Issue 7:
Play
Deena L. Trouten
Home
Welcome
Contents
Contact Us
Join Our Mailing List
What's New
Site Map
Site Search
Now Playing
Intermission ends. The audience take their seats. Mr. Lincoln has settled into position. I peer through velvet curtains. Mary Todd and Miss Clara look appropriately elegant for an evening of theater-going. Major Rathbone poses proudly, glancing over at his esteemed comrade. The president nods in acknowledgment. A hush falls over the crowd. Lights dim. The bodyguard slips away.
Retreating into the wings, I await my cue. I am not supposed to be here. An actor with little experience is usually deemed unworthy of this honor, but one minor player had fallen unexpectedly ill. The fortuitous absence of an understudy, and my close personal acquaintanceship with the principal actor, granted me this privilege. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Entering on cue, I cross from the right wing, down left. It all happens very quickly. I hear the hollow pop, and the screams of Mary Todd and Miss Clara. Wilkes leaps from the box to the stage, virtually at my feet. I see his expression clearly. Steely, determined gaze. Satisfied contempt. No fear. He grins at me.
Sic Semper Tyrannis!
Then he is gone.
Cold fingers of regret grip my heart.
I had not expected that it would affect me so.
~Deena L. Trouten
Deena lives in eastern North Carolina with her husband and two children. She enjoys reading and writing short fiction. Email.
© 2001 by Deena L. Trouten. All Rights Reserved.
© 2000-2002 by Cayuse Press. All Rights Reserved.
This page updated April 30, 2002.