He was sitting in the the front row. Alone. There was not a single person to his right of left. Behind him, rows and rows of patrons sat captivated by the performance on stage.
A lady ran from one end of the stage to the other. A backdrop of a shabby kitchen within a wooden house kept her in scene. A small table with two children. One a girl with braided twin tails in an ancient pilgrim dress and another a boy, dressed in a white discolored button down shirt and black shorts. They both sat with their feet barely touching the floor. A man sat leaning back in one of the chairs. His eyes were hollow and he stared right through the women who was clanking pans, yelling at all three of them and waving about in frantic motions. On his head was small black hat, his face was hanging and unkept. Black hair poked around his ears and from under the brim of his hat. In his mouth a pipe moved from one side of his mouth to the other until he stopped, inhaled and blew a large puff of smoke into the room above the children.
In stark contrast to the children and the man, the women was a blaze of motion and emotion. She could not sit still, could not stop speaking, could not and maybe would not, compose herself. She went on for more then five minutes in a kinetic torrent, then as she picked up a pan full of bacon she was frying on the cast-iron stove top froze completely.
The man in the front rose slowly to this feet. A clap came from the back of the room, which was now devoid of all patrons.
“This time, we seem to be meeting in the same place. I wondered where you would be hiding. Here? Watching this drab show, it does not become of you” A light female voice spoke from the shadows in the back.
The man started to move off to the side.
“Vincent, you cannot run forever”
The man stopped and turned to the shadows. The theater was Victorian style. high grand ceilings with drapes and terrace seating with rounded private suites scaling the sides towards the stage. It was done in swirling gold and cast in velvet. The seats stood with rows of rows of felt crimson backings, worn slightly in the middle where many backs had rested upon. Heels clacked against the felt
carpet of the aisle and she revealed her self.
Vincent had seen her many times, in many different ways. Once the tenderness of her eyes gazed at him from a distance, then in his private quarters. Those eyes, now shone deep violet. Her dark blue hair draped to one side and curled in all directions. Her look was one of a ringleader in a circus. Tight white pants that went above her waist with four brass buttons. A red blouse was tucked into the pants just above her stomach which a black long coat came to two points behind her knees. The jacket had rows of brass buttons on the right side of the open, a crest of a raven upon a gravestone was embroiled on the right breast. Black boots with needled heels rose her a few inches off the ground. Her face was soft, but her devilish smile and narrowed eyes cast a different story.
“You think that I am running from you, Victoria?” He said.
She scoffed and stopped a couple of feet from him. Her eyes flicked from him to the frozen scene on stage then back to him.
“Why else would you jump from one place to another? Then ending up in theaters and concerts all over time and space watching the most mundane of performances. Every time I show up, you go somewhere else. At first it was hard to find you, now it is just predicable”
“Then you will see me again, sooner then later” Vincent turned on his heels and lept onto the stage. He gave one glance behind him to Victoria, who stood scowling. He missed those eyes in a different light. His heart pinched, as it always did, as it always would. He turned back and exited the right side of the stage.
The lady, the man and the children now bowed on the stage. The audience was on their feet clapping and cheering for the performance.
Victoria stood among the clamor. Her eyes fixed on the right side of the stage. She then turned and marched back down the aisle and into the shadows.
-
Keeping on point with the theater performances. I had just seen the movie Everything, Everywhere, All at once, which is a fantastic film about family drama and emotions of ones life passing by with time travel involved. While this story follows sort of the magician vibe, with mystery coming from no where and showing up, I still had the thought of one jumping through time and space to weird and odd shows being performed at the theaters or other spaces.