapping as he approached her.

“Jeff, how did you find me?”

“How did I find you? Are you kidding? I heard you singing and I just followed your voice.” Jeff stopped clapping as he reached her. He held her shoulders as he kissed her lightly on the lips. “Cynthia, that was so outrageously beautiful. I love you and your singing more than anything in the world. I hereby pronounce you the winner.”

Cynthia tilted her head to the side, “Oh yeah? So where’s my prize money?”

They both laughed then Jeff took a half step back and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small jewelry box and opened it as he presented it to her.

In the box was an elegant diamond studded wrist watch.

“Oh Jeff, what… uh… what is this? You didn’t have to give me anything.” She took the watch out of the box and put it on her wrist.

“Cynthia, you know that I love you but you have to admit that you are chronically late for everything — and I do mean EVERYTHING. ALWAYS! But that doesn’t diminish my love for you at all. And there’s something special about this watch…”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I set the watch to always run fifteen minutes fast. What I want you to do is never, ever look at any other clock. If you need to know what time it is look only at your new wrist watch. Not only will you think of me when you look at your wrist watch but you’ll never be late for anything ever again.”

Cynthia didn’t know whether to be insulted or be happy. Looking into Jeff’s eyes she decided to be happy. They were quickly kissing.

Jeff then pulled back and raised his arm as he tapped his own wrist watch, “Wait, there’s more. I also set my own wrist watch to always be fifteen minutes fast. That way you and I will always be on the same exact time even if it is not the same time everyone else is on.”

With the sound of ducks quacking in the background, Cynthia and Jeff were once again quickly kissing.

At the singing competition the following month Cynthia was one of the last singers to perform and she won the contest. With the $100 prize money she took Jeff out to dinner after the show.

Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved. This is a work of fiction. Stories by White Feather

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