The dilemma

‘Matteo Greco vanished into thin air in the international tournament’. Shelly reads this written in large bold letters flashing on the top of the e-paper. In an instant the sleep from her eyes vanishes, the strong tea she had made still untouched.

Renowned magician Matteo Greco known for his famous ‘Give me thorns, I will give you roses’ tricks, vanishes into thin air from his seat from the competitors dais. Incidentally, Leo Favre also known as the Mr. Poof was then performing onstage. Mr. Favre had brought a baby elephant to the show and had explained to the spectators that he had just bought him last weekend after loads of paperwork and would be the essence of his poof magic tricks in the show. He had made the usual sleight of hand and the elephant vanished. A minute later, he was again brought live on-stage but then to everyone’s surprise Mr. Greco vanished at exactly the same instant. The spectators first applauded in excitement, maybe Mr. Poof had planned a sequential show. But when Mr. Favre himself look bewildered and Mr. Greco did not reappear even after a quarter of an hour, howls of dismay and chaos broke out like wildfire. People ran hither and tether scared that they themselves will seize to exist. As many as 158 people were injured in the mayhem. No such event of accidental vanish have been recorded till date in any tournament. It will remain a history. Rumors have it that Matteo Greco who was the strongest rival of Leo Favre had been made away with a master plan.

‘Police will definitely look into the case, but until then we are not allowed to talk about it’ said an agitated judge as he hurried towards his car. Though nothing has been confirmed all evidence points that Leo Favre...

Shelly could read no more. How could anyone accuse Mr. Favre without any solid evidence at hand? It could as well be a conspiracy against Mr. Favre. Shelly took her cup and dumped its contents at the wash basin. What a pleasant way to start your day! Shelly mused to herself. She took her towel from the hanger.

Water dripped from her curl to her chest and made her look like a flower decorated in tear shaped droplets. Shivering, she took some shampoo in her palm. Shelly loved the smell of lavender. It was light and calming, not like some of the fragrances that made you sneeze. She messaged her scalp and breathed in its sweet aroma. Lavender had always been her favorite flower, always. A smile curved on her lips as she reminisced that beautiful sunny day. She was sixteen and jumping up and down, cheering Mr. Favre. He looked like a Greek god with his angular face and curled tendrils that fell on his twinkling eyes. He raised his hand to calm down the crowd and told that they were nearing the end of the show. The crowd protested and a resounding cry of ‘Nooo!’ reverberated.

 Mr. Favre lifted a finger’ I would like to present something to a lady before I go away’. The ladies all giggled a tinge of red on their cheeks.

‘Mm mm... maybe, the lady sitting on the left end of the second row would like to do the honors?’ Shelly floated to the stage, her legs moving of their own accord. She could not believe her luck.

‘Could I know your name ma’am?’ Mr. Favre asked a crooked smile playing along the side of his lips.

What a gentleman, Shelly thought’ I’m Shelly’ she replied in a shaky tone.

‘Shelly ah! What a beautiful name. What is your favorite flower, Shelly?’ he asked in a deep raspy voice making her feel as if her legs had turned to jelly.

‘Lavender’ Shelly replied her voice so faint that she could hardly believe that Mr. Favre had heard her right. But Mr. Favre sat down on one knee and there was suddenly lavender in his hand.

His head bowed, he said’ This is my gift for you, Shelly!’ and the curtains fell on the stage.

**

Mary was playing with her silky hair that shone under the sun to make it look more burgundy than brown. She giggled in a childish manner and went on ‘You seem to be crankier than usual Shelly. I wonder why that is?’

Shelly rolled her eyes ‘Of course, you don’t know, we only just met yesterday!’

They were sitting in the university cafeteria. The usual hustle was mixed with the blabbing of the hot topic of the day ‘Mr. Favre and his many illicit deeds’. One of the boys with thick rimmed glasses near them was telling his friends that Mr. Favre had vanished 24 spectators along with Mr. Greco! Shelly attacked the pastry with her fork as if they were the cause of the scandal.

‘Shelly, just don’t pay much heed to them. Tomorrow if another celebrity fell pregnant they would gossip about it all the same and forget about Mr. Favre.’

‘No I don’t think so. It is too large of a scandal to fade away in a few days. Did you hear what the queen bee of our stats class said? That Mr. Favre vanished all the documents of their palace and named the villa as his instead. No, this case is too dangerous I think, like a fire burning down the entire forest. Mr. Favre’s career will be finished by the time the case closes, even if he is proved innocent. A gem would be lost forever.’

‘Do not fret over this issue, dear. The police are investigating the case thoroughly and Mr. Favre has many international fans like you that would make sure that justice is served. Also, the government of his country will definitely help him; their country’s prestige is at stake! I think that Leo Favre is a strong and influential figure; nothing can go wrong in such circumstances.’ The digital watch on Mary’s wrist blipped at exactly 2:00. They rose to pay their bills.

**                                                                                                                                 

 Favre was pacing around his room, his hair disheveled and some of the tendrils stuck to his forehead. The plan had failed. Matteo Greco was supposed to vanish when the curtains fell on him and Mr. Greco was called on stage as the next competitor. He would by then be seated comfortably on the competitors’ dais. No one would know that Mr. Greco had vanished into thin air. All they would know when the curtains parted is that Matteo Greco was somehow not on stage and there would be no evidence against him at all. But there was no evidence as such even now; after all he was re-materializing his baby elephant when the incident happened, not the other way round. Except... except that, it was only him who knew about the trick of dematerializing objects and beings into thin air. What could he do? He gripped his hair again and let out a howl like an injured animal. Could he re-materialize Mr. Greco after so much time had passed? No, he had not mastered that art yet. The experiment was still under process. There was a tremendous pain in his chest and then quiet suddenly, his hands were tied in shackles and something was constricting him around his neck. He tried to shout for help but only a feeble gurgling sound came out. He was shaking like a leaf and sweating profusely. Maybe, in a minute he would not be able to breathe anymore. Then after a minute and two seconds he would be dead.

Shelly awoke in her bed tangled in sheets.