The Best Performance Ever

The mirror was new; specially bought for her big day. Its border was made of some wood-based material of light green color, the top of which was spiraled into a twig like design. The leftover yellow light of the Sun, hanging from those pine trees outside was being reflected on the mirror. Below that yellow-green reflection, was to be seen her tensed face. It was gleaming with make up powder, one shade lighter from her own skin tone. But it was looking whiter. Because she was nervous... to much nervous. She would be called on the stage in just fifteen minutes.

She looked at her reflection tentatively, who smiled at her. The smile was reassuring.

-"It will be fine. Don't be afraid.", said her reflection.

-"I don't know. I don't think I can do this. I'll ruin everything."

-"Oh you are so good at it! Do you forget that all your life you've been doing this? You started performing on the stage... umm... yes, when you were 12 years old."

-"Yeah, but this is big. This show is of higher level than any of my previous shows. This is why I'm being so frightened. Otherwise I am habituated in performing publicly and quite confident in it as you've said."

She lifted a jug from the side table. She couldn't drink from a glass, as it might spoil the red lipstick. Her hand trembled and few drops of water fell on the front of her dress.

-"HEY! What do you think you are doing? Being an all thumbs?", yelled her reflection.

-"Oh God! What am I doing? What am I doing? I'm a ...", she tried to adjust her costume, while jabbering curses at herself.

-"Remember the dress is going to be a significant part of your performance. The costume should not be spoiled. The audience will be looking at---"

-"Yeah yeah, I know, I know. Don't make me feel like I'm a novice at this.", she yelled back.

Few moments passed in silence. She stood up and started pacing back and forth. She recalled her first performance. Yes, she was of twelve years then. It was her mother who first taught her acting. She was also a very famous performer. And her father was a director. That day her parents organized the show in their home. Many of her relatives came to see her performance. They all applauded her afterwards. But she remembered how difficult it had felt to memorize her dialogues. It was a very new thing to her. She had spent hours and hours practicing them, and days and nights crying, feeling she would never be able to do it. She remembered how hard it had proved to smile while performing. She began sweating head to toe. Her reflection was eyeing her pitifully. At last it spoke,

"You are thinking about your first performance. Aren't you?"

-"Yes. I am. I can not help it."

-"And what are you recollecting about that event, may I ask?"

-"That how much nervous I had been that day and how difficult performing on the staged appeared to me."

-"That's because that was your first day. Think about the shows in which you performed like a pro in the past years."

Her face remained grim. Her reflection continued,

"Okay. Tell me one thing. You are saying before your first performance you felt too much nervous. But once you got rid of it after your mother talked to you, then what did happen? You gave one of the best performances that anyone of twelve years could give."

-"Yes I... I remember.", muttered she.

-"You see, you are so skilled at it, that nothing can hinder your performance, save for your own nervousness."

-"What if... what if I forget the script?" Her face was now red.

-"The script? Have you ever forget your script? And you told me the toughest part of your dialogue is to follow something like a sermon. Isn't it?", asked the reflection.

-"Yeah, I've to utter what he will utter.", confirmed she, "But there is still that thing. That ordering of acts. You have to do this after that, that after this, and so on. Oh yes! And smile. You know well I have a problem with smiling in such situations. Whenever I become nervous, I stop smiling. But smile is so necessary in this performance! My character is very much happy, unlike me." She stopped and sighed.

"Hey, listen,", called her reflection, "Everything is going to be all right. I know you. I remember your first performance. Who doesn't spoil her first performance, won't be spoiling any performance in life."

"You sure?", she asked, trying to smile.

The reflection nodded silently, and gave her a calm cheerful smile.

The clock ticked, ticked and nearly touched five. Outside, the last hue of yellow was fading fast. The leaves of pine trees were not nodding. There was no wind, not even a slight breeze. Everything was still. She rose from her dressing stool. Her hands stayed hanging hesitantly at both sides of her thin waist. They seemed out of place. She stared at her pedicured feet and then at the lustrous maroon colored nails of her hands. Suddenly a dreadful thought came to her and she whispered to the reflection with rolled eyes,

"What if I trip on the green carpet?"

-"You won't. Don't bother too much.", replied the mirror confidently.

She went towards the door, opened it and looked outside. Then almost immediately she turned her glance at the mirror and said in a trembling voice,

"There are so many of them!"

-"Because it is going to be the biggest performance of your life. All have a highest point in their lives. Yours has come. Act best. Act as you have never acted."

Bearing these words in her mind, she stepped outside the dressing room, and did not look back. It was her wedding day. But the man standing on the stage, waiting for her, was not her lover. She loved someone else. "IT IS GOING TO BE MY BEST PERFORMANCE EVER."- she swore to herself.